Forest Road 272 Dispersed Camping

Lots of spaces, quiet. Close to the Mt. Prenston cliffs. Went for Memorial weekend 17. Only down fall was that there were a lot of ticks. Other than that nice place

Great camping sites for anything from a tent to the largest Class A or 5th wheel. Several pull out sites, as well as many back in the trees, all with a view to die for! You're sitting at the base of Mount Antero and have a view to the northwest of the Chalk Cliffs on the side of Mount Princeton - both 14,000 foot + peaks in the Collegiate Range.

Beware - this is a popular spot for locals, especially on the weekends, but they're all nice and pretty well-mannered...just a little more competition for a campsite spot! Pretty quiet the rest of the week, with a couple of ATV's and a few horseback riders who use this area as a starting point.

No cell service to speak of past the cattle guard that leads you into the Brown's Creek/Raspbery Gulch area, but the peace and quiet is a great trade-off!

Getting in and out is a breeze from Highway 285 - turn off at CR 270 and head straight west. The road turns to dirt, but its flat and wide until you get farther back into the forest. There's no water, electric or dump station, as it's the San Isabel National Forest, but it's a boondocker's dream! I listened to elk bugling and a pack of coyotes - that was as noisy as it got!

We stayed here for three nights this past weekend, and we were in the first campsite after the left turn where 272 & 274 split. Beautiful, large site with views of Mt Princeton and Mt. White. Nice fire ring surrounded by trees. Very clean site, save some horse dung on the outskirts of the campsite. The roads were in wonderful condition (if you venture up 273, that's a bit rougher/rockier, but still doable if you take it nice & slow). We scouted out at least another 7-8 campsites for our next visit, and horse dung seems to be the common theme - but if you don't have dogs who will seek it out obsessively like ours, then you probably won't even notice it. Proximity to several beautiful trails, including the Browns Creek Falls and Little Browns Creek Falls trails, which will take you up to the Colorado Trail. A bit windy while we were there (tis the season), but beautiful otherwise. Can't wait to come back. I'm sure it will be busier in the summer - but Thursday night, we were about the only ones around, and even over the weekend, only a few sites were occupied. Also- we had cell service at our site, but the further back you go, it does disappear.

Super great free place with lots of sites and privacy. A bit noisy due to OHV trails.

Seriously guys. This spot. It's good. If you have a big rig - it's good. If you have a little rig - it's good. If you have a tent - it's good. If you have a horse - it's good. It's a good place.

There are 'spots' all along the roads (274/272) in the area. Many/most of them are big rig accessible and very large. Most are spaced so your won't see another camper. Some have mountain views, others mostly forest. Some have solar powering clearings.

The road is a bit washboarded in some areas - but not bad. A few cattle guards too.

We found the area to be ridiculously quiet at night. Some traffic on the road during the day - mostly headed up to the trailheads in the area.

Deer, elk and little critters abundant. Miles of trail and dirt road for running, hiking, and exploring. Saw several folks tote their horses along for the camping experience.

Verizon is a little weird - really good, then will suddenly drop out and appear again in a few feet. No issues once we whipped out our booster. Verizon signal went really far into the area - don't be afraid to scout deeper than the first few areas.

This is such a great spot. There are many sites to choose from, great hiking nearby, and relatively easy access to BV and Salida. I had good Verizon service so that wasn’t an issue. Most of the sites require a bit of leveling but, that comes with the territory. The road is washboard in places but overall, not bad at all.

Great spot, I highly recommend it. If you come, make sure to save some time to hike to the falls...they are pretty impressive.

This is a wonderful boon-docking area. We have easy access to Buena Vista and Salida.
Close to the hot springs in the area and the Arkansas River where there is a never ending play ground.

We have a 2015 Newmar Baystar with a toad. We had no trouble driving back in to the San Isabel Forest to find a place to park. There are several really nice spots.
There is a large herd of cattle that ventures through our area most everyday.

FYI:
There is no place to dispose of your trash, dump, or fill up with water in Salida or Buena Vista. Since our rig is equipped with solar, compost toilet and large water tank, we can stay awhile.

This is one of the better campgrounds in the area that we scouted. The sites are decently spaced apart, we couldn’t see or hear our neighbors. The reason why I say it’s semi-private is because all throughout the day people are driving in and out to get to and from the trailhead at the end of road 272. And they really like to look.
There are tagged cattle roaming the campground. They didn’t come very close but would stop about 20 yards away and stare at us. We heard a pack of coyotes, the trucks passing, and dogs barking; otherwise it was very peaceful. Because of the cattle, there’s a bunch of cow poop all around which attracted flies. I was disappointed that there was a lot of garbage in the fire pit and around the site. It is a pack-in pack-out campground, please bring a trash bag.
I’d suggest getting there early to secure a campsite. Most of the spots were taken when we arrived a little after 6pm.
Down the road at the trailhead is a vault toilet. The little browns creek is nice and cool. Trail up to the falls is 3 miles. Brilliant mountain views.

We stayed in the second area on the right as you drive west on FR-272. There was plenty of room for at least three more large rigs in this spot alone. There were more spots further up the road toward the Brown's Creek Falls trail head.
There was a fair amount of traffic on the road during the day, probably because of the trail heads in the area. The site was very quiet and beautiful.
Spotted a small heard of Antelopes just inside the forest gate.
The area we camped was about 8,700 feet in elevation. We hiked the 6 mile round trip to the falls which are at roughly 10,100 feet in elevation. It was a beautiful, but challenging hike because of the altitude.

So many spots back here for camping of any kind (tent, trailer, RV). 25 minutes from Salida. Roads are a little rough but everything was in place in our camper when we got there. Good views, dogs and campfires allowed (bring your own firewood). Awesome trail off of this road. Would definitely come back here.