Boondocking areas around Keystone Resort, CO??

There's always the Walmart parking lot in Frisco! They have allowed one-night camping in the past.

Until this year, Copper Mountain allowed dry camping in their parking lot at I-70 and CO 91. But that is now a thing of the past. You might be able to spend the night on the gravel lot south of the Wheeler Junction gas station across CO 91 from Copper.

If you are using I-76 from Nebraska to Denver, you will pass right by two of the best free camping spots in Colorado. Riverside Park is just north of the Interstate in Fort Morgan and has free electrical hookups and paved roads and camping slots, but no water or dump. The park is terrific, with a pool (with showers), ball fields, playgrounds, lots of grass, and huge cottonwood trees that shade many of the campsites. A few miles further east, Brush Municipal Campground has a dozen or so electrical hookups, water, and a dump and the first night is free.

Well, since you are trying to get to Moab, I assume you picked Keystone as a possible layover, due to distance traveled. But, most of the land close to I-70 is private. I can't think of any boondocking possibilities for a rig your size, close to I-70, especially that early in the summer.

As you head west from Keystone, you will still find mostly private land (no National Forest) along I-70. You would have to go at least 30 miles off if I-70 to get to any National Forest land with camping prospects. Again, though, that time of year, you will likely have lots of mud, and many gates will still be closed.

I would bite the bullet and look at the two NF campgrounds by Frisco (other side of Lake Dillon). Or, you could head north on Hwy 9, and go to Green Mountain Reservoir. N39.867569 W106.278065. Lots of NF campgrounds around that lake. Not many trees, but you may want the sun on your unit to warm it up without so much propane.

Look at GoogleEarth, and turn on the National Forests. You will see the boundaries, and see how far you may have to travel from I-70 to get to the forest.

Good luck!

Good point. We were trying to get to the Moab area before it got way too hot...are you familiar at all with the LaSalle Mtns? Would that be a possibility?

What avoidcrowds is also trying to tell you is that time of year is very iffy in the high country. It all depends on what type of winter they had if the snow has even melted off so you could get off the road to camp.At Keystone valley you are at 9200' elevation and almost anywhere you would go camping is just going to be higher.

I lived in CO for 27 years and there were lot of times we couldn't make it into the high country till the end of June.

Good Luck

Ok, I agree I might be bigger than normal, but I have heard they are places that I might be able to scout ahead with the tow vehicle and see what is "around the bend", so to speak. We want to be as dispersed as we can...we are looking around the Lake Dillon area and Breckenridge or perhaps a little further west on I-70..

thanks for any suggestions!

Need some clarification, since the term is used so loosely. Are you interested in true boondocking, off the beaten path? Basically, dispersed camping in a National Forest? Or, are you looking for dry camping in a NF campground?

From the size of your rig, if you are talking about true boondocking, I can't think of any place I would take a rig of that size. I have a much smaller trailer, so I can get more places.

I have been looking (GoogleEarth) at the roads I used to take when I lived and camped in Summit County all the time. There are more houses up there now, so more private land borders the Forest Service roads. Keystone Gulch (N39.599145 W105.974609 (just the lower part of the road, not a campsite)) used to be good, but it looks like homes have taken over the low, flatter spots. Deer Creek (N39.564285 W105.860501) above Montezuma also has more private dwellings along where I was thinking you could camp. Peru Gulch (N39.592308 W105.871142) has been gated, but is not always closed, but may only be open for hiking, but even that was a rough road.

Dry camping, there are a couple campgrounds around Frisco. I stayed in the one on the east side of Frisco a couple months ago, and it was okay, as campgrounds go. Room for your rig, but neighbors and a fee.

Clarify a bit what you are looking for, and I will continue to scan the recesses of my memory, and see what you may fit into. But, you said May/June, and that will rule-out almost everything. There is still lots of mud, if not snow, in that valley in late-May and early-June. FS campgrounds might be open then, but most of the FS roads in the area will still be gated, due to muddy conditions.