Colorado trip (1 Viewer)

[jp_waltz]

I posted this in one of the CO club forums but wanted to see if any SoCal 80 folks have trip ideas...

We’re taking a summer trip to CO in mid July and looking for some camping location ideas. We’ve never visited Colorado so we don’t have any first hand experiences to draw from. We’re looking to do a mix of kid friendly areas that are near or in town to take advantage of restaurants and kid adventure type stuff and some possible boondocking. We’re set up for off the grid camping but don’t mind an occasional crowded campground. So far we don’t have any agenda other than the date and the state (and slee). Well be traveling from Ventura, California so we’ll be stopping at a place or two along the way to break up the drive. Your thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.
Paul

 

[Dharma Dude]

I posted this in one of the CO club forums but wanted to see if any SoCal 80 folks have trip ideas...

We’re taking a summer trip to CO in mid July and looking for some camping location ideas. We’ve never visited Colorado so we don’t have any first hand experiences to draw from. We’re looking to do a mix of kid friendly areas that are near or in town to take advantage of restaurants and kid adventure type stuff and some possible boondocking. We’re set up for off the grid camping but don’t mind an occasional crowded campground. So far we don’t have any agenda other than the date and the state (and slee). Well be traveling from Ventura, California so we’ll be stopping at a place or two along the way to break up the drive. Your thought and suggestions are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.
Paul

I took a similar trip last July/August. Here are some places I camped at and enjoyed. Though we didn't camped all that much in Colorado itself.

• Dispersed camping near Mono Lake and Mono Craters. Amazing area, and very quiet.
• Dispersed camping in Dixie National Forest near Cedar City.
• Capital Reef NP and Hanksville area (Factory Butte, Goblin State Park) (lots of dispersed camping in the desert)
• Arches National Park (very croweded campgrounds) but camping in BLM land near by.
• Canyonlands (East side) --- very quiet. The campground was like half full. It's very hot.
• Mesa Verde NP. Easy to get campsite. Lots of people but not too crowded.
• Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you go up the sandy, dirt road, many dispersed camping possibilities. The official campground looked very crowded.
• Great Basin National Park. On weekdays, you can often find a camping spot.
• Dispersed camping in random NF throughout Nevada.

Check out Campendium.com for more ideas.