The Best in Tent Camping: Colorado A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos

by Molloy, Johnny

• ISBN13: 9780897325646
• ISBN10: 0897325648
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press

Summary

Colorado is known for the Rockies, cobalt skies, deep forests, and snow-fed mountain streams, but there are other attractions as well: Mesa Verde, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Great Sand Dunes near the Sangre de Cristo Range, the Uncompahgre Plateau, and more. The Best in Tent Camping: Colorado will guide you to the quietest, most beautiful, most secure, and best managed campgrounds in the Centennial State. Painstakingly selected from hundreds of camping options, each profiled campground is rated for beauty, noise, privacy, security, spaciousness, and cleanliness. Also included are suggestions for nearby outdoor recreation and sightseeing, pinpointing attractions that often go unnoticed.

Author Biography

Johnny Molloy is an outdoor writer based in Johnson City, Tennessee. He has averaged over 100 nights in the wild per year since the early 1980's, backpacking and canoe camping throughout the country. He has written numerous hiking and tent camping guides for the southeastern states, Wisconsin and Colorado.

Table of Contents

Colorado Campgrounds Key	p. ix
Colorado Campground Locator	p. x
Colorado Campgrounds Map Legend	p. xii
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Preface	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 2
Northwest Colorado	p. 5
Browns Park Campground	p. 6
Byers Creek Campground	p. 9
Cold Springs Campground	p. 12
The Crags Campground	p. 15
Dinosaur National Monument: Echo Park Campground	p. 18
Golden Gate Canyon State Park	p. 21
Irish Canyon Campground	p. 24
Jacks Gulch Campground	p. 27
Longs Peak Campground	p. 30
Rainbow Lakes Campground	p. 33
Rifle Falls State Park Campground	p. 36
Shepherds Rim Campground	p. 39
Steamboat Lake State Park Campground	p. 42
Timber Creek Campground	p. 45
Central Colorado	p. 49
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: North Rim Campground	p. 50
Buffalo Creek Campground	p. 53
Colorado National Monument: Saddlehorn Campground	p. 56
Cottonwood Lake Campground	p. 59
Curecanti National Recreation Area: Ponderosa Campground	p. 62
Dominguez Canyon Campground	p. 65
Elbert Creek Campground	p. 68
Fulford Cave Campground	p. 71
Geneva Park Campground	p. 74
Gold Park Campground	p. 77
Kite Lake Campground	p. 80
Lost Lake Campground	p. 83
Lost Park Campground	p. 86
Mirror Lake Campground	p. 89
Mueller State Park Campground	p. 92
Ruby Mountain Campground	p. 95
Supply Basin Campground	p. 98
Weir and Johnson Campground	p. 101
Weston Pass Campground	p. 104
Southwest Colorado	p. 107
Alvarado Campground	p. 108
Bear Lake Campground	p. 111
Burro Bridge Campground	p. 114
Cathedral Campground	p. 117
Great Sand Dunes National Monument: Pinon Flats Campground	p. 120
Lost Trail Campground	p. 123
Mesa Verde National Park: Morefield Campground	p. 126
Mix Lake Campground	p. 129
North Crestone Creek Campground	p. 132
Ridgway State Park Campground	p. 135
Rio Blanco Campground	p. 138
Silver Jack Campground	p. 141
Stone Cellar Campground	p. 144
Transfer Park Campground	p. 147
Trujillo Meadows Campground	p. 152
The Prairie	p. 153
Bonny Lake State Park Campground	p. 154
Jackson Lake State Park Campground	p. 157
Appendices	p. 161
Camping Equipment Checklist	p. 162
Sources of Information	p. 163
About the Author	p. 164
Index	p. 165
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Snowy, granite domes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains plunge down to a forest of spruce and fir. This in turn gives way to an open meadow and Bear Lake, where you can enjoy tent camping, in the most southeasterly slice of national forest land in Colorado. Fishing comes naturally with all the water around, both still and moving. You can move along many trails in the vicinity and make a side trip to the Spanish Peaks, a National Natural Landmark. The campground is well placed next to the dense forest and mountain meadow above Bear Lake. Along the campground's gravel loop, several wooded campsites are situated to your right with obscured views of Bear Lake. More open sites with occasional stray aspen are in the center of the loop as the road swings around into the grassy meadow. What these campsites lack in privacy they make up in views of Steep Mountain above, the nearby meadow, and a cathedral of peaks beyond. A few campsites on the outside of the loop face into the clearing, which has a stream flowing through it. The Indian Creek trailhead starts just beyond campsite #9. The loop road begins to climb into the forest again. Another creek rushes from the high country through the campground to Bear Lake. The next few campsites are in the spruce to your right, offering the most in campsite privacy. This is one of the highest campgrounds around, so bring that extra blanket and expect to find temperatures around, or possibly below, freezing through out the summer. Be prepared for windy, cool conditions any time at Bear Lake. Stake your tent down extra taut as well, because the gusts of wind from the peaks above can blow mighty strong. Cover yourself from the penetrating rays of the sun. Experience taught me these lessons the hard way. On my visit I failed to bring enough clothes for the chill, my face got sunburned, my tent was blown over, and I froze my tail off that night. And I still like this place.