Summer RV'ing in the Southwest

davols11 wrote:
Hello all. First post, and would greatly appreciate any input as to a trip to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico this summer. I prefer traveling on the fly, seeing what there is and going where the mood takes me. But do I need to become a......planner? Should I be making reservations for nice full hook-up camps, or will I be able to wing it and have no problems finding a place? I prefer national or state parks, but the question is as to private campgrounds as well. Thanks in advance for any provided guidance.

Most places in Colorado, such as State Parks and USFS campgrounds, you should be good to go "winging it" IF you arrive during the week. One of the things I like to do is go outbound on a Sunday afternoon/evening when most everyone is going home from their weekend, and then settle in, or move around...as long as you're settled in early Friday somewhere for the weekend. A lot of the Colorado locales have first come/first served sites, so if you get there early enough on a Friday you should be good. Especially true of many of the State Parks.

There are some exceptions of course. Maroon Bells near Aspen, you almost always need a reservation for that area. Poudre Canyon west of Ft Collins, fills up on the weekend, even at the upper end of the canyon. Same with locations west of Boulder. Any places near the populated areas will fill up pretty quickly on weekends. Rocky Mountain National Park up north, and Mesa Verde down south would also be places that will likely fill up early on a weekend. Great Sand Dunes? Don't know -- it's been a long time since I've been down there on a weekend.

EDIT: Plan on HOT weather, beyond the Colorado Mountains! Figure about 5 degrees for each 1000 ft of elevation change for Colorado. 90s in Denver will be 70s-80s in mountains to the west/60s or so on the highest locations like Pikes Peak, Mt Evans, or Trail Ridge Rd in RMNP. SW Colorado in the 4Corners area can get very hot, and even at elevation at Mesa Verde, it can get hot as well -- a lot to do with intense sun exposure rather than raw temps in MV. Fortunately there's a lot of shelter there in visiting the cliff dwellings. Just be prepared for sometimes strenuous walking/hiking/climbing there!