HTR Durango Campground

A fantastic place to stay if you are visiting Durango. We stayed in a cabin right next to the small creek. You could hear the water running all night. If you don't mind the 5 mile drive into town then this is the place for you. We also saw tons of animals, wild turkeys, beavers and even a quick view of a lynx.

Facing the 4th of July holiday, potential for warm temperatures, and the possiblity of a bored grandson, we made reservations at Lightner Creek. They were glad we did, since not very many rigs fit into the very short site 47. The campground is in a beautiful setting, straddling Lightner Creek. Many of the sites are 30 amp although there are a few 50 amp sites also. There are both housekeeping cabins and "camper cabins" (12v. light only) scattered around. Most sites are heavily shaded. Some of the roads are asphalt while others are gravel. Pads vary - many need some effort to get the rig level. We're on the end of an inside row with trees on our left and a couple small trees in the grass between us and our neighbors. Utility locations are inconsistent. Our neighbor's utility connections are closer to our trailer than our picnic table is. The roads are narrow, and tree clearance keeps the bigger rigs on their toes as they navigate to their site.

It's a full house this weekend, including lots of families, but the campground is wonderfully quiet. No road noise, no generators allowed, and very little noise from children.

By the time you add the extra fee for the dog and the extra fee for the grandchild, and the taxes, it's not a cheap stay, but it IS very comfortable.

Because of the narrow valley, cell reception is weak. AT&T was none existant, Verizon was 2 bars of 3G but bumped to 3 bars of 4G with the antenna and amplifier. Wireless from the office was weak at our campsite. If I stayed at commercial parks like this more often, I'd add a WiFi booster to my arsenal.

Lightner Creek is a GREAT place to stay close to Durango! The owners were very accommodating and run a very nice campground. The grounds were very clean and kid friendly! They even have a pool!

We booked our stay online about 1 week prior to arrival after cancelling a trip to Yosemite due to a wildfire. We arrived, were quickly greeted and checked in without issue. The friendly camphosts then escorted us to our premium creekside site with full hookups and a small deck over the creek.

The sites were a little too close together for our liking, but we used the park as a base for a couple days of enjoying Durango rather than just hanging out in the park like we would while dry camping in the National Forest. The sites were generally pretty level and we had no issues with the hookups.

Bathrooms at the park were quite clean and well kept which makes the showering experience pleasant. Wifi access was non existent at our site and we would walk up to the office/laundry area to use the wifi.

Overall we enjoyed our stay here at Lightner Creek and would stay here again as a base for exploring the Durango area.

Mid May 2018
Lovely place down a country road and down in a small canyon. Pet place, laundry, ice cream in the lobby. Only down side is that they advertise WiFi but it does not work. So just chill and enjoy.......

Every now and then we'll "splurge" on an RV park. It's a chance for the kiddos to meet other young outdoorsfolk, maybe catch a playground or a swim, launder our soiled linens and selves and enjoy the freedom of just plugging into an electrical outlet without worrying whether or not the sun will continue to keep us in iTunes downloads and work emails...

After we checked in, though, it was clear that would be a bit irrelevant. The packet of papers they give you when you check in reads something to the tune of, "Sorry, but since we're in a box canyon, cell reception is spotty. Oh, and our WiFi exists, but it doesn't connect to the Internet necessarily." I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist and basically our experience. Thus, we scrubbed behind our ears and kicked our feet in the creek until the next day came and we could find ourselves once again in the beauty of the local BLM and national forestlands.

The best thing about this campground, in my less and less humble with age opinion, is the "bottom left" section which is for vans and tents. The spaces are much more spread out than most RV parks and offer at least a modicum of privacy.

Also, please reread that last sentence and note that the "i" in privacy should be read with a short sound, given the fanciness of the word modicum, despite my opinion that the word is downright vulgar.

We just have a 23 foot motorhome and should’ve looked at the sites first. There were two available on the creek but we chose one across the small dirt road. The creek was nice to have but we didn’t really check any of the amenities as it was just stop over on our way home.

Nice clean place we would stay there again.

I’ve never seen a place with so many written rules and regs.

This is not an RV Park that’s friendly to drop-ins. We arrived after dark because the state park we planned to stay at was closed. There were only 3 sites set aside for drop-ins and the other 2 were occupied.

In the morning we realized we were situated right next to the trash receptacles— as the trash collector arrived before 08:00 and began clanging the trash bins to empty them into the truck. Then a parade of people dropped off their waste before departing. All this about 15 feet from our door.

Nothing that attractive about the place and definitely not worth a $40 price. Will not return.

When we’re out on extended trips (two weeks on this run), we splurge on a few “nicer” stops and expected this to be one as we paid top dollar for a site. ($58/night). The Nickle and diming started when I made the reservation, starting with charging considerably more for each child. Considering we were out of season and my three toddlers didn’t even leave the camper because it was snowing, this didn’t feel great. Laundry $3 per wash, double what most places charge, and don’t have coin machines. No fires allowed (no biggie) but if you want an open flame have to rent a recycled steel wheel that they deliver for $10. I absolutely agree with the previous review, never seen so many rules and regulations anywhere! We were also hopeful for WiFi being at a private campground and their WiFi is limited to in their office only. No cell service on sprint which was also super disappointing trying to plan our Durango outings. Really tough to get in and out of as it’s a very cramped tiny campground, they crammed as many sites in as possible! Super unlevel spots, we live in our travel travel full time so I’m an expert at leveling and gave up after 20 mins. My Site neighbor was a bit more patient than I but was working on his for over an hour. Being spring camping it was wet and the roads and sites just turned into mud. Still have mud on my boots from our camp site!! Water pressure is shared per site and our splitter leaked like crazy so I just removed it Hoping a neighbor wouldn’t arrive and we lucked out. Evident they aren’t putting money back into the ground or prioritizing camper experience.

Stayed two nights in site 12 in early October 2019. Park is only 12 minutes from Durango and the rail road station and situated in a small valley along an intermittent stream. WiFi only in area of the office. Shower house clean and was warm during cold weather.
They do have a long list of rules but nothing we had an issue with.
Site 12 was very private and up next to the mountain.
Would stay here again.