Free RV Camping - US 285 (south of Denver)

In this post, I’ll discuss only campgrounds along US 285.  If you are in Denver and heading southwest on US 285, there is a Walmart just off that highway that formerly had RVs camped in the parking lot.  It is now posted with "No Overnight Parking" signs.  However, the Sam's Club store on Wadsworth, 3/4 mile south of that Walmart, now has campers and truckers staying overnight in their parking lot.  Most other Walmarts around Denver also have “No Overnight Parking” signs. 

After leaving Denver and crossing Kenosha Pass into South Park, you can turn east on CO 77 at the tiny town of Jefferson and camp Free (with a CPW SWA Pass or valid hunting or fishing license--see the new rule in the "Introduction" section above) at Tarryall Reservoir SWA.  It has 17 relatively short, no hookup, gravel back-in and pull-out campsites with picnic tables, fire-pits, and pit toilets in two loops directly off the highway.  The boat ramp and boat inspection station are located nearer the dam.  On an August 2020 weekday, all but one campsite was occupied by either a tent or RV, a dozen boats were on the lake, and fisherman lined the two peninsulas.  In the past, a half dozen campsites were located south of the lake, but those sites are now posted as "no camping."  That south area allows picnicking and fishing and has a boat ramp and pit toilet, but the gravel access road is fairly steep and rough. 

A little farther south on US 285 is a reservoir with absolutely Free camping (no permit or license required to camp).  Turn east off US 285 onto US 24, go about 9 miles and turn north into the south entrance road (CR 437) to the Denver Water Board's Antero Reservoir.  The campground is south of the lake and has 32 back-in campsites with picnic tables, fire rings, and pit toilets, but no hookups.  If you have seen South Park, you know it has few trees, so the Antero campground has no shade.  But the solar panels worked so well when we had the motorhome and kayak there in late August 2021 that we never needed to use the generator.  It has a boat ramp and very good rainbow, cutthroat, and brook trout fishing (a valid CO fishing license is obviously needed to fish), which was why we were camping there! 

Years ago, on our first fall RV trip on US 285 to northern New Mexico, we left Denver after work and spent the night at the VFW Lodge in Johnson Village/Buena Vista (call 719-395-2929).  There are only four tight back-in spaces, but we had no problem because we were the only ones there on a September Thursday night.  The VFW is located two blocks north of the highway, so there is some traffic noise.  But the spaces are on a level, asphalt-paved parking lot, with 30A electricity and city water hookups—for $15/night.  Since the VFW had no RV dump, we drove the 25 miles to the then-Free dump at the Salida Visitors Center.  That dump is now closed, so you may need to dump at the Poncha Springs Visitors Center at the intersection of US 285 and US 50.

Buena Vista and Salida are Colorado's most popular whitewater rafting destinations.  Brown's Canyon National Monument and the Arkansas Headwaters State Park are located between the two towns.  The FIBArk Whitewater Festival--kayak, raft, and paddleboard races, a hill climb, concerts--has been held along the river in Salida each Father's Day weekend since 1948.  Things have changed since FIBark began--the kayaks back then were made of canvas over a collapsible wooden frame!

The Buena Vista-Salida area is also well-located for aspen viewing during the fall color season.  Two of the best aspen-lined  routes in the state are paved Cottonwood Pass west of Buena Vista and narrow, gravel Marshall Pass southwest of Poncha Springs.

Note on Summer 2024 CDOT roadwork: See note in Introduction section on Salida-Buena Vista highway construction projects.

Whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River in Brown's Canyon NM

We were in Salida one early October on a fall aspen-photo trip.  We had to stop at Walmart (on the north side of US 50 between Salida and Poncha Springs) to pick up a couple of items that we forgot.  There were nine RVs camped around the edges of the Walmart parking lot.  I saw everything from a 1970’s van conversion to a 40-foot Class A.  Many hunters pass through Salida in the fall and some of these RVs were towing OHVs on trailers or Jeeps, so that may explain the numbers. 

If dry camping at Walmarts is not your cup of tea, there is Free public overnight parking at the Poncho Springs Visitor Center.  There are several long, asphalt-paved, pull-thru RV parking spaces at the west end of loop road.  The Visitor Center also has a $10 automated pay dump and potable water, as well as restrooms with flush toilets.  I used the facilities there in both spring and fall of 2023.  

There is also Free dispersed camping on BLM land northwest of Poncha Springs.  Go two miles west of US 285 on US 50 to CR 250 and drive north until the pavement ends and the gravel surface begins.

After crossing long, but very easy, Poncha Pass on US 285, you are in the high, dry, flat San Luis Valley.  If we are going to Alamosa or New Mexico, we always turn off US 285 just south of Villa Grove and take perfectly straight, 70 mile-long CO 17.  

If you need an electric campsite near Great Sand Dunes National Park and Alamosa, the San Luis Lakes SWA, located 8 miles east of CO 17 on Sand Dunes Monument Road, has Free camping.  This former State Park closed in 2017, but the now-SWA campground still has 30/50A electric hookups and sheltered concrete-pads with picnic tables at 51 gravel pull-thru and back-in sites up to 105 ft. long.  The SWA has pit toilets and a dump at the entrance, but NO WATER!  CPW rules now state that a valid SWA Pass or fishing or hunting license for EVERY PERSON over age 15 is required to camp or for any other use at ALL SWAs.  See the new rule in the "Introduction" section above.  But San Luis Lakes is still the best bargain campground in Colorado!  When we camped there in October 2018, it was about 1/3 full and we had a great back-in space with no neighbors and a view out our rear picture window of the newly snow-capped Sangre de Cristos.  When I camped there in June 2023, following the institution of the SWA Pass requirements, it had only 14 RVs filling its 51 sites.  And that 27% full was during the summer tourist season--plenty of RVs on the highway, but not in the cg!

The national park, of course, has its own Pinon Flats Campground with picnic tables, fire grates, and flush toilets, but no hookups, for $20/night ($10/night with the America the Beautiful or Interagency Senior Pass).  A problem for RVers is that, like many national parks, there are relatively few long parking strips.  So GSDNP is limited to a total RV length (truck and trailer or coach and toad) of 47 ft. and there are only 5 sites for RVs that total more than 35 feet.  We drove through it while staying at San Luis Lakes and, although it was full even in October, we saw very few sites that would fit our fifth wheel and truck.

                                 

                    Great Sand Dunes NP nestled against the Sangre de Cristo Range

A less expensive Federal campground for those with a 4x4 truck or van camper is located just south of the national park at Zapata Falls, but I wouldn't try it with any of my RVs.  It is a first come-first serve, $11/night ($5.50 with Senior Pass), BLM campground with a pit toilet, but no water and no trash containers since it is bear country.  Located east of CO 150 on BLM Road 5415, the waterfall and views are the only real reasons to try to get there.

We have not dry camped at the Walmart in Alamosa, but have seen other RVs camped there.  It is a SuperCenter with a gas station, located on the north side of US 160/285 on the western edge of town (between Alamosa and Monte Vista).

Fall color along CO 17 on La Manga Pass

South of Alamosa is mostly farmland and there are no places to stop overnight.  However, I always recommend that anyone who wants to really see Colorado, especially during the fall leaf-peeping season, should get off US 285 at Antonito and drive CO 17 to Chama, NM.  In early October of 2016, Cumbres and La Manga Passes had the most beautiful bright blue skies and fall color I have seen in my 60 years of living in Colorado (the photo doesn't do it justice!).  

One of the "100 Best Campgrounds in Colorado," according to the book of the same name, is located just off CO 17.  Take CO 17 west from Antonito for 36 miles to good gravel FR 118, 0.2 mile north of the Cumbres Pass railroad crossing.  Go north for 4 miles to the Trujillo Meadows SWA and reservoir.  It has 35 designated campsites, picnic tables, fire rings, drinking water in summer, and pit toilets, but no hookups. This formerly Free campground is now operated by the USFS, with a nightly rate of $18 ($9 with the Senior Pass). A boat ramp is located 1.5 miles farther north along the road.  But for truly Free camping, there are numerous roads off FR 118 and parking lots near the railroad depot on which to disperse camp (I have done it in a tent, but not in our RV).  BTW, you will be camping at 10,000 feet, so come prepared for any kind of weather--mild, sunny days, freezing nights, and a potential for heavy snowfall at any time of year.  Nearby Wolf Creek Ski Area gets the highest annual snowfall of any Colorado ski area!