Bookcliff Campground

Lovely little campground. Most sites are shady and many are pull through. The restrooms are clean and the showers are hot. Almost too hot by evening as the heat is preset. The showers are free, and run for 4 minutes before needing to have the “on” button pushed again. There is a dump station, but no hook-ups. As of 8/2023, a site is under $30/night. There are no directional signs, so use GPS. ALL sites are reserved, so reserve before you leave the main roads. Cell service is good in some sites and weak in others. YMMV.

Highline Lake State Park offers 36 campsites situated on lush green lawns. Many of the sites are under large trees, so there is more shade available than in most of the Fruita area. One side of the campground backs onto a field where we were able to watch mule deer eating the crops at sundown.

We stayed in the park off-season (November), and were literally the only campers in the park one night we were there.

We paid $18.00 a night to stay at the park because it was off-season. In season the sites do cost a bit more. Also, there is a $7.00 park access fee that must be paid in addition to the campground fee. However, this is waived if you have the Colorado State Park Pass.

The park has a lake and some fun, flowing mountain bike trails around the lake. It is also close to some of the famous Fruita mountain biking.

The flush bathrooms were clean and heated, which was important in November. There is water hookup at the sites, but there is no electric hook up. The pads are gravel and were flat.

The welcome center has a small "please touch" education area and also sells a few camping convenience items and water toys.

We stayed here at the end of June 2019. Our first time camping without any hookups and it was great. Filled up with water at one of the many spigots in the campground(dump station in campground too) and were lucky to have scored camp site no. 3 -the best one according to the lady we checked in with and we agree! We were in site 3 for 2 nights and then decided to extend our stay 2 more nights(moved to site 17) as my husband was enjoying the mountain bike trail around the lake immensely. All the camp sites seemed level and well maintained with gravel especially along the back row that was located next to a field. My daughter and I enjoyed swimming in the lake-it was cold but refreshing in summer. Very clean laundry room/washers. There is a charge for the shower & the bathhouse looked very clean. Friendly hosts & plenty of friendly park staff patrolling.

Nothing to write home about really. There is a nice lake with two loops with ~20+ campsites. Facilities are clean. Good stop on I-70 if you’re passing through.

DATE VISITED = Sept. 2020

Price reflects site fee + $9 per day extra fee

Trails for hiking or mountains biking, swim beach, kayaking/boating -- lots to do here.

Our site was large, but bordered the semi-busy entrance road, which could be noisy. They also used flood-irrigation one day, which put the whole back half of the site under a few inches of water for a few days (it did not impact our camping at all.)

The showers are FREE now. We did not use them, but they appeared well-kept.

Verizon was spotty.

Critters Spotted: a zillion baby toads, great horned owls, great blue heron, deer, osprey

This is a nice little campground for those who want access to the water and the Fruita mountain biking trails. There were at least 20 kids under 10 running around every afternoon while parents sipped post-ride and paddle beers without having to worry where their kids were at. It’s not particularly quiet or scenic but it makes a great base camp for those families who like to bike and/or paddle. And since most folks are there for the activities, it was dead-quiet by 10 each night. The swim beach looks like it would be quite the party scene for the local youngsters on the weekend. But the campground is far enough away for this not to be an issue for anybody.

We headed for this campground to escape the dust and dirt that the current weather system was whipping up. Wind was horrible so we wanted somewhere with grass, trees and less dust.

The Good:
Camp staff were friendly and helpful. We didn't have a reservation but there were spots free. The camp was well laid out with nice grass and lots of trees. Facilities were clean and the showers were free. There is a dump station and potable water but no electric.

The Bad:
Someone else mentioned this but we didn't really believe it. Somewhere close by there were dogs and they barked incessantly during the night. They woke me up and kept me awake. Ugh! Then there were the screeching neighbors. That aspect isn't controllable but someone should figure out the dog issue.

We felt it was expensive; $10 for park pass and $28 for camping

We found our campsite an easy back-in.

Good water within the length of our hose, 50’

A nice lake, for a walk or a bicycle ride around.

There is dispersed camping in the area, but, we needed to dump, and the place is really nice for the price.

We will come back next time through

Not too far from I-70. Lots of trees. Swimming beach and playground. Nice place when the lake is full and the neighboring farm dogs aren't howling into the night. Campground bathroom is heated but showers didn't work.

The campground is a lovely wooded area so plenty of trees and shade. The day use area with the swim beach is a short walk away but separated with a row of bushes so it's not too much noise in the campground. If you have Starlink, you'll have to place it strategically to find service. I assume it's because of the flood irrigation they do, but there are mosquitoes all throughout the campground all day long. I've never seen them so bad before!