North Crestone Creek Campground

Beautiful and Clean $7 per night (bring cash) Fire Pit Picnic Table Bear Box!

Went to bed in a bivy sack and sleeping bag woke up under 6" of snow. One of the most surreal experiences of my life... Colorado sand dunes are a trip.

My friends and I drove in and spent 3 nights and 4 days there. We loved how the lots were relatively far apart so you weren’t right on top of one another. We had a group of 5 and we all fit 3 tents and 2 hammocks on our spot. We also had 3 dogs with us and there was still enough room for them so we weren’t stepping all over one another. We were right next to the river towards the end of the camping spots and hiked up the backpacking trail at the end to go fishing up at the lake and rivers along the trail. There was plenty to do but it was also quiet; perfect for down time. Overall we loved the trip! The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 was because you are back in bear country a little and we did have an incident with some bears coming into the camp 2 nights in a row because the people next to us left their food out. That is however their fault not the bear’s as we are in their domain. So it’s definitely a place you need to be super careful in, even along the trails.

The North Crestone Creek Camground is just a few miles uphill from Crestone Colorado. Crestone is a small artist village nestled in the pines at the base of mountain range. Crestone is worth visiting on a day trip. It’s about 15 east off the main highway and has some nice artist galleries and gift shops. The campground was a disappointment. It’s very overused and in need of some basic maintenance. The sites are overgrown and facilities are unkept. The mosquitoes are really bad in the summer season. You could hardly go outside due to the swarms. The sites are positioned along the creek up the mountain. They have pit toilets, picnic tables and fire rings like many other NFS Sites. The sites was dusty and hot even in the shaded areas. I can’t recommend this one unless you are out of options in Crestone and come after the bugs are gone.

Camped here last year and it was wonderful. Lots of hiking/trail running. Set up camp by river. Camp host nice and helpful. Beautiful area.