On my last trip to Colorado I had crossed paths with this campground and vowed that this time I would make it a stop on my journey. I love the location and though it is in a decently traveled area it is not close enough to the road to hear any traffic. The location is great for having that Colorado forest feeling for sure with towering pines and great spacing around the campground itself.
While this campground does have a formal campground host on site there is a fee station and no money changes hands in person. The host also mentioned that the location is patrolled by forest service rangers to add a bit of additional accountability and safety. As a solo traveler who many times travels during off season or off days for travel this brought me a very settling feeling to know.
The campground itself does not have connections of any kind, however there are a few water spigots (non drinking) throughout the camp for usage and also vault toilets for usage. Price point is fair at $17 and during the early portion of the camping season this location was pretty quiet. A few scattered campers were present but even if this was a full site it would still allow for plenty of spacing between campers with large parking for each and sites which are both deep and wide.
All the locations included a picnic table which looked shaded, I did not see many spaces of full sun around camp at all in fact. There were also fire rings and marker poles for each site where you can hang your receipt for camping.
Unlike many campgrounds I visited in this region where pine needles or leaves were everywhere, this one was very clear. Even downed limbs had been collected by rangers and host to keep the sites open for usage which was very nice. Though I didn’t see any marked pad sites at this location the ground was nice and even in most of the sites for a tent or many had large enough area for RVs of various sizes. I did not see any pull through sites however.
This location they do recommend you reserving online before coming to camp, however they did have envelops for payment as well. I can see how online reservation would be very important during busy season and I truly believe they are trying to move to an exclusive online pay system for sites like this and others. I think this will prevent some of the box theft which has occurred around some of the more remote or unattended sites.
I loved how quiet this camp was, how open it was and that it provided great access to the wildlife area which was only a short drive up the road.
TIPS:
Prepare for your stay ahead of time by bringing everything you could need to camp this includes firewood and water.
Bring your own toilet paper. Though the site is maintained and has a host the paper is not guaranteed to be stocked so remember to come prepared.
If you have solar you are wanting to use pull up a map in advance to find the best location because of the shade.