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Aspen Grove is a dry camping loop in Curt Gowdy State Park. The park is a hiker's or mountain biker's dream. The campground sits on a mountain top at 7300'. It sits between Cheyenne 25 miles to the east and Laramie 25 miles to the west. Getting here requires some long ascents and I saw a few pickups towing fifth wheels on the side of the road with radiators steaming.

We saw many Avid Adventure groups of 13 or more and many campers from other loops using the day use area here as starting points for trail adventures. So the site is beautiful, and far less crowded than the other loops, but people and vehicles are constantly going by.

We enjoyed riding our Lectric e-bikes on the nice roads in the park and some of the tamer trails.

This is also the equestrian loop, although we only saw one group using the corral to exercise their horses overnight before rushing out the next morning.

Getting level here takes patience and determination as these spots slope upward and sideways toward the campground entrance.

We have no Verizon service, but our Verizon wifi with Starlink was outstanding.

Bring a few packs of mouse traps. We just tossed numbers 6 and 7 in the trash this morning.

We boondock, usually half of every month. Paying for it here was a bit of a hard pill to swallow, especially right next door to Medicine Bow National Forest. We chose to pay this time to ensure a spot after a long travel leg, but we would not pay for dry camping here again.

We have a Monaco Knight 38PDQ. Getting up the mountain on county 3A was tight, but doable. The last 1/2 mile on F30 is a "little" rough so take it slow. In the loop for RVs there are 7 sites, all overlooking a beautiful valley. In the distance you can see Canon City which is really pretty at night.

For coaches our size or larger I strongly recommend site 5. There is a ramp upward but it becomes flat enough at the top to level up. We nosed in to have more wheelbase on the level section, and to really enjoy the view out the front window. Although we could also have leveled in sites 1 and 3 as well.

We had to say we had slides on one side only to reserve the site, however we saw right away that we could open all four slides and still walk around our rig.

There is good spacing between the sites with both trees and natural vegetation for privacy. We faced mostly east/west and had perfect solar to top off our battery bank every day. We put our Starlink antenna a ways in front of the coach and it shows no obstructions.

Shay, our camp host, is really terrific. She showed us that there is potable water available near the Canon City Visitor Center. We appreciate this as we can have our tank topped off before heading to our next boondocking location. We got our current water at the Poncha Springs Visitor Center and had to wait 1.5 hours for locals to fill large tanks in the back of their pickups.

If you hike or mountain bike there are several long trails that vary from moderate to difficult. I found the intermediate trails great hiking.

Locally there is the Royal Gorge suspension bridge, the Skyline drive, the Royal Gorge Route Train, museums, a large off-leash dog park, and all the standard amenities a medium sized town will have.

Highway 50 from Poncha Springs and Salida is a handful and requires your full attention (too bad because it is so ruggedly beautiful!). You should really have a dash cam to get the full experience later.

We normally don't pay for BLM, but this place is quiet and special and worth it to us. It is a real blessing to be back on a solid crushed rock base after weeks of sand and silt.

We would come back.

We arrived early Thursday afternoon and found only 3 out of 14 sites taken. The pads are concrete and pretty level. 50 amp electric and water at each sight for 20 dollars per night.

The park has a large lush recreation area with a good frisbee golf course, lighted basketball court, bean bag toss and horseshoe pits. Several outdoor pavilions and two modern kids playgrounds. Clean restrooms. It is a clean and nicely maintained city recreation area.

We used Pioneer Park campground as a hub for trips out to see local landmarks -- Chimney Rock National Historic Sight, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Agate Fossil Beds, etc. Many attractions worth experiencing within a 40 minute to an hour drive.

We ended up staying four nights to enjoy all the nearby sights.

We saw a lot of campers just pull through to use the free dump station and grab some water.

We rolled in with our 39' Monaco Knight DP on 8/9/2019 and stayed 2 nights and 3 days. $25.00 per night in this wooded state campground. Sites are spacious and, in the Canvasback loop, no screening between sites (other loops had more privacy, but this loop had the best lake views). You will see and hear your neighbors. The only amenity at the site is 30 or 50amp service, ours was 30.

We stayed in site 116. We nosed our rig in for the lake view out the front. Maneuvering around the park was easy and parking was fine, although I saw several bare spots on the tree beside our rig from previous attempts (the tree won).

The sites are well-packed gravel with giant fire rings that were cut from concrete culvert pipe. We would prefer that they were further away from the rig. This site was level, but the area is hilly and leveling could be difficult in some of the sites. Simple toilets and dumpsters were dispersed to each loop.

We had 3 bars of Verizon for phones and our Verizon hotspot kept up easily with all of our devices all weekend.

The lake is beautiful. There is a boat launch and small peer near the Canvasback look, great for our kayak. This loop is on the opposite side of the lake from the main boat launch/restaurant/boat rental/camp store. Surprisingly, each loop has a nice little camp store with basic necessities, bait, and cool treats.

Mowed trails through the rolling hills around the lake were stunning with views through the trees of the lake, grassland meadows, and wildlife. I came around a corner and almost ran into a pair of deer. And there's nothing like the sound of 50 geese landing or taking off at the same time.

We are coming back in a couple weeks bring more family and will try a lake view site from another loop. We also reserved one of their 4-person pontoons for a picnic supper on the lake.

We will definitely stay on site 116 again.

Nice drive through the country to Lowden Memorial State Park. Friendly staff, very clean park with nice clean bathrooms and showers. We loved all the beautiful, mature trees. We had to do some jockeying to get our 38' Monaco Knight into our site between the trees, but it was worth it. We caravanned with friends, we were in site 50 they in 52, both 30 amp sites (as were most). The primary things to do are easy hikes on beautiful trails, seeing the Blackhawk statue, taking the stairs down to the Rock River and water sports. There's not much privacy between sites, but we always set out extra chairs to meet people anyway. It's a beautiful, inexpensive place to stay and we'll be back .