Steamboat State Park or Canon City, Co?
Hello, I am planning a last minute trip to Colorado. Or I should say, I'm trying to, but I need help Some background: My older son, who is getting old enough that he won't be camping with us mu...
Forum Discussion
The two choices, Canon City and Steamboat Lake SP are in significantly different areas of the state. Both are popular for different reasons.
Canon City is considered the Gateway to the Royal Gorge area, and there is indeed much to see and do there...or was. There has been destruction from a fire in 2013 that did damage to some of the sights around the Royal Gorge Bridge, but fortunately, not the Bridge itself. Many of the support attractions were destroyed, but they are rebuilding the area. It may be a couple of seasons until it's back to the way it was before the fire.
Royal Gorge Story
That said, there's still a lot to see and do in the area, and could be a base for exploring other areas in southern Colorado. It's not far from the Wet Mountain Valley area, and of course there's the Arkansas River Valley area to explore.
Steamboat Lake SP is in NW Colorado, west of Steamboat Springs. It's about a 30 minute drive from town to the SP. It's a beautiful area, it's somewhat isolated, and it's also very popular...as are most Colorado State Parks. What few remaining sites that are currently available, may be less desirable sites, and even those can go fast. It's an outdoorsy area, reportedly good fishing there and at Pearl Lake, and hiking in the area. But...you're not close to town at all, there's no retail areas or restaurants around in that area.
Neither are remotely close to Denver...several hours from either location to Denver. As was previously suggested, Colorado Springs could be a good alternative as there is much to see and do there, it's about an hour south of Denver (depending on traffic), and there are a lot of private campgrounds in the area. Not very likely to get a spot in either Cheyenne Mountain or Mueller State Parks on short notice.
As for driving, Canon City is on the east side of the mountains and therefore easily accessible to your tow vehicle and trailer. No problems getting there at all. Set up camp there, and use your truck for exploring the area. Same thing goes for Colorado Springs area. Although some of the Springs campgrounds are located up US 24 toward Woodland Park area, it's not a difficult drive when towing. You'll be fine in any of the areas along the east face of the Rockies, along the Front Range. Same thing for Denver.
Getting to Steamboat Lake SP...there WILL be mountains! One can take I-70 over to Summit County area (Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne) and go north through Kremmling and on to Steamboat Springs. But there will be a lot of mountain driving, including some tunnels and passes.
OR you can go north all the way to Fort Collins and take CO 14 all the way up Poudre Canyon to Walden and on over to US 40. You'll have beautiful canyon driving as well as a couple of passes to cross before getting to Steamboat.
These are the two major routes coming from the east to get to Steamboat Lake SP. I'm sure there are other, less travelled ways to get there, say, from coming in from the north from Wyoming.
Canon City is considered the Gateway to the Royal Gorge area, and there is indeed much to see and do there...or was. There has been destruction from a fire in 2013 that did damage to some of the sights around the Royal Gorge Bridge, but fortunately, not the Bridge itself. Many of the support attractions were destroyed, but they are rebuilding the area. It may be a couple of seasons until it's back to the way it was before the fire.
Royal Gorge Story
That said, there's still a lot to see and do in the area, and could be a base for exploring other areas in southern Colorado. It's not far from the Wet Mountain Valley area, and of course there's the Arkansas River Valley area to explore.
Steamboat Lake SP is in NW Colorado, west of Steamboat Springs. It's about a 30 minute drive from town to the SP. It's a beautiful area, it's somewhat isolated, and it's also very popular...as are most Colorado State Parks. What few remaining sites that are currently available, may be less desirable sites, and even those can go fast. It's an outdoorsy area, reportedly good fishing there and at Pearl Lake, and hiking in the area. But...you're not close to town at all, there's no retail areas or restaurants around in that area.
Neither are remotely close to Denver...several hours from either location to Denver. As was previously suggested, Colorado Springs could be a good alternative as there is much to see and do there, it's about an hour south of Denver (depending on traffic), and there are a lot of private campgrounds in the area. Not very likely to get a spot in either Cheyenne Mountain or Mueller State Parks on short notice.
As for driving, Canon City is on the east side of the mountains and therefore easily accessible to your tow vehicle and trailer. No problems getting there at all. Set up camp there, and use your truck for exploring the area. Same thing goes for Colorado Springs area. Although some of the Springs campgrounds are located up US 24 toward Woodland Park area, it's not a difficult drive when towing. You'll be fine in any of the areas along the east face of the Rockies, along the Front Range. Same thing for Denver.
Getting to Steamboat Lake SP...there WILL be mountains! One can take I-70 over to Summit County area (Frisco/Dillon/Silverthorne) and go north through Kremmling and on to Steamboat Springs. But there will be a lot of mountain driving, including some tunnels and passes.
OR you can go north all the way to Fort Collins and take CO 14 all the way up Poudre Canyon to Walden and on over to US 40. You'll have beautiful canyon driving as well as a couple of passes to cross before getting to Steamboat.
These are the two major routes coming from the east to get to Steamboat Lake SP. I'm sure there are other, less travelled ways to get there, say, from coming in from the north from Wyoming.
