During our recent trip to Ouray we finally found the luck in our favor with the Amphitheater Camp Ground. We've been to the area multiple times before and always manage to miss the reservation time frame for these site, so we end up camped in the nearby Portland "campsites" when we arrive ready to camp and the sites are full, or snag a hotel near 550 when we don't want to chance a night on a slope. After actually getting a site here, I'll be planning our future trips a bit further in advance to make sure we can get a site here.

The campground is located on a hill along the east side of the valley, giving you wonderful views of the adjacent peaks, as well as the historic town. The sites are well maintained, the bathrooms are cleaned and checked twice daily by the friendly hosts. They carry a supply of local, beetle-free firewood for the well established concrete and metal fire pits located at each site. The sites aren't the largest due to the size limitations of building a campground on a hillside, but still offer tons of privacy. In addition to the well shaded and intimate setting of the tents sites, each site has a picnic table and bear hook that are a reasonable distance from the tent pad, which is well leveled and stone/root free. Each site also has a driveway that should fit at least two vehicles easily, or a vehicle and small camper/trailer.

In addition to the great views and delightful sites, the campground has direct access to the Ouray Perimeter Trail, a short-ish (~4.2 miles to cover the entire loop around the outer edge of town) hike that follows the bluffs around the outskirts of the town proper and offers great views along narrow sections high above town, and is a short (