Mueller State Park & Ridgway State Park Colorado review
Mueller State Park (July 3rd-6th): EXCELLENT
Nice campground, definitely had the "woodys" feel to the campground with alot of full grown trees within the park. We lucked into a open site thru somebody else cancelling, but before that, I had been looking for a month and it was always booked. I can see why because we really liked it and will be back again. The bathrooms and pay showers were clean and functional. The showers were $1.00 for the first 4 minutes with .25 for each minute after. The water was always hot and it was open all day with the exception of the daily cleanings.
Ridgway SP: Pa-Co-Chu-Puk (July 6th): NEVER AGAIN !!!
I had made reservations for site #267 in January thinking that since it was next to the river, would be able to enjoy it...WAS I WRONG!!!!
Google Earth is very deceptive regarding terrain because the river was at the bottom of a very steep drop-off that I didn't feel comfortable trying to navigate. Plus...the mosquitoes were bad enough that I think I saw a small dog being sucked dry. When the Park Rangers tell you that they're this bad every year during the summer, then it's bad. We were suppose to be here for 6 nights, but after 1 night...it was enough. When the mosquitoes use you as a pin cushion at all hours of the day, we had enough. Luckily we found a sympathetic ranger who was able to help get our reservation moved to the Dakota Terrace campground up the road.
Ridgway SP: Dakota Terrace (July 7th-12th)SAVED THE DAY
Nice campground. The sites were closer together than at Mueller and there were far fewer established large trees, so it was mainly sage brush that broke up the view. The bathroom and shower facilities were good with plenty of hot water. The camp hosts drove the park several times during the day making sure the place was clean and would stop to chat and make sure everything was going OK.
Everyone at Ridgway went out of their way to make sure our stay was enjoyable. We did drive thru the Elk Ridge campground, and this was more similar to Mueller SP. When we come back, I think this will be the CG we try to get into.
We had never camped in a "bear" campground and the Park Rangers were diligent about the campers following all protocols. Since we were in a pop-up the rangers AT Mueller SP said ALL food had to go inside the cab of the truck. The rangers at Ridgway said that all factory sealed foods could stay in the camper, but opened food (chips, bread, etc) had to go into the truck each night. Kinda confused why there was not uniformity between then parks but I didn't want my actions to be responsible for a bear getting killed so we took all precautions.
Nice campground, definitely had the "woodys" feel to the campground with alot of full grown trees within the park. We lucked into a open site thru somebody else cancelling, but before that, I had been looking for a month and it was always booked. I can see why because we really liked it and will be back again. The bathrooms and pay showers were clean and functional. The showers were $1.00 for the first 4 minutes with .25 for each minute after. The water was always hot and it was open all day with the exception of the daily cleanings.
Ridgway SP: Pa-Co-Chu-Puk (July 6th): NEVER AGAIN !!!
I had made reservations for site #267 in January thinking that since it was next to the river, would be able to enjoy it...WAS I WRONG!!!!
Google Earth is very deceptive regarding terrain because the river was at the bottom of a very steep drop-off that I didn't feel comfortable trying to navigate. Plus...the mosquitoes were bad enough that I think I saw a small dog being sucked dry. When the Park Rangers tell you that they're this bad every year during the summer, then it's bad. We were suppose to be here for 6 nights, but after 1 night...it was enough. When the mosquitoes use you as a pin cushion at all hours of the day, we had enough. Luckily we found a sympathetic ranger who was able to help get our reservation moved to the Dakota Terrace campground up the road.
Ridgway SP: Dakota Terrace (July 7th-12th)SAVED THE DAY
Nice campground. The sites were closer together than at Mueller and there were far fewer established large trees, so it was mainly sage brush that broke up the view. The bathroom and shower facilities were good with plenty of hot water. The camp hosts drove the park several times during the day making sure the place was clean and would stop to chat and make sure everything was going OK.
Everyone at Ridgway went out of their way to make sure our stay was enjoyable. We did drive thru the Elk Ridge campground, and this was more similar to Mueller SP. When we come back, I think this will be the CG we try to get into.
We had never camped in a "bear" campground and the Park Rangers were diligent about the campers following all protocols. Since we were in a pop-up the rangers AT Mueller SP said ALL food had to go inside the cab of the truck. The rangers at Ridgway said that all factory sealed foods could stay in the camper, but opened food (chips, bread, etc) had to go into the truck each night. Kinda confused why there was not uniformity between then parks but I didn't want my actions to be responsible for a bear getting killed so we took all precautions.
