Penitente Canyon Campground

I arrived on a Friday in late July and had no trouble finding a spot. Campground filled up on Saturday night but mostly cleared out each morning. Some nice hikes right out of the campground. Pit toilets were clean and well cared for.

We stopped at a local sports store in Del Norte and they told us about the campground. It was about 20 minutes out of town. The road in was in decent shape (just afew washboards). Our dogs loved watching Prairie Dogs!

The sites varied in size but there were a few large enough for a 30' TT.

The camp host was very helpful and knowledgable.

We stayed 2 days and did some hiking with the dogs. Great location

Wash board road can keep some away. Arrived mid-afternoon on a Friday and had our pick of camp sites. Great site up against the rocks. This area is perfect for rock climbers, mountain biker's, bird watchers and photographers. All sites are suited for tents, some site will accept mid-sized RV's or travel trailers under 30 feet. Watch out for the rattle snakes!

Peaceful and quiet most of the time. Great night sky gazing as CG is far from any major source of light pollution. Can get windy, especially at night. Rattlesnake country for sure, so be watchful. Surprisingly, signs say be bear aware; never saw either of those during the 7 days I was there, but doesn't mean there aren't any. Trees are small so very little shade available, but good for solar. Got there in early September after Labor Day and camp host had already gone . Only 4 other campsites were occupied when I arrived late on a Tuesday afternoon. Campsites 1 thru 4 located on the main road to the trailhead. Campsites 5 thru 15 and group sites 1 and 2 are up on the hill, turn left at the fee station to get there. Roads are accessible by 2WD passenger vehicles, but lots of washboarding, so the slower the better. Campsites are rock, dirt and gravel. Look out for large ant hills when picking a site. Vault toilets were clean. The only water source is a well house near the entrance to the canyon, spigot is outside the fence. Verizon cell coverage is marginal at best and pretty slow when you have it, but pretty good at the well house outside the canyon. Definitely one of my favorites at the right time of year. Full price is $11 per day. There are plenty of hiking trails through the canyon starting at the trailhead. Vault toilets and a sheltered picnic area is there too.

To get there from US285, take county road G west to La Garita. Right after you pass through La Garita you will come to a fork in the road. There will be a BLM bulletin board there. Take the gravel road 38A to the left. Within a half mile or less you'll come to a gravel road that goes right off of 38A, that is 40G to Penitente Canyon. There's also a smaller dirt road heading north at that turnoff, don't take that one. There's a sign about 50 feet from the road that says Penitente Canyon Recreational Area, blink and you'll miss it. I did. Turn right there onto 40G. Right after that you'll see a road to your left that leads to a well house. You can easily see the small building from the road. Water spigot is at the outside of the fence. Keep going, straight and you'll be at the CG in less than a mile. Safe camping!

Stayed here from a Thursday - Sunday night. The road up is a little rough, a few washboards but nothing too serious. We were in campsite 6. Probably the most I level of them all. I would recommend 11 or 13 for future reference. We probably could have moved but after we were set up I didn’t want to spend time relocating. There are several hiking/biking trails. We did Penitent Canyon trail and the Blue Sky trail. We are hikers not bikers, keep that in mind. The trails are well marked and I would say easy to moderate. Nothing difficult. The campground has two clean pit toilets at the top and two at the bottom along with two at the trail head. There is a well house at entrance to the recreation/campground area. Free and good water. Bring a water bandit though, the spigot isn’t threaded. I would for sure stay here again. Also! Beware the chipmunks😂

Beautiful location but watch out for the rattle snakes that are plentiful in the area. Watch your step and keep your pets close or you might have to take them to the local vet.

Great little place if you can get a site. Sites are private and fairly quiet depending on other campers