roadtripper17974

There is no campground here. It is day use only. It is only a fishing access / picnic area. Camping can be found nearby at Jemez Falls Campground or Redondo Campground, both further west on Hwy 4.

Apparently the reason it shows up on forest service data (and other sites) as a campground is that you can hike into the forest here and camp so it appears to be a "Hike In" only site.

I live in the area and no one camps in this picnic / fishing area parking area.

This is a First Come - First Served campground (no reservations). During the summer it is hard to get into. People wait in line early in the morning at the office in order to secure a campsite, like they do in Yosemite. The campground is reserved periodically for festivals that occur in town, so check ahead for the dates of this blocked times during festivals. It is probably a good idea to call the place and ask if they think there are going to be spaces when you arrive.

The website has changed. Here is the current campground website:
http://www.telluride-co.gov/index.aspx?nid=181

We stayed here for two nights in Sept 2015. Very pleasant campground. Had a table and a fire ring. Our site #46 was more isolated then others with bushes all around. It was fairly flat but I did move one tire up on a rock to make it more level. Vault toilets were very clean. The camp hosts told us multiple times to use the bear lockers. We did! We think we went past a bear who was making very lowed noise in the woods just off the road. It freaked us out. Bring bear spray!

They closed on Sept 30th, I believe, for winter.

There are water spigots in about 4 spots.

You can walk down to Aspen (about 4.5 miles) mostly on a very nice trail. We walked down and back and it was a super pleasant adventure. We was the John Denver memorial in the park in Aspen. We were told there is good boondocking up on Independance pass off Lincoln Road (road?). There is a campground off this forest road and then a bunch of boondocking after that. The road has been worked on and you no longer need a 4x4 to get to the boondocking - we were told.

No Cell service on Verizon.

Custer State Park has national park level beauty. South Dakota must have snatched up this area before the Feds could get a hold of it.

Blue Bell has gas, a store, a laundry, and a lodge with a really nice restaurant. There are also small cabins for rent. Pretty French Creek meanders around the area. There are nice shower stalls in the bathroom with plenty of hot water (no quarters needed).

See our blog (in blog tab) for more photos and area info.

We had a great time here. It's a grassy tree filled campground. From time to time buffalo are know to roam through the campground, so watch the young'ns!

If you hike off trail or in taller grasses you stand a great risk of getting many tics. I went off trail fallowing some wild turkeys and then later in the middle of the night I fell something and discovered I had two ticks attached to me. It was a pain getting one of them off. That is the only downside to the park that I can see and you can avoid this problem if you are careful.

We had a couple great meals at the nearby (walk to) restaurant.

The park is chocked full of wild animals that you can get pretty close to. You are also near Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments.

Our time here was wonderful. We would definitely go back.

Currently the campground is free after labor day and then completely closes around Oct 2nd (normally during the summer there is a fee). The camp host leaves after labor day and the concessionier that runs the place for the forest service let's folks overnight for free. It's kind of a fishing access with a boat ramp. There was a guy stationed at the boat ramp each day in order to check boats for invasive species and the spray off the boats. He also sold firewood. We had a really pleasant time. There is a hike that goes to the other campgrounds on the east side of the lake. It's basically two big parking lots. The upper lot has tables and grills off the sides of the lot. You could put up a tent in this area, it looks like. There is also the boat ramp lot, but you can't camp in it as they lock a gate to that lot at night. There is a lot just above the boat ramp lot but you can only vehicle camp in it, it looks like. There are great views here. There was one vault toilet open in the upper lot while we were there. No trash or water in the off season.

We stayed one night in the Peg Leg area. This is a dispersed camping area and there were a lot of ATVs zipping around while we were there on this Saturday night.

It's a large area so you don't have to be right next to anyone. We drove around a bit and found a nice spot with an existing fire pit. The land is nice and level in this area.

As we drove on to the dispersed camping area we notice a big sign that said the land was "for sale." It may be that some of this land is private and that it will be sold at some point and developed. Let's hope not as it was a great boondocking spot.

The sunset and sunrise where fantastic as the area is surrounded by mountains.

I would definitely want to return. Verizon was working weakly at our spot. If we stood on one side of our van we could get fairly good verizon, on the other side it did't work as well. A booster would help here.

There was some noise from ATVs zooming by, but I enjoyed watching them. Luckly the trail they were using was downwind from us so we didn't eat there dust. Watch that. (One star deduction for ATV noise and potential dust.)

Nearby is the Clark Dry Lake bed dispersed camping area that might not have as many ATVs. We didn't have time to check it out this trip.

The next morning we drove into Borrego-Springs and had a great breakfast at Kendall's Cafe. We also took the great nearby Palm Canyon Hike and the huge metal sculptures in the area.

Poverty flats / Snowbird mesa seems to allow long term boondocking. Please keep it clean or we will undoubtedly lose this wonderful spot.

You will find others out here but you can still find your own private spot. I found a spot on the mesa edge at: 36.485375, -114.446117.

I had a great view to the north off the side of the mesa. I could see the lights of the Moapa Valley. It was very pleasant out there. I lit up my propane campfire after enjoying the sunset. In nearby Overton, there is an Indian / history museum (Lost City Museum) that you can tour. There is a good sized grocery down in the Moapa Valley also. Lake Mead and Valley of Fire State Park are not far.

It was nice and quiet here. Once in a while I would see another RVer taking a walk out on the Mesa, but other then that and a car or two headed back and forth from their RV, it was really peaceful.

This is no Slab city, in that it is very clean and tidy up here. People don't junk it up. If you want to bring a bunch of junk up here, forget it, you won't fit in. Head to Slab City!!!!

I can't remember how good the cell on my Verizon was but I remember I made calls and got on the internet for a bit, so it must have been at least OK.

We loved this place for our short visit to San Diego. You can get to downtown San Diego in about 35 minutes. This lake is very beautiful and quiet. Our campsite was on the top of a hill with a fantastic overview of the lake. The hilltop also had great sunset views and views of the Lakeside city below. Just a wonderful place. We had electric and water hookups. There may have been sewer, but we didn't use it. There was a bathroom right on the center of the hill. It had two private no extra fee shower rooms and normal bathrooms. There were other shower and bathrooms facilities at other location in the campground.

It is run by the Helix Water District. We heard that they may close the place as it is not getting enough visitors. That would be a total crime as this is a great spot.

We tried to go to Santee Lakes campground, but we don't have an RV manufactures sticker on our home made camper van and so Santee will not let scofflaws like us in. You have to have a fancy RV with all the trimmings to get into that one. This place was much much better anyway!

We had a great hike around most of the lake. It was just a great relaxing, no hassle place in a beautiful setting.

This is a fishing lake with a launch and a couple of fishing docks and a kids fishing area that is stock and little kids where catching big fish!!!! They allow some night boat fishing ... check on the schedule.

On most weekdays (M-Thur) you can only hike halfway around the lake and back. We guessed this was to give the waterfoul a break from people during the week. It was still a nice hike. There is a flume trail from an interesting old flume that was historic in the area. This could be a heart pumper trail for some great exercise.

I am a fan of the Avi. I've stayed there dry camping and I have stayed in the hotel, multiple times.
The Avi has a really nice pool area with a big jacuzzi. It's got a nice waterfall you can soak your back in. It's really relaxing. The hotel will charge dry campers 10 bucks to get into the pool area during the summer. In the cooler weather months there is no one at the entry fee station and I could not figure a way to pay to get into the pool so I waited until someone came out and I slithered in before the gate shut. (I made up for getting in free by dropping 10 bucks in the one armed bandit.)

There is a nice buffet there. They have a multi-screen movie theater. There are other restaurants in the casino. There's a nice beach area and a boat launch area. There is a KOA RV campground also next to the golf course. I think if you stay there the casino pool is included.

It's a fun place. The dry camping lot is kinda dusty but it is large. The casino is nice and the rooms are relatively cheap if you need a place to rest on your travels with a nice shower.

I shall return!

The casino lets RVs park in their large lot. There are No Overnighting signs all over, but I guess the Casino doesn't care and the signs are not enforced. There were a lot of RVs there. Many were staying a very long time. Apparently they drop a lot of money in the casino, so I guess that makes the casino friendly to it.

There is a nice walk along the river that goes quite a way. Usually it's quiet at night in the parking lot. Rarely there is some excitement from a drunk guy creating a ruckus but there is security for the casino that takes care of it.

I though it was a good overnighter and I had the buffet breakfast at the Riverside. Basic food, nothing special. I really enjoyed a good long walk in the morning. If you head north on the walk you can cross the hwy on a walkway over the road and go all the way up to the lake. That was a great hike! Bike riding would be good.

I enjoyed myself there, got a good sleep and had some food and a nice walk. I would do it again.

I have a couple photos in my blog in the tab.