We did a short stay here while on our western camping tour. It was a great stay, but it wasn't fun getting here pulling my 13 foot Scamp with a bathroom, with my 4 cylinder Kia Sportage. On this trip, I think I blew a valve cover gasket, so for the rest of the trip I smelled oil.
What route to not use to get here:
If you are in an RV, or Towing a travel trailer, do not use route SH 46 to get here! The campground is at about 9000 altitude, and getting up there with a small, non turbo, or supercharged engine is an ordeal! You loose an additional 3% horse power for every 1000 feet you climb above sea level, and that tight, steep road makes it even harder to ascend the mountain.
Convenience to civilization and amenities:
Just a 20 minute drive back down the mountain is Neederland, CO. A nice quint little town with various restaurants, a grocery store, and even an outdoor store. Neederland also has quite a few marijuana dispensaries, if you are into that type of thing.
in the other direction from Neederland is Black Hawk, CO. A very cool little casino mountain town. We ate dinner here at one of the casinos.
As far as convenience, This park has pretty much everything you could ask for in non camping related activities and the grocery, and outdoor store to restock your camping supplies.
The campground:
The campground itself is also very nice, and my loop had one nice and clean bathroom, Although for as many slots as our loop had, I thought that might be too few bathrooms, although it didn't become an issue for us.
The Trails:
We did some hiking while we were here, on a fairly extensive list of trails.
The Scenery:
The park, and the campground are stunning, with high vistas to peer off when you are on the trails! We were here in the fall, and it was really incredible!
I made a short video of my stay here if you want to watch!. Just copy and past the web address into the address bar of your web browser!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-F3XiX1U2I read more