Ute Campground

Pagosa Springs was such a cool little river town, we didn't want to ever leave. So when it took us forever to do so, we opted for this little spot along the highway to Durango. I mean, it's named for the entire population of peoples who once lived in this area, it's got to be a real gem, no?

There are a couple of "loops", and we more or less went all the way to the back. A jolly man on a golf cart arrived a few moments later.

"Can I help you?"

"Just wanted to camp for the night, and maybe buy a little wood."

"How much wood, I'll go and get it and come back."

Then I noticed the place was stocked to the gills with a several month old pondo the forest service had cut down, no doubt in search of some killer beetles or something.

"Nevermind the wood, actually." He saw me eyeing the pile of free-for-the-taking fire-in-waiting.

"Well, you can use that," he seemed discouraged, "but I wouldn't touch it. This here is rattler country." He was really quite the nice fellow, but I assured him I was willing to risk my life for the low price of a couple of bundles of wood. "And the lady who left here yesterday had food out at night, and bears came down to visit her."

It was an exhilarating night, though no rattlers or bears ever showed up, unfortunately.

I've never pooped in such a clean vault toilet, though. Making memories.

We camped on site #1. It was newly groomed and trimmed back. Plenty of shade with a nice view of a field.

Site 1 is farthest from toilets and water, but for the privacy and layout it was perfect.
The camp hosts were very nice.

Only slight downside is you're probably 200-300 ft. from the road so traffic is audible, but not overwhelming.

Enjoyed the quiet and spacious campsites. I booked two sites next to each other because our scout troop was 14 and the sites only allowed 8 people. I was a little confused by the camp host who told us that we couldn’t have more than 8 people per site. I told her we have two sites. She meant they couldn’t even gather more than 8 at anytime in either site. I explained that they were sleeping 6 in one site and 8 in the other, but she then explained in her magnanimity that she would let it go. I didn’t. I pressed the issue again because some volunteer functionary was telling people that they couldn’t even cross some nebulous campsite boundary to visit or converse and I wanted some clarification. She quickly left to avoid further conversation about it. So I’m going to call the San Juan Forest service office to get some clarification. Do we need to chalk a boundary line for the boys to stay on opposite sides? Same lady who later told us we couldn’t use charcoal in the fire ring, but would sell us some wood we could use. Then handed us a flyer with the rules which plainly state that we can use charcoal in the fire ring.

There is absolutely no cell service from any carrier even when using WeBoost.

We stayed here in our 37 foot Class A motorhome. There are limited sites that will fit bigger RV's, many of the sites are on a slope. There is some road noise, but overall the campground was quiet. We paid $11 with a National Parks Access Pass, the regular nightly rate is $22.

The campground hosts are super friendly and helpful. We had no service with Verizon but we were able to use Starlink in site 5. It worked reasonably well, it would be difficult if you needed to do any video conferences or long phone calls.

The shade is a nice respite from the warm sun, but was not great for solar. Overall we enjoyed our stay here. The only downside was a lack of trails around the campground.

Beautiful standard campground!