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Camper submitted image from Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) - 1

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Free Camping Collection

Dispersed Camping

Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)

17 Reviews

About

Bureau of Land Management

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Location

Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) is located in Colorado

Coordinates

37.35959 N
108.42285 W

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Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

WiFi
Fair
Verizon
Fair
AT&T
Fair
T-Mobile
Good

Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Standard (Tent/RV)
Dispersed

Features

For Campers

Phone Service
Alcohol
Pets
Fires

Enjoy dispersed camping on government land and leave no trace. Pack in and pack out. No (or limited) services at this camping area. Permit may be required.

PERMIT might be REQUIRED

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Dustan K.

Traveler

Reviewed Mar. 14, 2024

Closed to all entry

Closed road

Month of VisitApril

Lindsey C.

Guide

Reviewed Nov. 11, 2023

Awesome spot close to Mesa Verde

This place is incredible! Probably really crowded during peak season, but we had no trouble finding a spot at 10:30pm. We woke up to gorgeous views! The National Park was five minutes away.

Month of VisitDecember

Megan S.

Scout

Reviewed Sep. 1, 2023

Can't beat the location

So close to Mesa Verde and free! This area is called Chutes and Ladders. Each spot has a little pull in and firepit. Lots of bees! But they didn't sting.

Month of VisitSeptember

Patrick B.

Guide

Reviewed Jun. 15, 2023

Great free spot next to Mesa Verde

We were lucky and found a spot, there are probably 10-15 camp spots in there and only one was available. Guess that’s the one downside of some of these blm spots. Also keep in mind these are pretty small spots, large rvs might not be able to make it in. Great views of Mesa verde and the temp was super nice. Would definitely come back here again.

Month of VisitJuly

(5) View All

Janelle P.

Traveler

Reviewed May. 8, 2023

Not many sites

Arrived at 5pm on a Sunday night, most spots were taken and I think I snagged the last one which didn't have a great view. Areas with no site marking had posts that stated no motor vehicles. Some trash at my site. But if you get there early enough to snag the good spots the view looks incredible!

Site3

Month of VisitJune

Patrick B.

Guide

Reviewed Oct. 14, 2022

Way better than the Mesa Verde NP alternative

I started my trip to Mesa Verde NP not quite sure where I was going to camp for the night. I entertained the idea of spending the night inside the park, at the sad, overpriced campground there. Once I discovered they wanted north of 40 bucks for a tent site, I moseyed my way down the hill to this sick little dispersed campground. You can't beat the price (free) and there were plenty of sites to choose from, even during Labor Day week.

I believe the BLM calls this site "Chutes & Ladders". There are 15 or 16 sites available, and unlike a lot of other dispersed camping I've come across, this doesn't seem to be a place where people come to party. It was quiet and there was a lot of space between sites. Plenty of room for trailers if that's your thing. Great place to spend the night!

Site14

Month of VisitOctober

Chris N.

Guide

Reviewed Aug. 21, 2022

Amazing views, convenient to Mesa Verda

The turn off (county road 34) is literally 1.5 miles from then turn into the park. The views of the mountains, and the park, from the campsites are amazing!

Site13a

Month of VisitSeptember

Griffen J.

Guide

Reviewed May. 27, 2022

Great Site near Mesa verde

Great dispersed camping near Mesa Verde. Tons of marked sites along the road. The road gets a little rougher the further you go in. It’s about a 10min drive to Walmart. The only downside is the dust but that is to be expected.

SiteSite 10

Month of VisitJune

Jack W.

Ranger

Reviewed May. 19, 2022

Good Spot - Alternative Site Down the Road if Closed

This is a good free spot near Mesa Verde, but if it is closed check out the many BLM spots on road 316 off the highway, barely West of Target Tree Campground slightly East of Mancos.

Month of VisitMay

Brandon L.

Guide

Reviewed Nov. 24, 2021

Great Campsite

This campsite was beautiful, easy to get to, and close to town. The temperature was low, but enough blankets and you’d be fine. The view of the rock formations was nice, and the distance to town and Mesa Verde is unrivaled.

Month of VisitDecember

(4) View All

Jake S.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 17, 2021

Great Free camping right by Mesa Verde

We got here just after midnight on a Sunday night, the first 6 sites were taken but the seventh was available (I didn't check to see how many were beyond ours) the site had a nice flat spot for our tent and a nice fire ring. There is a rest area about a mile away which made it nice when we needed to go number 2. I would definitely camp here again.

Site7

Month of VisitOctober

(10) View All

Gabby & Brian V.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 22, 2021

DUST STORM! still awesome spot

4 min drive from park entrance! after visiting the park this was a awesome place to camp for the night! It was a bumpy drive in but not bad, lots of obvious dispersed sites where people have camped. Nice and open beautiful place to look at the stars I’m sure if there wasn’t a dust storm!! As soon as we started to cook dinner we had to very quickly!! hop in the van cause the dust just suddenly started blowing in! Even through that it was still so cool to watch and listen to all the I’m sure pounds of sands hit the side of our van and at some points we could barely see out the windows!! Good thing we didn’t set up our tent cause it would have blown away for sure! Long story short; be careful! So nice out there though

Site27

Month of VisitAugust

bryant F.

Scout

Reviewed Jun. 24, 2021

Great free camping close to Mesa Verde

Great dispersed, free camping 5 minutes from mesa Verde, and 10 minutes from Cortez.

Sebastian

Guide

Reviewed Mar. 7, 2021

Closed for Elk Management.

Area is closed for wildlife management. There are no dispersed camping sites available near Mesa Verde until June-ish

Carter Marie M.

Traveler

Reviewed Oct. 15, 2020

Hidden Gem

These dispersed campsites were recommended to us and they did not disappoint! Secluded dry camping spots with great views of the monuments.

Katie J.

Traveler

Reviewed Oct. 27, 2019

Great spot!

Great camping spot! Super close to Mesa Verde National Park! And it's freeeee! The road to get the the sites is rutted out so you do need some clearance! We have a subaru impreza and it was fine! No amentinites.. Spots are numbered. We stayed in 4!

Mauriel O.

Guide

Reviewed Oct. 19, 2018

Free, Picturesque, and a bit muddy

This is BLM Land outside of Mesa Verde National Park. Has quite a few different sites that are all free and have fairly easy access to. The one downside (for us) was that it had just rained and the sites and road are clay which we ended up sinking into and getting stuck in. Luckily a few other campers nearby got up to watch the show and see us dig to get out (eventually they all helped push us out). There's a little road noise from the highway but it didn't bother us.

Each site has a little rock ringed fire pit and a flat area for a tent that we saw.

So if you want a free spot for up to 14 nights and want to check out Mesa Verde (highly recommend it), this is a pretty nice little spot.

Site3

Month of VisitNovember

(8) View All