Free RV Camping – US 160 (west of Pagosa Springs)

The post above included a few campsites along I-25/US 160 from Pueblo to Pagosa Springs, while this one will include the stretch of US 160 from Chimney Rock to the Four Corners.  This region includes the Durango & Silverton narrow-gauge railroad and Mesa Verde National Park/World Heritage Site.  It also includes some lesser-known attractions like the wonderful Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center-Museum near Dolores, Canyons of the Ancients and Hovenweep National Monuments, and Lake McPhee. 

West of Pagosa Springs-Chimney Rock, there is a Free USFS dispersed camping area located just east of Bayfield.  Turn south off US 160 onto CR 526 and then immediately turn east on CR 527.  As a general rule, the land north of CR 527 and Sauls Creek is private and the land south of the road is National Forest.  The best bet is to turn south onto CR 528, then find a side road in the trees going to one of the many natural gas wells in the area.  These wells are the reason for the substantial number and generally good condition of these roads.  This is also free range, so watch for cattle on the road.  Camp at an existing campsite/fire ring and within 300 feet of the road if boondocking.  And be extremely careful with any campfires as there is a wildfire nearly every year in the Durango area.  Since the county often has a fire ban in effect, "Know Before You Go." 

Durango gets hundreds of thousand of tourists each year, so it has an abundance of private campgrounds.  Due to this lobby, overnight camping at the Durango Walmart is forbidden by city ordnance.  Some people still do it, but I prefer to get a good night’s sleep without worrying about the cops rousting me out at 2:00 AM.   So we have never stayed at Durango’s prominently posted "No Camping" Walmart or Home Depot parking lots. 

           

Although the city doesn't want campers using their parking lots, the county likes tourist money.  And the constant stream of Durango & Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railroad patrons provides them with just what their doctor (county treasurer?) ordered.  So, the La Plata County Fairgrounds, east of US 550 in north Durango, has electric-water only campsites for $27.00/night (2023 price), but no dump.  However, there is a Free dump (with fill up), potable water, propane refills, and truck lanes at the Speedway gas station at 20453 US 160 (1.5 miles west of the D&S Railroad yard). You may want to check that it is still available at 970-259-2440.  There is also a Free dump and drinking water behind Tarpley RV at 25817 US 160.

Early morning D&S freight train in front of the Durango depot.  The special Grande Gold paint scheme applied to 1925-vintage K-28 #473 is the same one it wore for the 1949 Chicago Rail Fair

Even the Forest Service has gotten in on the tourist-money act with electricity at their two campgrounds nearest town.  So, if you need to recharge the RV’s batteries by this time or maybe run the AC, only 5 miles northwest of Durango is the Junction Creek Campground, a USFS facility with 50A electricity.  Not free or even cheap at $38/night ($19 for pass holders) plus reservation fee.  The 14 electric sites are as long as 65’ with conveniently placed water hydrants and pit toilets, but no dump.  One of my friends with a 32’ 5^th wheel and a Ram diesel pickup considers it the best campground along US 160 for his RV.  Take 25^th St. west from US 550 for 3 miles to the “Y,” then left 2 miles to the campground. 

Haviland Lake, 18 miles north of Durango and just east of US 550, is the other nearby USFS campground with 50A electrical hookups.  Maps show that the lake is part of Haviland Lake SWA, which it is.  Unfortunately, the campground is in the National Forest, so the camping fee is $39-46/night plus reservation fee, which is required if you want a site any time the D&S trains are operating.  Gorgeous scenery, but not inexpensive. 

Give the Forest Service credit for knowing a good thing when they see it—modern RVers want to use their AC, residential fridges, microwaves, and satellite TVs and have campsites long enough for a 40' coach and toad or fifth wheel and truck.  As long as their prices are slightly less than nearby full-hookup private campgrounds ($62-95/night), the USFS can charge a high nightly rate compared to their "primitive" campgrounds and still keep their campgrounds full all summer.  I'm sure that's why three of their former hand pump-pit toilet campgrounds along CO 145 north of Dolores now have electricity and flush toilets.

A  number of great boondocking sites can be found along Madden Peak Road (FR 316) between Hesperus and Mancos.  Twenty years ago, I tent camped on FR 568 east of its intersection with the Madden Peak Road.  The roadbed of FR 568 was originally built as part of the Rio Grande Southern narrow-gauge railroad line between Durango and Dolores.  Along FR 568, there were several areas where a travel trailer, pickup camper, or small Class C RV could disperse camp.  However, before camping there with a Class A, long fifth wheel, or toy hauler, you should explore it with a toad or tow vehicle.  The road ended for my 4WD truck at a washed-out culvert about 6.5 miles east of FR 316 where I would have high-centered on the embankment if I had tried to cross the creek.  Once you find a campsite, if you unhook your trailer or your toad, you can take a shortcut down the hill from your campsite that comes out on US 160 about 4 miles east of the USFS Target Tree campground.  Just above the highway on this unnumbered road is a relatively flat gravel/dirt clearing that might be used for a quick overnight stop if you aren’t bothered by significant road noise.  That clearing would be about 5.5 miles west of the intersection of US 160 and CO 140 at Hesperus.  When you leave, there is a pay dump at the gas station in Mancos or you can wait until you get to Cortez and dump for free.

The east end of FR 568 near Hesperus was blocked by large boulders placed in a narrow railroad cut.  But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because the old railroad grade has a ¼-mile long section missing in that area due to a landslide.  On the ground, you can actually see an intact portion of the railroad bed down the hill, unconnected to its original grade.

Many others have mentioned RV camping along the Madden Peak Road.  When I was there, the west side of FR 316 had been fenced and gated by a natural gas pipeline company, even though maps showed it as National Forest land.  I didn’t travel north of FR 568 on that road, but many RVers have reported good campsites farther uphill along FR 316.

In the triangle made by Mancos, Cortez, and Dolores, there are 4 SWAs—Totten, Joe Moore, Summit, and Pruett Reservoirs—and a fifth—Narraguinnep Reservoir—northwest of Dolores.  They are old irrigation reservoirs and all allow boating and fishing.  Maybe it is due to their proximity to Mancos State Park and McPhee Reservoir, but NONE of the five allow camping.  Mancos State Park has some nice, aspen-shaded campsites near the lake, but, unlike most Colorado State Parks, it has vault toilets, very few RV sites longer than 25 feet, and NO electrical hookups.  So, for $30/night, including the daily pass, you are getting a USFS campground with an RV dump! 

For my money, I would go on to the McPhee (Reservoir) Recreation Complex and pay $36/night ($27/night with Senior Pass) + reservation fee and tax for one of the nicely-spaced, asphalt-paved spaces with 30A electricity and some shade  Then, if I needed to run my AC in July to keep my wife happy, I could. Water to fill an RV tank is provided at a couple of threaded spigots in the 78-site campground and it has both flush and pit toilets. It also includes 16 pull-thrus, but only a couple have electricity.  

McPhee is only 18 miles north of the Mesa Verde National Park Visitors Center.  It is also a lot roomier than being packed like sardines into one of only 15 $52/night 30A FHU or >200 $38/night dry campsites at Morefield Campground inside the park.  And, best of all, you don’t have to drag your RV up that long 6% grade and through the tunnel to get to Morefield.  Note for 2024: Due to too many non-paying RVers, the dump at McPhee is now closed! This means RVers camped there will have to use the Free dumps at the Giant station or Tarpley RV in Durango mentioned above or the Free dump with fill and RV lanes at the Maverick gas station at 455 State St. in Cortez, depending on the direction you are headed.  And, according to one of the commenters, the Speedway station at US 160 and CO 145 now has a Free dump and RV fuel pumps. 

The campground at McPhee has another attraction for me because it is next door to one of my favorite museums in Colorado, the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum (you pass it driving to the campground).  The museum began when the Bureau of Reclamation needed a place to store and study all the artifacts they were excavating during the construction of McPhee Dam and Reservoir.  Now it has a much better collection than you can see at Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Aztec, or Hovenweep.  Many of its exhibits are interactive--not the video-game kind of interactive, but the hands-on-the-artifact, microscope-viewing kind of interactive.  For elementary-age children or 80-year old grandparents, spending a few hours at the museum will greatly enhance any later visit to Mesa Verde or Canyons of the Ancients.  

                    Weatherill Mesa at Mesa Verde NP, a special reservation-only tour by the NP Service

You don’t even have to leave the grounds of the Visitors Center to visit two small, excavated Anasazi pueblos.  But, if you want to see more, take a trip to Lowry Pueblo in nearby Canyons of the Ancients National Monument (where Free dispersed camping is not only allowed, but encouraged!) and on to Hovenweep National Monument.  Hovenweep has a no-reservation, “first to arrive gets the best spot” campground for $20/night ($10 with a Senior pass) next to its Visitor’s Center.  There are 31 no-hookup, gravel campsites up to 36' long with covered picnic tables, water in season, and flush toilets all year at the Visitor's Center.  It’s a long way out there, but worth it to see a completely different kind of Anasazi community than that represented by Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde.  And, if you are headed for southern Utah anyway, it is on a great alternative route to driving past the Four Corners Monument . . . again!  After all, if you’ve experienced that tourist trap once, do you really need to see it a second time?

Well, that's it for US 160.  And notice I didn't once mention overnighting at Walmart in Cortez or at the FHU RV parks at the Sky Ute and Ute Mountain Casinos, each of which accepts Passport America. Oops, I guess I just did!