Colorado Campground Recommendations

Just got back from a 2 week Colorado vacation and have 2 campground recommendations. We stayed at Lightner Creek CG near Durango and would highly recommend it. It is in a rural setting 4 miles outside Durango in a creek valley with steep wooded walls on both sides. It has nice shaded sites about 40' wide. The owners and camp hosts are very friendly and helpful and keep the restroom, showers and laundry immaculate. The only problem is the utilities are not set up very well and we had to use an extension for the sewer which they provided.

We stayed a week at Diamond Campground in Woodland Park. It is very shaded with many pines. It took me 5 tries to back in to our site trying to avoid the trees, but it was worth it once we got settled. Clara was appalled there was only 1 bath house for over 100 campsites, but the facilities were spotless and we never had to wait to use them. Turns out most of the campers were there for the full summer and used the facilities in their large motor homes or 5th wheelers.

[RockyMtnRay]

We stayed a week at Diamond Campground in Woodland Park. It is very shaded with many pines. It took me 5 tries to back in to our site trying to avoid the trees, but it was worth it once we got settled. Clara was appalled there was only 1 bath house for over 100 campsites, but the facilities were spotless and we never had to wait to use them. Turns out most of the campers were there for the full summer and used the facilities in their large motor homes or 5th wheelers.

Interesting. I would never think of camping in Woodland Park...partly because it's only 30 miles from my home but mostly because I see the town as just a western suburb of Colorado Springs. Its population has been exploding in recent years and is now around 8000 people...IMO way too much congestion and traffic to consider it a place to stay.

But in considering your post, it occurred to me that for someone from the heat and humidity of south Texas it might have some charms. Being at 8500 feet, the climate is pretty pleasant in the summer and many places in the town do have a pretty good view of Pikes Peak. And AFAIK, if you are a full-hookups camper, Woodland Park is the last place with full hookup campgrounds for at least 100 miles going west (the next ones are in the upper Arkansas valley and most of those aren't very shady or nice).

But it's kinda amazing how perceptions differ...to me Woodland Park is an annoying set of traffic lights and I don't even start to relax on a camping trip until I've made it past the traffic light in Divide (a town about 8 miles on west of Woodland Park). That's when I feel I've finally gotten out of the Colorado Springs metropolitan area and into the real Colorado.

A lot of time we camp at places not just to camp but to do tourist things and sightsee. Sometimes we're just passing through, and we just want a spot close to the highway so we can get going again the next morning. We've visited Colorado Springs a few times, and stayed at various places. We stayed at Woodland Park once a long time ago, and it was much nicer than the Colorado Springs KOA we stayed at another time. The best spot, however, was Garden of the Gods.

Pam S

[kempert]

I had a very enjoyable stay at a campground on the east side of Monarch Pass in CO. It was several miles from the nearest town had nice and clean facilities.