roadtripper1018372

This is about a mile from Lincoln Park campground, with excellent dirt road till the last mile, when it's "just" good. It's a wide meadow, with room on both sides of the road, and about 5 spots that are dispersed enough that you have privacy. Two large groups were in sight down the road, but we never heard them. This area is very popular with ATVers, but while we were at our site (late afternoon, evenings), there was only traffic from the other campsites. No cell service at all.

Beautiful spot, but camper beware. There are soft spots in the sand, and easy to spin a tire or 2. Main open area just beyond picnic area will be OK for most people. 4x4 highly recommended if you go further. There are also tuck-in sites down the narrow road beyond. We took the first one and backed our 26' trailer in with moderate churning in the sand (4x4 Lo on tow vehicle). Another party in a 2WD F150 got stuck in the middle of the road just beyond us when she tried to turn around by pulling into a wash. Digging around tires didn't help, had to get pulled out by 4x4 truck with a tow chain. Quiet, except for one set of joyriders who went by blasting music over 2 nites, luckily brief. 2 other parties near us. There is a pit toilet, clean with TP.

Beautiful setting at the start of Chalk Creek Canyon. Fall Colors are great here! The ghost town of St Elmo is further up the road and worth a quick visit for the scenery and a taste of an early gold mining town.

The campground is very accessible on a good dirt road, 8.5 miles from the highway. About half the sites will accomodate 25-30' rigs. Sites are fairly well spaced, reasonably flat, with nice picnic table areas. We stayed on a Friday night in late September, so it was quiet for us.

Too shady for solar; it will be a max 3 day stay for us if we go again.

This campground is part of Lathrop State Park. There are two sections: The Pinon section has electric and several spigots to fill from around the loops. Yucca smaller, with back-in sites, no electric, for, as the State web page says: "a basic camping experience".

We stayed in Pinon. Well spaced sites for the most part, lots of drive-through. Some flush toilets and some pit toilets to fill the distance gap. Dump station is convenient to the Pinon section. Settled in a valley with views of the Spanish Peaks, it makes a good base of operations for exploration. Walsenburg has a tiny but interesting museum in the old railroad station. Nice loop drive through the Spanish Peaks as well. A lake for the fishermen, and even a golf course. Since I'm not a golfer, no idea how good it is. Verizon cell service came and went. Maybe the local tower is overloaded?

This is a decent National Forest campground in a beautiful spot. Not all sites will work for all sizes of trailers; but there are at least a few for long rigs. Many of the spurs are shaded from the east and south, which can make it tough on solar. Site 11 worked OK - we were able to recharge the batteries in about 3-4 hours in late September. It took some doing to get level.

Hosts there are very zealous -- magazines in the outhouses :)

We made the mistake of being there during hunting season and so were awakened by a fusillade of gunshots at first light (6AM), and had pickups towing horse trailers running up and down the access road all day, to a popular hunting access point at the end of the road. If I go back it will be outside of hunting season.

Access is via about 23 miles of dirt road which is well graded, but turns treacherous in heavy rain. We didn't get stuck coming out in a downpour, but did start to slide around one curve. We had about 1/2 inch of mud on front of trailer after coming out.

No cell service whatsoever.

Note that access is off US Hwy 160 to Piedra Road, which turns into Forest Service road 631.

Really cool park, campsites are nestled (sometimes shoehorned) into the rock formations. Pay attention to where other reviewers camped - site accessibility/suitabilty varies greatly. Whole park is rock formations on a hill, so many sites have at least some slope to get in. Some sites level, some not very. We had to back uphill up the access road about 100 yards to ours (#21), and we parked with the jack fully extended with 9 yellow blocks plus a 10x2 board underneath to get close to level. Once we got the stabilizer jacks down (resting on large rocks), with chocks on the downhill side of all 4 wheels, we felt secure. Luckily side to side leveling only required 1 layer of yellow blocks. The 3 sites (22-24) down the access road from us are better left for tents, Class B or small Class C rigs. They're on a little cul-de-sac with healthy slope for access (sites themselves pretty level).

Great walk-in sites for tent campers - you can snuggle in by the rocks!

Verizon Cell tower is SW of the intersection of Hwy 61 and US180, so line of sight campsites can coax out 3 bars sometimes. (ie hook-up area and hill beyond)

Scouted this one while staying in the area. This is an old-school Forest Service campground that could use some TLC. Bring your leveling blocks. 1 or 2 sites could fit a 25' trailer, mostly this is a spot for tents and short trailers. Access road is decent gravel/dirt. One loop is far enough from road that dust shouldn't be a big problem. You're in the boonies; no cell service.
Hand-pump for water.

We stayed 4 nights in late September. This is a popular campground on the weekends, quiet on weekdays. We were in the "up river" part of the park, above the river - there is a path down to it. Terrain is bushes and plains grasses with some trees. Our site was not shaded. Pull through sites have a bush or two between the pad and the road. Beautiful sunsets with rosy light on the San Juan Mountains.

A little bit of road noise if Harleys or big trucks went by earned it only 4 stars, but very tolerable.

We had a pull-through site, did not have to use leveling blocks. Restrooms are clean and warm. Good, clean, cheap laundromat on site with 3 or 4 washers and corresponding dryers.

<1 hr drive to many different hikes, and into Ouray for a dip in the hot springs (highly recommended). Hot Springs admission is good for the whole day, so we soaked in the springs, went and did other things, ate dinner, and came back for an evening soak.

Stayed here so we could visit Tonto Bridge State Park. Lots of trees, and looked good from satellite view. Unfortunately, it's less than 1/2mi as the crow flies from a traffic circle on the state highway. Plus the road past the CG leads to a settlement of several hundred houses. Steady traffic would be one thing, but the noise consists of lots of accelerating and decelerating vehicles, with a large proportion of them trucks. Even using jake brakes! We started in site 6, which is about 50 yds through the trees from this busy road. Couldn't take it, and luckily were able to relocate to another site about 150 yds further in.

Campground is clean, restrooms are individual rooms with flush toilet and sink with cold water. Shower house is being built. Site 15 could use some tree trimming, you lose about 3' of width due to branches sticking out 3-5' above ground.

Dump station costs $10, even if you're staying there. Camp host said they pump it and take it to Green Valley (! - 200 miles away -- almost to Mexico !)

Cell service comes and goes - bounces from 4G 2bars to 3G to 1X 2 bars. Not dependable if you're trying to accomplish something.

Scouted this on a drive-through. This campground is below the main highway, so steep road getting down into it. Most of the sites are pretty steep parking; better for tents. We noted site 17 could take our 26' rig. A beautiful setting, with a trail over to Silver Lake. Hand-pump for water. No cell service.