east portal road

I was apprehensive about taking this drive in a rental car but was assured by a park ranger that it would be no problem in low gear. He was right. It is a fun short drive to the bottom with pretty but not outstanding views. Be alert, it is open range so keep an eye out for cattle.

So - so views. Got down to the crystal dam reservoir which had some dull looking , stagnant water. There was the flowing river too in which people were fishing and some picnic tables, campground too. But I didn't really find the views that engaging. The swiveling drive was fun though.

great place to look at rocks and fissures. Many types.. schist, marble, lava, etc. all kinds of minerals and crystals.. including precious and semi-precious ones like peridot/olivines and garnets.. just to name a couple.

A paved 5 mile road with the last 3 miles a steep 16% grade. Not to worry, we had a Prius and had no issues.

It was nice to get a different perspective. We had already driven through the park, stopping at most of the overlooks. It was late in the day and we thought we would go down into the canyon. Earlier in the day they were working on the road and delays could have been up to 4 hours. It looked like there had been some rock slides they were working on. We used a lower gear and had no problem in our F-250 crew cab. The road took us down into the canyon, along the river and to the dam. We could not get close to the dam though. The total roundtrip including picture time was about 45 minutes. It was worth it.

A great way to appreciate the canyon. The drive down is steep (16% grade) so use low gears and just go slow. There's a hiking trail as well as a couple of campsites.

Fun ride down the steep grade, make sure your breaks are in good condition. Yu never know what is around the bend, and in our case it was cattle. Not on the side either, two were in the middle of the road. At the bottom there are picnic sites and river access. Our kids did some " fishing" but did not catch a thing, which is fine by us, we would not have know what to do with it anyways. Great drive well worth the trip since it is closed in the colder months.

When we visited the visitor center, we were advised by a ranger that the East Portal Road is very steep, 16% grades with curves, so, drive slowly in low gear and our Toyota Camry would be okay. WOW! That was really steep. We had drove South Rim Road first, and then drove East Portal Road. We were glad that we drove both roads as the South Rim Road gave us a chance to look down the canyon and the East Portal Road gave us a chance to go down to the Gunnison River and to look the canyon from the bottom. The Cunnison River had jade green colored water that we had never seen any other locations and it was so nice to sit and cool ourselves at a picnic table after getting so much sun while visiting at the South Rim Road. While driving, a mama bear and 3 cubs crossed the road in front of us. When you enter to the park, you have a choice to drive stright to the South Rim Road or to turn right to the East Portal Road.

This is an easy 6-mile drive that is the easiest way down to the river. Pleasant, calm area for ret or fishing. The rangers live here. And the irrigation tunnel that brings water to he area south of the park starts here.

It's very steep & a lot of turns. Drove in very low gear & by the time our SUV made it to the bottom you could still smell my brakes. We had to let them cool off, but what a great place to wait. There were restrooms at the bottom also. Beautiful place, quiet & peaceful. Nice place to have a picnic. Wasn't crowded & there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road. On the way back up we saw several deer cross the it.

OK so the road isn't that bad, yes there is a very steep section with tight switchbacks but it certainly didn't seem that bad to me, the torrential rain and thunderstorm made seeing clearly a little difficult though. Once on the canyon floor the road follows the side of the river up to the diversion dam, and there's some great scenery. Popular place for anglers too. Nice way to get another perspective on the canyon if you're unable to hike into the bottom of it.

Fun drive (not as bad as the gate attendant made it out to be), amazing geologic formations highlighted by the Gunnison River that created the Canyon. Our visit at the end of September was timed perfectly with the fall change of color.Camping? Don't forget about the East Portal Campground near the diversion dam.

Diese Straße ist ein absolutes Highlight beim Besuch des Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. Gleich nach der Entrance Station biegt die asphaltierte Straße vom Hwy 347 ab. Auf insgesamt fünf Meilen geht es teilweise mit einem Gefälle von 16 % in engen Haarnadelkurven über 2.000 ft. hinunter in die schwarze Schlucht zum Gunnison Diversion Dam. Unten angekommen kann man noch entlang des Flusses bis zum Crystal Dam weiterfahren. Die Straße darf nur von Fahrzeugen bis 22 ft. Gesamtlänge und ohne Trailer befahren werden.Von unten ist die Schlucht noch überwältigender, dunkle Felswände türmen sich unmittelbar an beiden Ufern auf, sie lassen nur wenig Sonnenlicht bis zum Boden durch. Es ist schwer vorstellbar, dass ein so kleiner Fluss in Abertausenden von Jahren sich so tief eingraben konnte. Beim Gunnison Diversion Dam befinden sich ein Camping- und ein Picknickplatz. Hier lässt sich in herrlicher Ruhe die mitgebrachte Jause verspeisen. Neugierige Chipmonks und Vögel hoffen auf ein paar Krümmel.