Pinion Campground

Lovely park with educational visitor center, two lakes for fishing, hunting options, beautiful views, electric hookups, showers and hiking trails. Our family had a great time and will definitely return.

This campground and the associated Colorado State Park (Lathrop SP) are a real find. All of the sites are large and well spaced. All of the sites in the Pinion CG are electric and there are plenty of water spigots around the campground. Some of the spigots are even close enough to the sites to use the regular water hose to fill up your tank. If this is important to you, just look for this as you select your site. Our site (#83) had the spigot within 25 feet of our rig.

There is a dump station convenient to use either upon arrival or departure.

The Yucca CG which is indicated as a separate campground on Campendium is really the non-electric section of Lathrop State Park. Somebody should really correct this and the Yucca listing to reflect that they are part of Lathrop State Park. The signage in the area will point you to Lathrop SP and not to Pinon or Yucca CG's so be aware of this.

There is a lot to do in the area. We only stayed one night on our way someplace else so we could not explore much but the nearby town of Walsenburg, CO looks like an interesting little town to visit. All the usual services can be found in Walsenburg.

In addition to using this CG as a base for exploring the area during an extended stay, this is an excellent overnight spot for anyone traveling along the I-25 corridor. The CG is less than 15 minutes off the highway and offers a peaceful place to spend the night.

Verizon internet was sufficient to stream video.

This campground is part of Lathrop State Park. There are two sections: The Pinon section has electric and several spigots to fill from around the loops. Yucca smaller, with back-in sites, no electric, for, as the State web page says: "a basic camping experience".

We stayed in Pinon. Well spaced sites for the most part, lots of drive-through. Some flush toilets and some pit toilets to fill the distance gap. Dump station is convenient to the Pinon section. Settled in a valley with views of the Spanish Peaks, it makes a good base of operations for exploration. Walsenburg has a tiny but interesting museum in the old railroad station. Nice loop drive through the Spanish Peaks as well. A lake for the fishermen, and even a golf course. Since I'm not a golfer, no idea how good it is. Verizon cell service came and went. Maybe the local tower is overloaded?

We spent 3 nights here in the Pinion Campground.

As others said the sites are well spaced and very private, which is super important to us. There are water spigots every few sites, the closest one to us was across the road. I needed to fill our tanks before we left and was able to run a hose across the road from the spigot to us.

There are 4 loops in the Pinion Campground (A,B,C and D). When we were there only B and D were open though we drove through A and C as well, and they all seemed similar, about the same amount of privacy to us.

The drive around the lake is really nice, and if you fish there are plenty of fishing spots.

We felt $31 a night for a site with just power at the site was a bit steep. It was 50A power at least (not that we needed it for the time of year we were there). The only reason I only gave this park 3 stars is the price. If it was $10 a night cheaper I would have given it 4 stars.

There is an easy to access dump station in the Pinon campground section.

If you have the time I really recommend taking some time and driving down HWY 160 and then 12 to the town of La Veta, it's a really cute little town.

[Our Actual Stay Was 11/03/16]

Great park for a one night stopover when heading East from the mountains. Stayed in D loop (#96) which did have a nice view of Spanish Peaks — not directly from site (blocked by bushes) but close enough if you walked.

We only stopped for one night and did not unhitch however leveling of both the tow vehicle and trailer were needed in site 96 so we could pull this off. We would have asked for a more level site but the campground was full.

Site had 30A and 50A electric only; no water or sewer. Water and sewer were available throughout the park though.

Tons of people were parked with boats — the lake looked lovely! Several trails around to walk the dog though we weren’t there long enough to take advantage. Would have loved to visit the Spanish Peaks, too.

It was very hot when we passed thru (early July) so air conditioning was a must. Not a lot of shade. Would have been pretty miserable to tent camp.

This was our first time at Lathrop and we were pleasantly surprised. Being in the off-season the campground (and entire state park) was quiet and peaceful with incredible views of the Spanish Peaks as others have said.

We loved our site because it had great views, was super close to the playground for the kids, the pad was nearly level and we didn't feel as if the neighbors were too close. Water was off, but the dump station was still available. Definitely do the hogback hike just beyond the amphitheater.

I highly recommend using Google Maps to help you find the right site to book, there are a few shared sites around the campgrounds that aren't really stated clearly on the website and you will be close to your neighbor if you're not expecting it OR if you want to book a GREAT site to share with family or friends.

In the area:
-Walsenburg has a small Safeway grocery store for almost anything you need
-We took a day trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and it was totally worth it
-This state park is just off the Highway of Legends Scenic Byway, if you have a few hours we highly recommend the byway and it's great to complete the trip while listening to the Travel Storys app (this would be an extra beautiful trip during leaf season)
-Due to COVID-19 we didn't explore the small towns nearby, but we plan on coming back to do so

This is the first time we've stayed at Lathrop in the winter, and we are LOVING it! Out of all the sites available (and there are a LOT available), there are only 3 being used. We have a good electrical hookup, and there are several water hydrants spread out around the campground that are functional. NOTE: the hydrant near Site 79 is the best - easy to use, and great water pressure. The hydrants at some of the other sites were a little more difficult to use, or didn't have great pressure. Because it's COLD right now (22degrees at 1pm), we made sure to fill our fresh water tank immediately and then stored our gear safely away.
Check in was super simple; we had made our reservations online through ReservAmerica. And when we decided to extend our stay by one day, we simply went to the Visitor Center and done! Easy peasy. BTW, the staff here has been very helpful and knowledgable, a pleasure to deal with.
Although many parts of the other campgrounds are shut down (there are 4 campgrounds total), the bathhouse/shower house in Loop D IS still open and functioning. The showers are pay showers, but $1.00 will get you an good solid 8 minute shower.
As is often the case at state park campgrounds, the outer sites have the best views or locations. This is true of our current location - clear unobstructed view of the desert on one side, and a nice view of a clump of trees on the other - no staring directly into someone else's rig! Colorado state parks do a pretty good job of putting space between sites, so you rarely have that "sardine" feeling!
We have stayed here before, and feel that D Loop is the best for site location and amenities. It is pretty close and very accessible to one of the best hiking trails in the area, the Hogback Nature Trail.
We enjoy the quiet here very much, and that even in the summer, Lathrop isn't usually overcrowded.
However, the desert setting of the park does mean that it can get pretty hot in the summer. Great for solar, terrible for air conditioning!

Stayed here for Christmas weekend. Only loop D open at the moment. Wasn’t completely packed but there were a few campers there. Fairly quiet. Flush toilets and showers were working and well maintained.

On our last night/day it was somewhat windy (15-20 mph constant gusts). Enough to make my light travel trailer feel it.

There’s a bald eagle that likes to hang out on Martin lake. Some mule deer roaming the park. Some hunters on Horse Shoe lake trying to get water fowl. Ranger says there’s big cats around but didn’t see any during exploring.

All in all awesome park.

In between very stormy weather all around, this is an awesome campground. Yesterday marble size hailstones.
$9 vehicle fee in addition to camp fee.
Can barely head train horn which is almost 4 miles away in Walensburg

We stopped here for 2 nights on our way north to Estes Park. Site 72 is a huge pull through site with electric only. There is a water hydrant located across from the site about 100' away. The site is surrounded by foliage which makes 72 a very private site! Like all Colorado state parks, there is a daily fee on top of the campsite reservation that is paid upon arrival. Lathrop's fee was $9 (in addition to the $36/night) per day which makes the park a bit expensive for an electric only site. The views of the mountains from this park are great and we would stay again.