Colorado campground advise..
Hello all, my wife and I are planning a fall trip to Colorado. We are looking for advise on nice campgrounds. We want to stay near Colorado Springs and maybe the Estes Park. Any advise would be GREAT....
Forum Discussion
Denver Transplant wrote:
Mountain Dale is very nice. We've been there several times. North side is mostly full time residents and the south side is used for actual campers. Its a good base for going to Canon City, Royal Gorge and Colorado Springs. Its about half way between them.
Also Mueller State Park is good for Elk, but in the fall it can be cool as the park is at 9000 ft. You might even get some snow.
North of there there is Golden Gate Canyon State Park - also high (8,000 ft).
One other spot that may not be open in late fall is Brainerd Lake Recreation Area - its even higher at 10,500 ft and generally closes in mid October. You want a site in the west loop. The east loop had a micro burst a few winters ago that knocked down all of the trees.
All these locations are popular and you will need reservations, especially for weekends.
Just for clarification...
Golden Gate Canyon State Park is northwest of Golden CO. It can be accessed from the east (CO 93) or from the west (CO 119). Accessing the campground from the west outside of Black Hawk is the way I usually go. Reverend's Ridge is the campground there, open all year with one loop available after the season as walk in. It's more convenient to Estes Park than to Colorado Springs.
Pawnee Campground in the Brainerd Lake area closes in early September. It's walk in only all season -- reservations are not available. It's convenient to Estes Park, as it's outside of Ward CO, about a 35-40min drive south of Estes Park on the Peak to Peak Highway.
