Where are some good camping spots in Colorado?

[BABronco]

I'm planning to go up their during the summer. I want to be in a kind of remote(ish) area with challenging trails and great scenery(which isn't hard to find up there). I know summers a whole 5 months away, but never to soon to start planning.

[Dukes]

I used to go Elk hunting near Yampa, in the flat top wilderness area. There's hikers and other campers, but it's far enough away from larger towns that you really won't run into that many people. There's good fishing too. Stillwater reservior is great along with a few others that are just downstream of it.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Good thread, BABronco.

[That One Guy]

I used to camp out west of Colorado Springs and I loved the place. You could walk about a quarter mile one way and be looking out over beautiful valleys and about 2 miles the other way was a big reservoir. Can't recall exactly... It was as if you were going to the Air Force camping area. Can anyone help me?

Head W on HWY 24 from Colorado Springs for about 45 mins to an hour, turn by the Mcdonalds... anyone know where I'm talking about? It's been a few years since I've been up there but I loved it. One of my favorite camping spots of all time

[XXXII&III]

Sounds like Rampart Range Road??

[That One Guy]

That would be it. You're the man!

Rampart Range road, going like you're going to the reservoir and you just pull off into the woods in one of their camping spots. Don't know if you have to organize it or anything, I don't know that we did. It was a great spot though.

I would definitely avoid Pueblo reservoir camping areas though. We were stuck in the rain down there. Bored, hungry, and miserable and as soon as we started a fire to make food... Here comes some cop guy to tell us a fire ban is in effect. We ate raw hotdogs in the rain then slept, got up the next morning and hit denny's on the way back to the Springs. Pueblo Blows.

[epicSocialism4tw]

What about MTB trails? Anyone know of any good scenic day trails for an intermediate and a beginner rider?

[ZONA]

You talking about hiking trails or 4x4 trails? Hiking I would recomend Barr Trail. You don't have to take it all the way to the peak and you can camp at Barr camp. Some great scenery.

4x4 trails - just go here and look. http://www.4x4trails.net

[epicSocialism4tw]

You talking about hiking trails or 4x4 trails? Hiking I would recomend Barr Trail. You don't have to take it all the way to the peak and you can camp at Barr camp. Some great scenery.

4x4 trails - just go here and look. http://www.4x4trails.net

Mountainbiking trails. My girlfriend and I like to trail ride, and love the long scenic trails. She's a beginner-level rider, so we wouldnt want to do any steep rock face climbs or super-technical sections.

[Spider]

I used to go Elk hunting near Yampa, in the flat top wilderness area. There's hikers and other campers, but it's far enough away from larger towns that you really won't run into that many people. There's good fishing too. Stillwater reservior is great along with a few others that are just downstream of it.

Yellow jacket pass up in Yampa coutry ..........

[Spider]

I used to camp out west of Colorado Springs and I loved the place. You could walk about a quarter mile one way and be looking out over beautiful valleys and about 2 miles the other way was a big reservoir. Can't recall exactly... It was as if you were going to the Air Force camping area. Can anyone help me?

Head W on HWY 24 from Colorado Springs for about 45 mins to an hour, turn by the Mcdonalds... anyone know where I'm talking about? It's been a few years since I've been up there but I loved it. One of my favorite camping spots of all time

yeah out by Cripple creek

[That One Guy]

You talking about hiking trails or 4x4 trails? Hiking I would recomend Barr Trail. You don't have to take it all the way to the peak and you can camp at Barr camp. Some great scenery.

4x4 trails - just go here and look. http://www.4x4trails.net

We did Barr trail as a work function one day and I thought it was 6 miles round trip, turns out it was 6 miles up to the cabin thing. Something like that, at least. My buddy ended up getting blisters from new boots he was wearing so we decided to go down the staircase down the side of the mountain. Very bad idea. Never go down a dirt staircase descending along the side of a mountain, incase anyone ever thinks of trying it.

[ZONA]

Mountainbiking trails. My girlfriend and I like to trail ride, and love the long scenic trails. She's a beginner-level rider, so we wouldnt want to do any steep rock face climbs or super-technical sections.

I believe you can take your bikes up the incline at Mt. Manitou and then you can ride down Barr Trail. It's a blast because it's all downhill. A novice could ride this. I'll ask my brother for some good trails. He raced mountain bikes professionaly and he lives in Colorado so I will ask him.

[That One Guy]

yeah out by Cripple creek

I don't think it's quite that far but I never went to Cripple Creek so I'm not sure. It was the Rampart Range Rd area though, someone above know the area.

[cbs1177]

I onced camped at Black Hawk and won 300 dollars.

[ZONA]

We did Barr trail as a work function one day and I thought it was 6 miles round trip, turns out it was 6 miles up to the cabin thing. Something like that, at least. My buddy ended up getting blisters from new boots he was wearing so we decided to go down the staircase down the side of the mountain. Very bad idea. Never go down a dirt staircase descending along the side of a mountain, incase anyone ever thinks of trying it.

We used to do that as kids all the time. Of course, Barr Trail was 10 minutes walking from my house so I lived on that trail. I think I must have hiked bottom to peak and down again at least 20 times. I even did the trail up to Barr Camp during the winter. That was biting off more then I could chew. But the worst all time story I have on that mountain was when I went hiking with my older brother. We came to a stream (not on trail) and there were some rocks we had to jump across with water below. He took off his pack and gave it to me while he made the jump to the other side. Then asked me to throw his pack to him before I made the jump. Kerplunk, his brand new folding sunglasses (yeah, it was the 80's) fell out the side into the water. The current took them away and the stream went underground at that point. One look from him and I knew I was not going to jump to the other side. He threw his pack back over and then chased me all the way down the trail to home where he promptly thumped me.

[Spider]

I don't think it's quite that far but I never went to Cripple Creek so I'm not sure. It was the Rampart Range Rd area though, someone above know the area.

must be that reservoir outside of woodland park

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Check out Chaffee County.
http://coloradoheadwaters.com/

[kamakazi_kal]

Grand Mesa......................THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Natedogg]

Check out Chaffee County.
http://coloradoheadwaters.com/

Absolutely right again big guy.

Campingwise, I reccomend Winfield Basin, at Lake Anne, Just below the Three Apostles. Also, Brown's Lake, between Antaro, and Tabuwatch (sp?) is a gem.

Great mtning biking on the lenhardy cutoff. The ride along the Colorado trail on Princeton's east face is incredible.

You can 4x4 it all the way up Antaro, but ya'll pry already knew that.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

Absolutely right again big guy.

Campingwise, I reccomend Winfield Basin, at Lake Anne, Just below the Three Apostles. Also, Brown's Lake, between Antaro, and Tabuwatch (sp?) is a gem.

Great mtning biking on the lenhardy cutoff. The ride along the Colorado trail on Princeton's east face is incredible.

You can 4x4 it all the way up Antaro, but ya'll pry already knew that.

Send away for the county visitor guide. It will have maps and all of the bike trails and sources of more detail. Variety of activities and levels of camping. You can pop over the hill (Cottonwood Pass) to Taylor Reservoir area too.

[Dedhed]

There is great hiking and camping throughout the Weminuche Wilderness down in the San Juans. Really gorgeous land, but certainly remote. Make sure you know what you're doing, because it's the real back country, but if you can't find peace there you won't find it anywhere on this earth.

[NYBronco]

Poudre Canyon, West of Fort Collins.

[Bronx33]

I'm planning to go up their during the summer. I want to be in a kind of remote(ish) area with challenging trails and great scenery(which isn't hard to find up there). I know summers a whole 5 months away, but never to soon to start planning.


Meaning what? four wheel drive? mountain bike? motorcycle? drunk enough to negoitate walking?

[ludo21]

Trails:

Grand Canyon, tough hike in and out, but its fun for sure.

[69bronco]

Holy Cross.

[dsmoot]

I used to go Elk hunting near Yampa, in the flat top wilderness area. There's hikers and other campers, but it's far enough away from larger towns that you really won't run into that many people. There's good fishing too. Stillwater reservior is great along with a few others that are just downstream of it.

A nice entrance into the Flat Tops Wilderness Area is going east from Meeker to Trappers Lake. Very few people are seen up there and it is very pretty.

[BABronco]

Meaning what? four wheel drive? mountain bike? motorcycle? drunk enough to negoitate walking?

Hiking

[WoodMan]

Mt. Zerkle Wilderness area 20 miles outside of Steamboat Springs. Its close to the town of Clark. Good places to camp outside of the wilderness if you don't want to pack in and the hiking is great. Good fishing in the lakes and streams as well. An added bonus is the hot springs in Steamboat or Strawberry Park at the end of the trip. This is a very nice spot, but being Colorado there are many.

The best in the West IMO is the Wind River Range outside of Lander, WYO., but you really need to pack into the peaks to appreciate what it has to offer.

[dsmoot]

Mt. Zerkle Wilderness area 20 miles outside of Steamboat Springs. Its close to the town of Clark. Good places to camp outside of the wilderness if you don't want to pack in and the hiking is great. Good fishing in the lakes and streams as well. An added bonus is the hot springs in Steamboat or Strawberry Park at the end of the trip. This is a very nice spot, but being Colorado there are many.

The best in the West IMO is the Wind River Range outside of Lander, WYO., but you really need to pack into the peaks to appreciate what it has to offer.

The Wind River Range is located much closer to Pinedale, Lander and Riverton. The Vedauwoo (Laramie Range) and the Snowy Range (Medicine Bow Peak) are the mountains closer to Laramie.

[Dempsey Dog]

Anywhere along the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway. It is a circle that includes Durango, Cortez, and Telluride (my great, great, great, great grandfather homesteaded there) is awesome. It includes the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray, aka Little Switzerland. While in Ouray check out the hot springs. It then crosses over to Telluride. You then head SW to Cortez past Trout Lake and along the Dolores river into Cortez. Then between Cortez and Durango is Mesa Verde National Park. The whole drive is about 160 miles. There are lots of rivers, lakes, trails (both people and 4x4), and even some old ghost towns that used to be little mining towns back in the day to check out. There are so many places to camp!



There has been off and on discussions about turning the whole area into a National Park. I do not think it will happen, but I would put this area up against any place in the country. You have it all.

http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/2101/overview.html

[Old Dude]

There are some nice areas just west of Ward, along the road to Brainard Lake. There are a couple other lakes in the area, Redrock, which is closer to Ward, and the Lefthand Reservoir, which is a little south of Brainard, along CR 104. This general area is more "civilized" with bike trails, established campgrounds, etc. Though not usually too overpopulated. However, if you don't mind roughing it a little, you can hike west-southwestward from Brainard lake to Long Lake, which is a more remote area with lots of wildlife.

I've also heard great things about Poudre Canyon, west of Collins, but haven't been there yet. I'm hoping to check it out this summer.

[Bronx33]

Mt. Zerkle Wilderness area 20 miles outside of Steamboat Springs. Its close to the town of Clark. Good places to camp outside of the wilderness if you don't want to pack in and the hiking is great. Good fishing in the lakes and streams as well. An added bonus is the hot springs in Steamboat or Strawberry Park at the end of the trip. This is a very nice spot, but being Colorado there are many.

The best in the West IMO is the Wind River Range outside of Lander, WYO., but you really need to pack into the peaks to appreciate what it has to offer.



My family has a cabin on hahns peak over looking steamboat lake we have had it for over 30 years and you can do just about anything ya want up there, if hiking is what ya want BA plenty of day hiking anywhere ya look around there with pretty views three lakes pretty close to eachother pearl lake, steamboat and hahn peak lakes all with camping facilites. Everybody that goes up there always takes a crack at climbing hahns peak we always have a steady stream of hikers coming by the cabin. (Heres a couple views of the area)

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/8545/img8514bo2.jpg

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2827/img8536ny6.jpg

[Crowpointer]

I heard of a place in Parker called AK1971's front yard that is pretty good place for watching big bonfires (at least it was last year). Ample beer supply and gambling in that locale as well. If you like RV's I heard there is a big orange bus that was mothballed last year (the owner moved out of town ot something like that) and probably could be rented cheap. Good luck.

[Rascal]

Why is this on the main forum but the firearm thread is not?

[Old Dude]

I don't know. Was the Firearms thread moved?

[Rascal]

Yeah it was moved to the off-topic forum.

[Old Dude]

Well, whoever did that would be in a better position to explain their reasoning. I don't know. Maybe one of the mods wanted firearms off the main page for awhile due to the D-Will shooting, or maybe it just got moved to make more space for playoff threads.

Either way, it's not that hard to find the subforums.

[Rascal]

Well, whoever did that would be in a better position to explain their reasoning. I don't know. Maybe one of the mods wanted firearms off the main page for awhile due to the D-Will shooting, or maybe it just got moved to make more space for playoff threads.

Either way, it's not that hard to find the subforums.

The offtopic forum is where threads go to die. Why would a thread with 7+ pages need to be moved?

That DW explanation is a load of BS.

So a thread creating a lot of traffic and interest, based on the number of posts, gets the boot, but a thread about Brady's banging partner, 24, netflix, this thread, and others stays on the main forum (all with less activity then the firearm thread)?

That is stupid.

[Old Dude]

Well, whatever. Looks like you've already mentioned this in the mod thread, so I assume you'll get an explanation there. In the meantime, lets get off this thread and let the campers & hikers proceed. The hikers with guns can certainly find the other thread.

[ludo21]

Going to Wolf Creek this weekend!! woop woop!!

Wont be hiking, but Pagosa Springs will be sweet.

[Rascal]

Make sure you are packing.

[Dedhed]

Yeah it was moved to the off-topic forum.

if guns are your only interest, follow it there.

[dsmoot]

Anywhere along the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway. It is a circle that includes Durango, Cortez, and Telluride (my great, great, great, great grandfather homesteaded there) is awesome. It includes the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray, aka Little Switzerland. While in Ouray check out the hot springs. It then crosses over to Telluride. You then head SW to Cortez past Trout Lake and along the Dolores river into Cortez. Then between Cortez and Durango is Mesa Verde National Park. The whole drive is about 160 miles. There are lots of rivers, lakes, trails (both people and 4x4), and even some old ghost towns that used to be little mining towns back in the day to check out. There are so many places to camp!



There has been off and on discussions about turning the whole area into a National Park. I do not think it will happen, but I would put this area up against any place in the country. You have it all.

http://www.byways.org/browse/byways/2101/overview.html

This is a great area. Something I did a few years ago before my son went back to college was to go to Ouray and rent a jeep. We then took some old 4X4 mining roads, going past a few mining camps, seeing some wonderful country and then straight over a mountain pass and down into Telluride. Ouray and Telluride are very close to each other as the bird flys but a considerable distance along paved roads. One of the best family adventures we have ever done. The next best was hiking up the Narrows in Zion National Park.

[ak1971]

What about MTB trails? Anyone know of any good scenic day trails for an intermediate and a beginner rider?

Close to Denver...Green Mountain is a pretty easy trail..about 7 mile loop, Red Rocks, or Three Sisters (by Evergreen) would be my choices.

[ak1971]

I heard of a place in Parker called AK1971's front yard that is pretty good place for watching big bonfires (at least it was last year). Ample beer supply and gambling in that locale as well. If you like RV's I heard there is a big orange bus that was mothballed last year (the owner moved out of town ot something like that) and probably could be rented cheap. Good luck.

no more campfires..I cant comment on the other two items ( I am married now you know)

[BABronco]

bump