San Luis Lakes Campground

Located in Southern Colorado The Mosca Campground is located in the low dunes west of San Luis Lake. All the campsites feature a panoramic view of the lake (seasonal – check the website for lake level), the surrounding mountains and the Great Sand Dunes.

This park is big rig friendly considering the National Park limit is <30'

You can't get into the Sand Dunes Camping area with a class A so this is a good location and it was nice. The animal sactuary was closed for the season and it would have been nice to walk around there but incredible views of the sunrise!

My first impressions weren't great. The roads coming into the park were bumpy. The state park main road is gravel and *very* washboarded - I drove 5MPH going in.

The check-in gate looks abandoned. Park signage is horrible and the loops meander and split like they just paved the rabbit trails. We drove around several loops trying to get to the office.

Once we realized the maintenance-ish looking building was the office (finally found a sign) it wasn't clear if there was room to park our RV there or not. We parked by the bathrooms and walked back and good thing as there is not room to turn around a 34' fifth wheel.

Office hours are 9-10 and 3-5. We were outside of those but the ranger opened up for us.

Some pull through sites are at 90 degree angles to the road. Our table/shelter was on the driver's side of the site.

All of this after a long drive day didn't put me in a good mood. Then I went to take a shower and found they were coin-operated. We weren't prepared for that...so back to the rig to take a navy shower.

Cell service seems spotty here - my AT&T phone would go from 3 bars to nothing just walking around a loop. I had to try some different hardware approaches with our Verizon coverage but with a jetpack, amplifier and antenna we were getting ~ 4MBPS download speeds.

You'd think we'd have bailed by now - but we had friends coming and had to stay.

And I'm glad we did.

Once we got settled in and found quarters for showers we slowly started to appreciate this location more. Watching the weather & light play against the mountains and dunes in the distance was fascinating. Every night was a different show.

The park is quiet - a few more rigs on the weekends but during the week we had the loop to ourselves. Great stargazing - clearly saw the Milky Way, satellites, and shooting stars. Rain moved through the region but rarely got us - we could watch lightening shows off in the distance.

By the end of our stay I wasn't ready to leave.

We drove into the park at about 3 am. The entrance station looked abandoned to us but we drove on in. The roads are gravel/rock but nice enough for any rig to drive down on. As another reviewer posted, the camping/rv loops are very odd, and wind around a lot. Mind you, we pulled in at 3 am so it was harder to navigate a new place in the dark.

We had 50 amp service but there is no water at this park. It is an electric ONLY park. There is no water available at all at this park. There is a dump station. But the dump station doesn't have any water available either. So fill up on water before you come to the area. Turns out that it is no longer a state park but a wildlife preserve. Which explains the reason why the park looks so abandoned.

It was a very quiet area with plenty of rv/ tent sites available. I believe you can reserve sites but we aren't sure how. There was an older man driving around in a golf cart putting up "reserved" tickets. It is a quirky area but it is very close to the Great Sand Dunes. You can actually see the dunes from the park.

From what we could tell all the sites are pull through and they each have a fire ring and picnic table with a shade awning attached. You can see the picnic table and awning in one of our pictures.

Overall this park was a safe haven to us, since we were able to find a spot in June. We would definitely stay here again due to its proximity to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Zapata falls.

"Hi I was wondering if you have any availability?" I ask a few hours before we plan to arrive.

"Oh yeah, tons of spots," the voice of an older woman chimes in across the line.

"Should I make a reservation?" I inquire.

"Yeah, you better. Let me tell you though, this is no longer a state park. There's no water, so bring your own, and only vault toilets. No showers. But you can swim in the lake," signage would later state this was not allowed, "There is also free electric at all sites. Will that be okay?"

"Uh, sure!"

"Okay I'll put you in site #33."

We arrive several hours later. It's beautiful. The mountains are spectacular. Someone is most definitely already in site #33, but there are ample open sites and the place never fills up. I begin to believe that the woman on the other end of the line was the ghost of the former superintendent when the park was still a state park (it's not a state wildlife area).

Electric hookups, for free???!

This was also a prime spot to get up early and snag a site in the national park, which is exactly what we used it for.

Cell faded in and out, and wasn't reliable enough -- in my opinion -- to use this as a spot to work for the week or anything.

I got the skinny about what is up with this campground. It's free because of some political stuff involving the water not passing a use test and the cost of getting the water potable was too high so there's no water anymore. The state decided to turn it into a free campground. What a shame! For them. This campground is extremely well planned and huge. There is electric at every single site. The reservoir nearby provides hydroelectric power so the state left it one since it costs them nothing. They are honoring reservations until July 1 when they had them booked until and after that it is first come first serve, which is basically was anyway. The camp ground host was so nice and grateful to stay here. Almost all the sites are PULL THROUGH! what??? And huge. This place is very easy to access. Verizon had ok service. ATT not so much. Strangely, TMobile had the best signal of any of the three.

There's so much around here. Great Sand Dunes National Park. There are a number of hotsprings. There's a spiritual town called Crestone. Interesting town. Google it.

We made mug cake every night in the microwave because we could.

Yep, it is free camping with electric hookups! Great views of the mountains and dunes and a whole lot of peace and quiet.

This used to be a State Park but is now a State Wildlife Area. It was very quiet while we stayed here. At first there was only one other rig. Then in the evening more came. It accomodates everything from tents to large rigs (we have a 40' fifth wheel). I don't know how many sites there are but quite a few. We had a great view of the lake and Great Sand Dunes NP from our site. There is electric hookup but no water. Pit toilets for those who need them. There is a dump station but no water to rinse. You can get a water fill in the NP. Easy to find and easy access once you are in the wildlife area. Gravel roads are good. The camp host, Gabriella, was super nice and helpful!

As other reviewers noted, this area changed from a State Park to a State Wildlife Area recently, so it is still listed in many guides as a State Park.

This campground has undergone some changes since we were last here in 2009. The only staff presence here now is the campground hosts who stay in the centrally-located administrative building. The gate entrance/fee station is no longer manned.

Tall RV's need to be aware that the entrance at the gate station is only 13' 2" high. Taller RV's will need to enter the park through the exit lane on the left. The height numbers are fading and difficult to see at night.

Services:
The park has up to 50amp electrical and a dump station - that's it! There is no water at the park, either potable or non-potable. According to the camp hosts, the water quality tested poorly and the water here was shutoff because there were not funds to make the required changes. Therefore, you MUST bring your own water here. Since there is also no water at the dump station, it is not possible to clean out hoses after dumping.

There are three loops - A, B, and C. Only loops B&C have vault toilets available. The bathhouse is closed.

The sites are very nice with shelters, tables and fire rings on concrete pads. Parking is mostly gravel but a few sites have pavement parking pads. A majority of sites are pull-through and they are well-spaced.

Location:
This campground is in a great location with spectacular views of the Great Sand Dunes and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The National Park is a short ~30 minute drive. Alamosa is also about 30 minutes away.

We certainly hope this park stays open but it appears funding is a problem. It's not clear whether there will be any maintenance on the park going forward or what it's ultimate status will be. However, at present, given the price, this campground is the best value around.

We had decent cell access with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile though both AT&T and the Verizon towers got congested and slowed down most evenings. We test T-Mobile but didn't use it. For Sprint this is a roaming area.

Great location near the Sand Dunes National Park with free electricity. Large pull thru and back in sites. 20 mins from SDNP 30 from Alamosa for Walmart visits. If your plans take you into Piñon Campground in Sand Dunes-you must have an RV less than 25ft. Verizon signal 3 bars.