Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO

Of the six or eight times I have visited the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, this is the first time I've ever been able to travel on the East Portal Road down to the Gunnison Divirsion Dam and the Crystal Dam. The road is a 16% grade, with sharp turns.  It seemed longer going down than coming up.  There are picnic tables and shade trees by the Divirsion Dam.  The distance between the two dams is relatively flat with wide spots on the road for pull over investigations.  The Gunnison River is fast flowing at this point with no shore line.  Fishermen line the little accessible edge that there is.
Canyon walls line this sliver of an access road, shooting up thousands of feet.  What a beautiful place to have lunch.
Bernadette Heath