Chief Hosa Campground

This was a beautiful campground. Close to the city for anything we needed to do but also close to all the things to do in the mountains. Would stay again!

*if you take long showers the lights will turn off on you in the bathroom. We took a lantern in.

Another beautiful drive through the mountains on I-70. The campground is right off the exit but wooded and quiet for the most part, considering the busy highway traffic. Backing into site RV04 was uphill and took a spin around the park to decide which way to come in. The park filled up for the weekend as expected and we did not enjoy our neighbor who was too close and on top of us and their barking dog they left alone in their trailer for hours. But other than that the park is nice, the hosts were pleasant and helpful, and there were plenty of trees and chipmunks. Shower rooms were nice and clean, and coin-operated. One quarter gets you at least two minutes.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is very close and is worth a visit. Lookout Mountain is a nice drive down to Golden, and on the weekend, cyclists invade the area en masse. Also just one exit east, and only a couple of miles, is a very good NY style pizza joint as well as a top-notch bbq place with live music on Sundays.

The reason I choose to give this park 4 stars is the showers: they are coin operated and a pain in the rear. You can only insert one quarter at a time, and have to wait for the water to run out before you insert the next. There are also no laundry facilities on site, which isn't a deal breaker, but gives you an idea of the amenities available... There is dump station, but no working water at the station, so you cannot rinse your hoses or fill your fresh water tank.

That being said, the park IS beautiful, and conveniently located off of I-70. The whole park is covered with tall trees, and gets a fair amount of sunshine. The tent camping sites are awesome too! Several of the sites are very small, so be sure to check the City of Denver website for information on the size limit of sites. RV sites 19-22 seem to be highly sought after because they border a forested area that has tent camp sites. There are only 3 sites with full hook-ups, but beware most units will not be able to reach the septic hook-up without several hoses. Call and ask about theses sites. We stayed in 5, but then couldn't even reach the hook-up with two hoses... not worth the extra $3 a day and cramped conditions of those sites compared to the others.

Portions of the park also also have a steep graded road.

We absolutely loved Chief Hosa Campground. We stayed here for the maximum allowed two week time period, right before they closed for the season. It's a large tree-filled park and we really enjoyed our entire time there. We did have one of the few (3) sites with full hook ups right next to the shower rooms. I agree with the other reviewer that the coin operated showers are a pain, but they are becoming increasingly common. We now have a rig we can shower in so it wouldn't be a problem going forward. We had a concrete pad with picnic table too so it was easy to do our outdoor cooking. There is a very large community gathering area there with tons of picnic tables and a large campfire area.

Our favorite feature by far was the Chief Hosa Trail, a short little hiking trail right from the campground that we took daily walks on 1-2 times per day with the dog. More than a walk, but easier than a real hike... it was nice to get out into that nature every day, as we were also driving into the city every day.

Everyone we worked with at the campground was extremely nice and helpful.

Although listed in Golden, the closest town is Evergreen.

All in all we loved this place and would absolutely return. Just wish you were allowed to stay longer than two weeks!

We found this to be a nice, attractive campground, but then again we like wooded/natural settings more than rows of concrete. We only had a 30-amp connection, but while it was hot in Denver, this park is 2,000 feet higher and the air was cool enough that we didn't need our air conditioners. We had no sewer connection, but since we were only there two nights it wasn't a problem. It's very surprising that guests need to pay to use the dump station. Our electric and water hookups were on the wrong side, so we had to run the wire and hose under the coach, right to the middle of our camping area. The RV sites are a little closer together than we'd normally find in a public park. Our site #9 was pretty unlevel for our motorhome (low in back), but a shorter RV probably wouldn't have as much issue with the slope. AT&T had 2 bars of LTE and decent speeds, Verizon had 2 bars of LTE and was pretty slow. We didn't bother trying our cell booster. The interstate noise was noticeable when we were outside but it wasn't a bother. There's a trail right out from the campground, and a 1.5+ mile dirt road loop around Genesee Park which was great for our dog walks. Walmart is a mile away. We'd stay here again if we could find a better site (more level, sewer and/or 50-amp connection, utilities on the correct side).

We were greated by the camp host; both were friendly and helped us get to our site. We stayed in site 21. It is a nose low and slightly tilted to the right site. It is stated as a pull through. I would call it more of a pull off the side of the road. The hookups are up a small hill about 20ft away from the rig. We had good water and good power (30amp). There is a nice trail that will take you to the buffalo viewing area, approximately a 1-2 mile loop. They have had bear sightings this year, but hey you are in their house. To be expected. Hauling out was a bit of a chore. We have a 40 ft fifth wheel and making the up hill turn was tight with trees on both sides. Good location to Denver and the front range. As far as noise you can hear the highway traffic outside of the rig at night.

This park is owned by the city of Denver and is touted as “America’s first motor-camping area”, built in 1918. Sites are a mixture of RV and tent-only, and not really big rig friendly as there are lots of trees, steep roads, and tight turns.
We were lucky to get one of only a few full hookup sites as we needed to dump our tanks. The full hookup sites are only $2.50 more per night, which was surprising given the $23 fee to use the dump station even if you are staying in the campground.
The site was not real level and it appeared that few of them are, but our site, #4 was huge and we didn't have close neighbors. The restrooms were clean but we didn't use the pay showers.
Although just 20 miles from Denver it is 2,000' higher so quite a bit cooler. We did use the A/C and had no issues with the power. Noise from I-70 was noticeable throughout the campground, but we enjoyed our stay.

We would stay here again, mostly due to the accessibility to Denver and Summit County. However, the slots are really narrow, especially for a rig with two slides. Ours, slot 16, which is next to a slight inclined bank, seemed particularly narrow as we lost some of the width to the hill so that our outside sitting area was only as wide as the picnic table once we pulled in. Definitely bring a tablecloth if planning to use the table! The camp itself is lovely with large trees and an easy, assessable hike to the buffalo lookout. We had really lovely cool temps - so much, that I had to turn the heat on in mornings to warm it up some. A welcome change in September for this Texas girl. I also went through my first thunder storm in the RV. This certainly caused a lot of mess with the pine trees as cones and needles dropped everywhere! The issues mentioned in other reviews about the steep inclines, tight turns, and low hanging branches are a driving issue, especially after a big rain. Yes, there is noise from highway, but it was white noise to me and the access to get to the highway easily for day trips was a benefit. But the biggest issue I have with the campground, especially one run by the City, is the $23 to dump. There are only two slots with full hookups and it sounds like that is only $2.50 extra per night, so a $23 fee seems really high. We didn't use the showers or restrooms so I cannot comment on those.

A nice campground close to Denver. Some noise from I70, but not too bad. The sites are clean and level, although dirt. We did not feel too crowded and the host are very nice to work with. The Rangers made frequent rounds throughout the day and everything is clean and neat. We loved this location as a great place to do our shakedown camping run in our new Rig - it even got down to 32, which was a bit of a surprise to us. Everything worked out great! They do charge to dump and it's a basic dump station with no support for tank washing, but there are other locations close by that do support that. All in all a great couple of days in a nice area!

We loved being so close to Denver and yet higher in elevation so the weather was cooler. The park is pretty tight but accessible if you go slow and carefully. We fit our 34’ fifth wheel into site 17 backed all the way to the back of the site. The rangers are very strict about not parking on the grass, even one part of one tire. :) Cell signals were good because it’s close to I-70. Some highway noise at night, but not enough to keep us awake or bother us. Did not use the dump station because of the price and difficult angle when leaving our site. Bathrooms were clean. Showers cost $0.25 for 2 min with a maximum of 2 quarters at a time.