Advice Needed for Camping in Colorado

[Hannibal USA]

The heat index in Nebraska is into the 100's, so it's time to get the hell out of Dodge and hit the high country. We'd like to cruise over to Colorado and spend a few days in the mountains of Colorado. We're well equipped 4x4 wise, but don't know Colorado very well. Can anybody out there recommend some good places to go? We've got 4 and 5 year-old boys, and a couple of yellow labs that we'll be toting along, so time spent outside of the vehicle is more important than time spent inside the vehicle. We'd like to do some hiking, swimming, climbing, fishing, critter-catching off the beaten path. We're not really into developed campgrounds, and would love to find a nice undeveloped area to base out of for a few days, where kids and dogs can run wild.

Any suggestions?

 

[OverlandZJ]

Taylor Lake Reservoir in Gunnison NF might suit your needs. Plenty of trails around, fishing and dispersed camping. Not a long ride to areas like Ouray, Telluride, Aspen and the like.

 

[18seeds]

Taylor Lake Reservoir in Gunnison NF might suit your needs. Plenty of trails around, fishing and dispersed camping. Not a long ride to areas like Ouray, Telluride, Aspen and the like.

I would agree

or in and around Salida/Buena Vista

 

[BriansFJ]

Try my neck of the woods - Park County (yes, of "South Park" fame). High today was in the 70's, which is about right for this time of year. County is literally surrounded by Pike National Forest, there are 3 large reservoirs, and LOTS of offroad opportunities. I work down the hall from the tourism office - I can get you info if you want.:victory:

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

If you get a chance do Stony Pass and Cunningham Gulch from Creede over to Silverton. Beautiful drive and some fantastic private camping spots right next to the Rio Grande. One of my favorite camping spots in the US for sure.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Go on over to

funtreks.com

and check out their books. They have two books that cover different parts of Colorado. They have TONS of wonderful trails there. You can have the book shipped to you and you can get a nice set up really easily.

Personally I REALLY like the Dillon /Keystone /Breckenridge area. Wonderful, lots of fun trails that are very family friendly, and there is a great couple of lakes near by. (Keystone has a good twenty trails in and around the town, and many of them you can camp in nicely.)

Cheers

 

[5Runner]

Traildamage.com has a ton of writeups for trails in Colorado. There is dispersed camping most likely on all of them. Their ratings are pretty good, and I would say anything 4 and lower is a walk in the park. As mentioned, but mis-named, Taylor Park Reservior is great and there are trails all around with dispersed camping.

There are more trails than I can begin to name and they all have camping that I can let the three kids and dog run "wild"!

I hope you have a great time out in Colorado!

 

[pangaea]

Dan,

Give me a call or ping me and I can give you some recommendations. Also, when are you headed out here?

 

[Hannibal USA]

Thanks for all the good suggestions! Time to start processing info! Hoping to head out later this week or early next week. I'll keep you posted on where we go.

 

[orionkhan]

Go on over to

funtreks.com

and check out their books. They have two books that cover different parts of Colorado. They have TONS of wonderful trails there. You can have the book shipped to you and you can get a nice set up really easily.

Personally I REALLY like the Dillon /Keystone /Breckenridge area. Wonderful, lots of fun trails that are very family friendly, and there is a great couple of lakes near by. (Keystone has a good twenty trails in and around the town, and many of them you can camp in nicely.)

Cheers

+1 vote for funtreks.com books. I originally bought one from Borders. Then saw that if you order online you can get them spiral bound. So returned the one to Borders and ordered it online. The spiral binding is definitely worth it. I bought the N. and S. California books. Good resources.

 

[ddog45]

I vote for snowy range wyoming. Its close to nebraska and there are not many people up there. The two trails listed on traildamage.com are a great place to start.

 

[Hannibal USA]

I vote for snowy range wyoming. Its close to nebraska and there are not many people up there. The two trails listed on traildamage.com are a great place to start.

Snowy Range! Hadn't thought of that. That would knock a couple hours off our time on the Interstate each way. Looks beautiful, too. That sounds like a great option for us. Thanks for the tip!

 

[kerry]

I vote for snowy range wyoming. Its close to nebraska and there are not many people up there. The two trails listed on traildamage.com are a great place to start.

I second that if you want seclusion. Far fewer people in the Snowy Range that in Central Colorado. You can get into the North Platte river from the east side and there are a couple of high reservoirs up there that are on my list to camp at.