Withers Canyon Trailhead Campground

This dry camping site is at the trail head for Picketwire canyon and has approx 5 marked sites . Its a long dusty well graded dirt road out to the Corrals and then a mile or so on a smaller slow road to this camp site. The main attraction is to hike out to the dinosaur track bed about 5 miles each way . This area gets quite hot in summer so hike early in the day and carry plenty of water.

Accessing this campsite is challenging after a rain, but not too bad if the road is dry. If the road is wet, I only recommend 4WD vehicles. The 4-5 designated sites share a pit toilet and are right at a trailhead that leads down to the Purgatoire River, the ruins of a an old missions, and dino tracks. The sites themselves back up to Picketwire Canyon and leave plenty of space between you and your neighbor. We barely got 1 bar of Verizon service, and usually had no service.

If this campground is full, the picketwire corral is ~3.5 miles back and could make do. It’s more open and isn’t at the canyon edge.

We loved this site and highly recommend it!

It’s a long, dusty, rutted dirt road to get here and there is no cell service (Verizon) but it was beautiful and well worth the drive. Picketwire Canyon Trailhead is right in the camping area making it a great morning hike. We didn’t make it the 5.3 miles our to the dinosaur tracks but will camp here again to make another attempt! Dry camping, very clean pit toilet.
Note: my gps took me left at the corals which was the wrong way. Go right at the corals and you will get there.

We stayed at Picket Wire Canyon for three nights in late June. Accessed from Hwy 109 13-miles south of La Junta, turned onto gravel road 802, then turned left on road 25, then left again at Picket Wire Corral, at the fork in the road turned left to go to Picket Wire Canyon. Total drive on these gravel roads is approximately 18-miles, with some washboarding. The road does close during heavy rains, may not be suitable for large rigs. There are four campsites, first come first serve, each with a fire ring, no water, pack it in pack it out, and one vault toilet. The vault toilet was clean, the campsites were mostly level and very spacious. Withers Canyon Trailhead started from the campsite to the largest number of dinosaur tracks in North America. A beautiful hike through the Comanche Grasslands, from the campsite to the dinosaur tracks is about 13-miles round trip. This hike is amazing , but remember to take plenty of water. While in the area make sure to visit Bent's Old Fort located north-east of La Junta on Hwy 194, a very worth while experience. Admission to the fort is free with America the Beautiful Senior Pass, self-guided tour, many time-period furnished rooms, and a book/gift store.

Make sure to take plenty of supplies like water, ice, food, and a spare tire just in case. We travelled down Hwy 109 to get to Picket Wire Canyon and did not see a store or gas station for miles and miles. We turned left off of 109 onto what seemed to be miles and miles of dirt roads and cattle grids to even reach the campsites. There was a vaulted restroom at the entrance and one vaulted restroom near the trail down into the canyon. It was extremely hot during the afternoon so wear plenty of sunscreen and we would not recommend to hike down into the canyon in the middle of the day. It’s desert like terrain so take at least one gallon each person on the trail down into the canyon. Be prepared to hike 13 or more miles down the trail and then of course 13 miles back to your campsite. We would definitely camp here again!! We had some cell service right at the entrance to the campsites.

A little out of the way, but it was a nice place to stay for a couple of nights. The campground filled up pretty quickly. We hiked out to the graveyard, which was about as far as our pups could go. The hike is dusty and dry...so definitely bring water!

Beautiful remote spot. Peaceful and quiet. The road out wasn’t bad at all, but can see how it could be hard after a rain. There was a sign at the corals that they close the gate in after a rain. There’s only a few spots though, good news is if all the spots are taken you could stay at the corals until someone leaves.

One thing this place doesn’t tell you is that you have to go about 30 miles out into the boonies before you get to the actual campsite which are very cool there is a bathroom (no water) and some really cool views from camp and even better ones if you walk or hike a little bit. One thing to keep in mind is there are a lot of cactus in the area and I almost stepped on a lot of them. This place was one of my favorites on a road trip I went and had fire pit grills located at every campsite!

Great camping experience overall. Bathrooms were clean but the toilet paper isn’t kept up with so make sure you bring some. And dehydration is very real out there, take water. There is no pump. Only 3 dedicated camping spots, with a fire pit. Bugs were bad when we went, LOTS of gnats. But it was quiet and peaceful, beautiful weather too. Lots of exploring opportunities and hiking. If you follow the main trail about a mile, you’ll see an old homestead which was really neat. We went on Sunday at noon and had our pick of the three spots as all three were packing up to leave, but if you go on a Friday afternoon or Saturday, you may not get a spot. FCFS.

It’s quite a trip to get out here but the roads are generally in good shape. There are only four campsites so it’s pretty quiet. The vault toilet is a real plus (very clean). We were here end of October so the weather was nice but from the warning signs it looks like it gets awfully hot in the summer. We had a good stay and would come back.