“600 acres of Reservoir”
Overview Big Meadows is located in the San Juan Mountains in south-central Colorado, about 11 miles west of South Fork. The campground is lightly wooded with spruce trees, creating a beautiful meadow atmosphere. The Rio Grande National Forest spans 1.86 million acres in south-central Colorado. The Continental Divide runs for 236 miles along most of the forest's western border, presenting a myriad of ecosystems from alpine desert to dense wilderness.Recreation An accessible fishing pier, located on the north shore of the reservoir, allows anglers to cast for rainbow, brown and brook trout. Hunting, boating and hiking are also popular pastimes. Hikers and horseback riders will enjoy the 6-mile Archuleta Trail. The trail accesses the Weminuche Wilderness, Colorado's largest wilderness, which boasts the headwaters of dozens of major streams and rivers that feed into the Rio Grande and San Juan rivers.Facilities Each site has a campfire ring and picnic tables. Drinking water is available. The nearest dump station is 13 miles away, and a boat ramp is located on the north shore of the reservoir.Natural Features The campground meanders up a mountainside above Big Meadows Reservoir in a series of loops. As a sub-alpine region, the campground gets more rainfall than the opposite side of the lake, resulting in plentiful wildflowers and aspens surrounding the campsites. Nearby Attractions The surrounding area has plenty to keep visitors busy, with attractions like Great Sand Dunes National Park, Native American ruins, remnants of the Spanish Conquistadors and gold rush ghost towns. The Sangre de Cristo and San Juan Ranges are laced with trails for avid hikers.
Reviews of Big Meadows Reservoir Campground (South Central Co)
17 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 7 users | Last reported on June 02, 2022AT&T 4G/5G
Confirmed by 5 users | Last reported on August 12, 2024T-Mobile 5G
Confirmed by 1 users | Last reported on July 08, 2021Reviews
Perfectly situated between Pagosa Springs and Creede, Had the perfect spot to over look the reservoir and chill for the night. Little known fact, walk to top portion of the campground and look for 'the waterfall' sign, less than hundred yards and follow the trail. Its small but you wont be disappointed. Beautiful area, take a hike around the reservoir.
Nightly Rate: $26.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 32
RV Length: 24 ft
RV Type: Travel Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 5G
This campground sits near the Big Meadows Reservoir which is a popular fishing lake that is stocked. The campground is comprised of 3 loops, lower level which is closest to the lake, middle loop and upper loop. The lower loop is pretty popular as it sits closest to the lake with great views of the water. The middle loop and upper loop are mostly back in sites with some pull-thru. Due to a cutting back of all the dead trees, some of the middle and upper loops have a partial view of the lake, others are more secluded and private. I personally like the upper loop the best but if I had kids or wanted to have easy access to fish would choose the lower loop.
Some of the sites are reservable but from my experience in June, one could always get a non-reservable site in at least the middle loop. Probably would want reservations in holiday times to guarantee a site. No showers and no water to fill RV tank although there is water to fill up containers only. Vault toilets were very clean and smelled fresh.
The road in is paved for a maybe 1/2 mile and then turns in to hard-packed dirt, easy driving. A short one-lane bridge but no issue for any camper or MH.
There is a 2 mile or so hiking loop around the lake that is easy and a good hiking option. Also behind site #20 is a hiking trail. There are other hiking trails nearby but may have downed trees.
I got Verizon service which at some times was fairly reliable like early in the morning and sometimes extremely slow.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 14
Site Number: 45
RV Length: 27 ft
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
First of all - let me say that this campground was much more beautiful than I expected. They've had a lot of beetle kill, so there aren't as many trees in the campground as there apparently used to be - but it's still more wooded than I expected. It's a hilly campground, and there's nice space between most of the sites. The lake is peaceful and nice for a quiet paddle. Even on Labor Day weekend, it was never crowded by the lake. There is a great hiking trail around the lake, and a short hike up to a waterfall right from the campground. The campground itself was well-kept.
Now, for the bad...the camp host was largely MIA. What made this a problem was that we had neighbors in a double site (20-ish people, many dogs, and 7+ vehicles) who brought a loud, open-frame generator that they ran up the hill from their site (which was within 20 feet of our site) for 10+ hours/day. The first night we were there, at 10:30pm, we were amongst at least 3 other camping groups who asked them to turn it off since it was a) past quiet hours, and b) too loud for a campground. They finally did turn it off at about quarter to 11. The next day, they started it back up again and ran it nonstop from about 11am to 9:30 at night. They also pulled out a chainsaw several times during the weekend to cut downed trees between our sites - within 20 feet of our campfire. Yes - aside from the first night, it was outside of quiet hours, but it made it completely impossible for anyone within the surrounding 5-10 sites to enjoy sitting outside at their campsite, as it was so loud, you had to yell over it. We thought maybe they'd taken the hint & decided to shut it off before quiet hours started - but then we realized they ran out of gas and had to send someone out the next day to fill the gas tank so they could start it back up again. Sigh. And they were not the sort of friendly folks you could reason with. They spent the rest of the weekend staring at us as if they were daring us to say something again. Fortunately (I guess), it rained most of the rest of the weekend, so we ended up staying inside anyway, which made the sound more tolerable (yes, we could hear it from the inside of our camper).
I guess there are no rules against open-frame generators in campgrounds outside of quiet hours - but I'm a firm believer that there should be. And this would have been an idyllic campground if not for our neighbors and the camp hosts complete unwillingness to intervene.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 16
RV Length: 27 ft
RV Type: Travel Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
stayed here with 20 people on a boy scout campout. great sight with trees and close to the water. large tent pads take 4 small tents or one big one. central gathering area had good prep tables and grill with large fire ring. plenty of parking for cars and close enough to unload and carry everything in (50 yards).Quiet camp without any hassles.
Nightly Rate: $77.00
Days Stayed: 6
Site Number: gs001
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
Fishing on the tail water was very fun. The campground is quiet with great views of the reservoir and a nice hike around it. Will come back
Nightly Rate: -
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 11
RV Length: 23 ft
RV Type: Teardrop Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
Great views of the water. Sites are nicely distanced. It was cold and windy during our stay but the scenery made up for it. Campground is nicely taken care of and the host was helpful. There is a 3 mile hike around the reservoir with access to a longer hike on the trail. We went for 7mi round trip. Great fishing on the tail water.. Can’t wait to come back!
Nightly Rate: $26.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 10
RV Length: 23 ft
RV Type: Teardrop Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
Just returned from Big Meadows south of So. Fork, CO Sites were great, clean, restrooms best ever in the campground area, lots of birds and chipmunks, some shaded. Beautiful lake. Host was very friendly, courteous and helpful! We would definitely go there again. I just saw a review on this one with photos and I do not yet have any photos. The regular rate was $26, except for a dbl site and $13 with senior pass.
Nightly Rate: $13.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 22
RV Length: 19 ft
RV Type: Travel Trailer
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
Beautiful place and super clean campground. Host were really friendly and helpful. The restrooms were super clean. We really enjoyed and for sure will come back.
Nightly Rate: $26.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 7
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
We did a drive-thru of this campground while we were hiking the Big Meadow Reservoir 2-mile loop trail. Beautiful campground located about 2 miles off Hwy 160. Dirt access road is very well maintained, with only a few patches of minor washboard. The campground sits above the reservoir offering wonderful views. Plenty of water access for fishing, kayaks, etc. The lower loops closer to the reservoir appear to be larger and more easily accessible for larger rigs. The upper section is generally smaller sites. We drove through on a Tuesday, and there were plenty of open sites. I suspect weekend this place is full. Not a lot of shade. All primitive sites so I would expect some generator noise, otherwise a beautiful location at 9,000’ elevation with beautiful lake views..
The reviews saying how beautiful the lake and campground are, are understated. One of the nicest campgrounds, bar none, we have seen. The host, Alex was awesome. Vault toilets clean, and even had hand sanitizer in them.
We had planned to stay 4 nights, however, reason I marked No to stay here again, was due to the altitude. We're from North Texas, and having been at 700ft for too many years, the altitude was just too much for us. we hated to leave, such a beautiful place nestled in the mountain tops.
Would "highly" recommend to anyone who isn't susceptible to altitude sickness, you have to see this place.
Nightly Rate: $26.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 30
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Big Meadows Reservoir Campground (South Central Co)
Hours
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Check In
- 2:00 PM
- Max Stay
- 14
- Check Out
- 1:00 PM
- Max Length
- 45 ft
- Affiliation
- National forest
- Sites Count
- 44
- Last Nightly Rate
- 26.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 13.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 35 ft
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Sites
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Laundry
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Propane
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Showers
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Big Rigs
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Boondock
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Firewood
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Tent Sites
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Cabin Sites
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Full Hookup
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Dump Station
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Mobile Homes
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Public Water
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Pull Through
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Water Hookup
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Potable Water
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Age Restricted
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Dispersed Sites
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Permit Required
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Group Tent Sites
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Fulltime Residents
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Standard Tent Sites
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Pull Through RV Sites
Campground, Restrooms
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