roadtripper5705311

We live about 75 minutes north of here so we wanted to do a drive by to scout it out for potentially camping here. While the park itself is pretty cool with an amazing overlook view, good river access for kayaking/swimming and an abundance of trails, the campground is forced at best.

There is a small pullout road that has a grouping of 3 camp sites, followed by some cabins (think KOA style) with another 3 campsites at the end of the loop. The campsites seem like they were ill planned and just tossed there. Honestly, the sites are just ugly. Of the 6 campsites, the only one I’d even consider in a pinch is site 3. The last 3 sites on the loop are the worst. They all share a common gravel area and are all on top of each other.

Was hoping for something nicer. It’s a shame they don’t take the “upper parking” spot down by the river and make it into a camping loop as it’s perfectly situated for it.

Location is really what drew me to this campground. To be within 45 minutes of Telluride (30-45 min), Ouray (15 min) and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (45-50 min) was perfect for us since these were the places were wanting to see. While the woodsy part of me wanted to say in Elk Ridge, the part of me that knew we had some dry camping ahead and we wanted to be spoiled with full hookups won out and we stayed in Pa-Co-Chu-Puk. After staying here and exploring the 3 different campgrounds, I liked Elk Ridge better, but I did really enjoy being along the river, having full hookups and having a paved pad.

The 1 star ding was for the $7/day extra to stay here and the fact that I just didn't get warm fuzzies about Pa-Co-Chu-Puk (I know, purely subjective and based on preference). The river is beautiful, the ponds are nice if you fish, the playgrounds were loved by my kids, the nice laundry room was convenient, the river walk was relaxing. All-in-all, it's a good campground and consistent with our limited experience at other CO state park campgrounds. The staff weren't overly friendly, but not rude. The grounds and campsite were clean and well-maintained.

We were a little confused with check-in. Pa-Co-Chu-Puk is about 2 miles North of the main entrance so go straight there if you're staying in this campground. All of the sites I believe in Pa-Co-Chu-Puk were paved and level pull-thrus. About 1/4 are river-front and if you want to stay in one of these, I advise you to plan way ahead and reserve as soon as they come available. While these sites are river front, you're not ON the river. The sites sit about 20-30 vertical feet above the river. It's still nice to see the river (when you walk to the edge...there's bushes in the way) and hear it. There is very little shade here...so good if you need TV reception, bad if you want to hang a hammock or feel woodsy. While there's no amazing mountain views from here (you can see a smidgen of them in the distance), there is a great view of the rock wall across the river that is quite enjoyable to visually explore.

The campground feels very safe and I had no trouble letting my kids roam around without worrying about them. It was fun going to the main part of the park and checking out the teepee and views overlooking the lake. The kids will enjoy the hill-side super slide near the beach.

We'd stay here again for sure, but probably stay in Elk Ridge to get more of a woodsy, campy feel. Check out our blog linked in the "blog" column above for a much more detailed review.

We didn't stay here but stumbled on it as we pulled off of the highway. I couldn't believe what a genius idea this was to have a safe, easy, cheap place that caters to overnighters on a long stretch of highway. I would take these kind of campgrounds ANY DAY over a Walmart or Cracker Barrel. The campground is tucked behind a gas station...easy to miss. But looked clean and easily accessible. Do yourself a favor, stay here if you're crossing SD and need to pull off for the night.

Since very few camping options are reservable around Tetons, except for $70/nt Colter Bay RV Park, we knew we'd be making a rather last minute decision on where to camp. We camped over Labor Day weekend. We had really wanted to try out some of the amazing boondocking around here, but ultimately, after 20 days on the road, the amenities (read, laundry!) at this campground won us over.

We showed up early from Yellowstone, probably around 10 am. They had a small site immediately available but it was generator free. We decided to go ahead and take it then immediately I went and hung out around the entrance waiting on a generator site to open up. Didn't have to wait long and they let me switch sites. Super friendly and knowledgeable guy checking us in.

The loops all seem to be pull-thrus which is nice, but to be honest, they look kinda rough. Looking down the road, all you see is campers lined up down the road (the pull-thrus only take the camper about 3' off of the road). But surprisingly, hidden on the other side of the camper are large sites looking right into the woods. I was pleasantly surprised with how huge our site was and how private it felt. While this wasn't my favorite set-up, I loved our site.

From the campground you can hike about 1/3 of a mile to the lakeshore that is amazing! It looks over Lake Jackson to the Tetons in the background. There is a formal beach area near the visitor's center, but the whole shore is amazing. Great place to go watch the sunset.

The amenities are the best reason to stay here. There's a great little grocery store/gift shop. They sell liquor, hot food and general grocery items. The ranger said that they're required to charge normal rates for essentials, so milk and such was not jacked up in price. There's a Starbucks coffee shop here!!! They charge about double what you're used to but hey, you're in the wilderness. They have great, free WIFI in the store and laundromat. There's showers and laundry here. It's got about everything you need.

We drove through the RV park and it's TOTALLY different. I know some people have to have full hook-ups but it felt really cramped and had no character. The campground is wooded but they still stack-em up in the RV park. Personally I don't think it's worth 2.5 times the cost.

It's about a 30 minute drive to Jenny Lake but it's pretty. There's also a gas station about a mile from the campground. Overall, this is a great place to experience the Tetons, just know that you'll be driving a good bit as this is pretty far North of all the action.

Let me start by saying that we LOVED this campground...with this caveat. If you need electricity and water, it's the best thing around for tent/popup/small RV camping. If you're more comfortable dry camping, they I'd stay in the National Park in a heartbeat.

That being said, we camped here for a couple of reasons. When we camped here last summer, we were brand new to the camping scene. We had used our popup twice before this trip and were still learning the ropes. We weren't ready or prepared to bite off dry camping quite yet. When I camp I really like to be in the woods. I don't like RV parking lots that are so common in the private campground world where you're all lined up in a row feet from the next huge RV. Camping to me is being where the sticks, dirt and views are. Not saying that there's anything wrong with private campgrounds in general...and we will inevitably stay at some periodically. But my heart is in the woods. Other than the National Park campgrounds, Estes Park Campground at East Portal is the only place you can find in Estes park with power/water that's wooded.

Planning for our trip last year we could barely find any info at all on this campground. I pretty much had to guess on which site to reserve. Let me jump to the point and say that sites 34 and 38 work well for a camper, 64 being the best (it has AMAZING views and is huge, just a long way from the restroom). Sites 39 and 40 are adequate. If you’re in a tent, A3 is amazing! It’s secluded with a view overlooking the reservoir and the mountains. Otherwise, tent campers should stay on the top perimeter, sites 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 42-44, 46, 48, 49, 51-54. It’s nice to back up to the woods and gives you a little bit of space. Getting level in the campground can be quite a challenge depending on which site you're on.

So, how are the restrooms??? They actually weren’t bad at all. The restroom near site 38 is older than the other one. It’s cleaned each morning, but got it buggy and grubby towards the evening. The other bathroom is REALLY nice. The last few mornings we picked the newer one because, well, it’s newer. It also has 2 shower stalls that are connected by one open changing area which worked well for me and my boys to all grab a quick shower (might not have been as much fun with a stranger). The showers in the older bathroom are individual stalls. They’re sufficient but nothing special and kind of tight. All together there are 5 shower stalls for male and female. One really nice touch is that each bathroom has dish cleaning sink. We’d never stayed at a campground where they had a wash station and we found that it was REALLY nice to have. And the kids actually loved doing the dishes themselves…now how to reproduce that at home?

There are no laundry facilities on site. We have 3 kids and of course, after a few days, we needed to do a laundry run. We found a great laundromat called Village Laundry that was fantastic. While our clothes were washing we found a really cool little coffee shop called Kind Coffee right on the edge of town along the river. We had a great time letting the kids play around the river while we enjoyed soaking up the sights and sounds (and the free Wifi!). It’s a great diversion.

One thing that was really fun about this campground was the level of intimacy with your neighbors. It didn’t feel crowded, but at the same time we were close enough to our neighbors to have easy conversations with them. We had lots of great talks, had wonderful neighbors and even made new friends with some folks that we were near. Now, if you had bad neighbors, it could be a different story, but overall we were overwhelmed by everyone’s friendliness while we were there. The campground is small enough that we felt comfortable letting our kids roam around. The playground was really nice and a short walk from most of the sites.

Tips

-Stop in at Brownfield’s Souvenir Shop for a little shopping. It was by far the cheapest souvenir shop in town and had some great apparel options for about half the price of the other stores.

–Donut Haus– This little donut shop ranks as the number one restaurant in Estes Park, and for a good reason. You better get there early as the line is out the door till they sell out. They were very reasonably priced too. I think I spent about $15 for a dozen donuts of various sizes and a large chocolate milk.

-Do the hike into the National Park from the camground. It's a 1 mile hike to Glacier Basin Campground in the park and the hike is beautiful.

Full disclosure...I'm more into woods and solitude. We're not much for private campgrounds and would pick a dry camping National Forest over amenities most days. That being said, we needed a quick 2-nighter in Gatlinburg and I just so happened to stumble onto this campground and I'm so glad I did!

The owners have thought about everything at this campground. At least 100 times I thought to myself, if I had a campground I would do exactly what they've done with_____. Little things like nice pool loungers, lights on power stations at each campsite, public safety discounts, cornhole, rough lap wood on the treehouses, pinteresty touches on everything...the list goes on and on. It's a small campground with an intimate touch and owners who live on property who are young and super friendly. It's clean, modern and top-notch. Not to mention, it has some really cool Glamping tents and tree houses!

There're 11 pull-thrus and 9 back-ins I believe. Fairly level (needed 2 blocks for side-by-side leveling) with full hook-ups. The pull-thrus have about 10' between sites and the back-ins have a little more space and back up to a really steep hill. Adjacent to the RV sites is an area for 5 tents that is somewhat private and nice. We really enjoyed the pavilion which had ping pong and cornhole.

The closest grocery store and gas are 1 1/2 miles away (Food Lion). Gatlinburg is about 10 minutes away. There is a trolley stop at the campground for $.50/pp. They sell firewood for $5 and ice for $2.50. Washing machine is high end and $4/load...but dryer is much cheaper. Super nice showers and bathroom. Welcome shop has some souvenirs, snacks and rv supplies.

There is only one negative for this campground...and that's the noise from the highway. It's right on Highway 321 so it's loud. Not too bad if you have a hard sided camper. But if you're in one of the Glamping tents, a treehouse or a tent of your own, you'll notice the noise. The farther away from the highway the better. Site 11 is perfect. Oh, and they have great WiFi.

Stay here...you'll love it!

We were hoping to boondock down the road overlooking the Badlands but temps were slated to be 96 degrees (late August) so we opted for a last minute plan B. It came down to Sleepy Hollow or Arrow in Wall. I'm glad we picked Sleepy Hollow. After driving through Arrow, we definitely picked the better of the two.

Not a whole lot to say about this CG. They have lots of options/pricing depending on what kind of hookups you need. Pricing was cheap for 30a full hookups. Pool was kinda dumpy, but with it being in the high 90s, the kids enjoyed a dip. They have a small store with a few basics. Employees were friendly. Bathrooms old and dumpy. It's a pretty old and run-down CG but it was pleasant enough for our stay. It's 2 blocks from Wall Drug if you're into that (we went but were overwhelmed by its cheesiness). Flat sites, some super-close together.

All-in-all, I'd stay here again if I had to but if the weather were more temperate, I would've much rather stayed closer to the park. There is a grocery store in Wall that's small but not too bad.

We opted to pull off I-70 earlier than planned because of some crazy wind. Called and got the last site! For $40 to get full hookups I was quite pleased. We arrived just after they closed and I had an envelope on the door with receipt and explicit directions on how to get to my site. The site was level enough to stay hooked up for an early morning departure which was great. Water pressure was fantastic. Site wasn't overly pretty or spacious, kinda scraggly. But to park, get some A/C, wifi, dump my tanks and let the kids get wet in the pool after a day on the road, it was fantastic. They have a big "pillow" for the kids to jump on and a unique pool that was a circle, 3' deep on the sides and 6' deep in the middle. Pool area was old and eh...But the pool itself was cool. Overall, was only in the campground for less than 10 hours but made for a great stop through Kansas. Btw, there's a Starbucks at the gas station on the way out! There was a lot of road noise but didn't affect my sleep.

We were looking for a quick little getaway near Atlanta so we decided to give this park a shot. I knew it was a relatively new park so I was looking forward to checking it out. Overall it's a great park with some room for improvement.

We arrived on a Thursday morning during the school year so it was expectedly quiet and empty which was nice. Check-in was easy (though Ranger lady wasn't friendly or helpful at all) and we were off to find our campsite. The campground layout is CONFUSING...and this is an understatement. Being a Georgia State Park you have to go hunting for your site since you can't reserve a specific site and let me tell you, I literally got lost driving through. There are some places that you have like 4 options straight ahead of you and you don't know which is the road and which are sites. Some sites literally look like the road and you’re 50 yards into it and realize it's really a campsite. It is a strange, strange layout and I'm not a fan. Some sites are all by themselves with nice privacy and others are stacked up on top of each other 4 deep.

The sites are relatively level and they are all paved. Many have nice stacked stone walls which is a nice touch. All the RV sites have charcoal grey water cans which was really nice. Keep in mind, the RV sites do not have tent pads so you’re better off at the tent sites if you're not in an RV. One big disappointment is how few sites have lake views. We saw stayed at site 10 and had an amazing (albeit very woodsy) view of the lake with lots of room for the kids to play. Site 7 is probably the best site in the park. If lake viewing is your thing, look for a COE campground…they excel at Lake front camping. Of all the campsites here, I would only want to stay at 4-5 of them. Coming into the campground, the left side of the campground is way less confusing and a more normal layout. Most of the confusing layout is the right side of the campground.

The beach is amazing. They actually have real sand, not the granular rocky sand so common at lake beach sites. The water level was down a little bit but we still had a blast swimming and floating in the tubes at the beach. The beach also has a nice covered Pavilion, bathroom, outdoor showers and overpriced kayak rentals.

There are a few nice trails, though none are very long. One nice little nugget we found was a hidden dock. It is just below site 7 and was off a little spur trail. It is a 10x15 regular boat dock that offered us tons of fun swimming and jumping and floating in the lake. IF you were lucky enough to land site 6 or 7 you could use it as your own personal boat dock if you brought a boat...but there's no guarantees here.

This campground is definitely one of the most unique campgrounds I've been to. My kids had more fun here than Vogel and other state parks we've been to so we would probably come back some time. But we did luck out with the second best campsite in the park (7 is the best) so I think our experience would have been less amazing had we not had direct access to the lake from our site.

Please go over to my blog to read about how horrible this place is! It really is totally horrible. It's the kind of place that needs to be bulldozed and totally revamped and it could be cool. It's like something out of a horror movie. It was run-down, redneck, totally trashed. It's bad. Enough said, check out the blog post. Do yourself a favor and go a few miles down the road to the state park.