Anvil Dispersed Camping

Anvil is on the left side of Mineral Creek with Sultan on the right side of the creek. When I arrived on Thursday, I was able to capture what I thought was THE spot right on the creek. I liked the spot because it gave me mid day to afternoon sun on my solar panel. Turns out, somebody else figured there was room for two rigs in that spot. :-( The creek was especially nice because it created just enough white noise to drown out a variety of generators.

Anvil is a dead-end road about 500 ft to the two or three shaded spots in the back. If people are already set up in the middle spots, there isn't any turn-around. I'd suggest parking at the road and walking in to see if anything is available. The number of vehicles that would drive in, turn around, and drive out, (even well after dark0 was pretty amazing and was the reason I wouldn't give it a five.

Sometimes I'd have one bar of AT&T Edge, but nothing usable without the antenna and amplifier. With the antenna and amplifier, I was getting 3 bars of Verizon 4G.

Great boon docking a few miles up the road from Silverton, CO. There are several different areas for camping, but this was the least crowded and had the best cell service. There are some great hikes in the area. The hike to Ice Lake kicked my ass. The San Juans are gorgeous and colorful. This whole section of Colorado is pretty incredible. Telluride, Ouray (aka the Switzerland of America), Silverton and Durango. Its only a few minutes to get into Silverton. The whole damn town is a Historic Landmark. The Durango-Silverton train is pretty cool. The Avalanche Brewing company has good beers and pizza, and you can get a god damn BBQ sundae at Thee Pitts.

I wanted to keep this place a secret, but I wanted others to experience the amazing area.

We were originally going to stay in Sultan, but there was a rig there and we looked across the river and saw Anvil. Another nice open spot that was right next to the river and good for solar. When we scouted the entire dead end strip we got to the end and saw the last spot and we both were like, yep, this is the spot. If there are no other rigs you can turn around midway and back in, otherwise there is no where else to turn around. As soon as you get in there no one else can bother you. The river runs 180 degrees around you and the mountains and trees surround you. It's breathtaking. You can walk farther back and if you desire, cross a small section of the river and camp on the island. There is a lot of wildlife in the area and we saw our first moose!

There are a lot of trails to consider to hike (Ice Lake Trail being the top one) and it's close to town. We had good cell service and so we didn't need to go into town for any free WIFI. We took day trips to Telluride, Ouray and Montrose.

The spot for us was heaven. We were there a little early in the season so it did snow on us, which made our surroundings beautiful. Not a single other trailer came through. We had the place to ourselves and we fell asleep listening to the river every night. We would stay here again in a heart beat and wish that you could stay longer than 14 nights. All the spots had fire rings. Some spots were only good for tents or vans, but there were about 3-4 that a bigger rig could get in. I think that ours at 31' was about the max for backing into our spot. The last spot looks to be covered by trees but we had sun from about 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for solar. We ended up driving up to Golden camp area to get water straight from the river. We kept thinking that this would be good for a caravan of rigs. You all have separate space but are close (including Sultan).

I didn't want to LEAVE this place. So much, in fact, I came back after about a month or so. I stayed RIGHT on the creek, which was flowing more like a river. Snow melt was high so the creek was almost deafening while working outside. Not that I am complaining!

That said, I also stayed across Mineral Creek when I returned. I must say, it had a lot less traffic. Having dogs and all, it was much nicer/safer for me and The Girls, both. It was less 'in season' by then, but I still think we had less traffic than the Anvil side did.

Anvil is a short dirt road right off of Forest Road 585, just north of Silverton. There is not really enough room at the end of the Anvil camping area to turn around, pulling a Travel Trailer. There's DEFINITELY not enough room to turn around if there are campers at the end. Sure, you can back out if necessary.

I got to watch a truck with about a 21' TT try to turn around at the end. It took two different drivers (once the husband got irritated enough with the wife, HE tried...) and about 20 minutes for it to get accomplished. So, DON'T go down if you have a long rig.

I'd highly recommend scouting it first, on foot. (My rig is 24'. I COULD turn around right at the site that is right on the river, that I stayed at, if no-one was staying around that area.)

It's not far from the main road. It's not very likely someone will park RIGHT next to you. (I like a little personal space.)

The mountains surrounding you are magnificent. Keep going down 585 and in the spring you can see many waterfalls. It's a great scenic drive if you want to look for wildlife. There's Ice Lake Basin Trail at the end which is a difficult but beautiful trail. There are also other free and some paid camping areas off Forest Road 585.

I had a booster, so I don't really remember how cell service was but I don't recall having an issue, and I Have to work. Calling was spotty. I had to walk out to 585, usually to make a call.

I can't wait to go back to this place! I highly recommend it but don't REALLY want to highly recommend it because I want to have a place to stay when I return!!

We followed the guidance of the previous campers and found a perfect spot next to the creek. Arrived on Labor Day and found a really nice spot. There were several to choose from and a fellow camper recommended we opt for the far end of the road due to several other campers who were running generators constantly. The site is beautiful. but by boondooking standards a little cozy. We needed to have cell service to work so options were limited. We received 1-2 bars 4g ATT and boosted it to 3 bars LTE. Verizon was 2 bars. Was able to sit by the stream and work..... what a perfect office. We would definitely stay again.

Thank goodness we arrived when we did! We drove all the way to the last spot which only about a quarter of a mile down the road, with no problems at all. The camping areas are each tucked away and you have more privacy. The creek could be seen from our window and it was amazing. I highly recommend this peaceful campground. We would have stayed here the fourteen days allowed if we had the time.

Right along the creek, beautiful location with nice sites.. I'm just staying forever..

My 37 ft TT was the longest RV in all the 4 days we were there. If it’s not crowded then all is well. But it was crowded by the river. Away from the river there are basically two sites for big rigs. That’s the space needed to turn around. If it wasn’t there then you’d have to back up and out again. Some had to do that. Water was was. Area is spectacular. On the Weekdays there were lots of people here and along the road. But on Friday when we left, much more people there along side the road. Plenty of campgrounds along the main road. Sultan and Anvil were the more smaller areas. I wouldn’t recommend anything bigger than 30 ft. Unless empty. Get out and check first. Cell service was spotty.

Anvil is the smaller of the 2, Sultan is the other side of the creek and IMHO the better side. Anvil is smaller. Unfortunately this side was overrun by inconsiderate campers who took over campsites with canopies or their hammocks. Definitely park on the road and walk in and scope out the site first before you get yourself in a predicament. Probably after mid August is best, it wasn’t too crowded, although, like I said above, a very inconsiderate family took over several spots that others could have been in. I wish people were more considerate, but it is what it is.

We had great Verizon and TMobile service, no issues at all. It probably depends on the number of people around.

We pulled in around 11am.. there were multiple spots open. There are two other campsites nearby too so should be able to find spot easily. Dropped off our camper and hiked the ice lake trail. Great experience!