Avalanche Campground has 6 first-come first-serve campsites. It is located adjacent to Avalanche Creek. Fishing is available in Avalanche Creek and in the Crystal River, which is 3 miles downstream. One of the major trailheads into the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness is located adjacent to the campground.

Avalanche Campground

Campground Campground is way up in a mountain, a beautiful drive and itself. The spaces are well-kept and far apart from each other. They also each have a bear proof Locker for your items. The river is just nearby, as are some wonderful hiking trails. There is a composting toilet system, never my favorite thing in the world, but it's as good as they get. I will definitely use this campsite again.

I will Camp here again!

Sorry the fire and river side sold me

Right next to penny hot springs, which originally brought me out. Check em out if you stay. Drive south maybe 5 mins and there's side street parking to your left you can't miss it. Popular spot so you'll see other cars. 

They got fire rings! 

Avalanche campground is a unique campground with a remote and secluded feeling in a small valley with plenty of trees and the sound of a creek in the background. Getting to the campground from the main road involves driving on a one-lane road for about a mile or two, there are places where all-wheel drive is necessary and you will need to drive through a creek. In September the creek wasn’t very deep but probably in the spring or early summer the water would be deep enough that you should drive an SUV or truck. In mid September the nights and mornings can be cold, when I woke up at 6am the temperature was 34 degrees F. There are bear bins in the campsites but there were no trash cans.

Avalanche is definitely a unique campground 

We camped here one night at the end of September while on a road trip and it was one of my favorite places we found.  The road to get in is bumpy and fun and not too long-the campground is in a valley with a gorgeous creek.  We didn’t see the camp host but you can tell they take care of the facilities. Vault toilets were as immaculate as a vault toilet can be and the campsites were litter free.  There is no fee but there’s a request for a donation of $10.  We only had a $20 and felt compelled to leave it because of how well kept it was.  

When you get to the campground there are 3 sites to the right with the creek running behind them.  Then you pass the bathrooms on the left and enter the main camping area. Sites looked cool but it was hard to tell because they were all occupied by folks that looked like they were maybe living there for a while-they all looked nice and friendly.  We ended up staying at one of the first 3 sites and no one bothered us.

No issues with wildlife though bear are active in the area and there’s bear boxes at each site.

If you sleep in a tend the pads are filled with chunky gravel-so bring extra padding!

If you’re thinking about going here-do it.


Been wanting to go back since I left

It was  a great time with my daughter. This was our second year back. The host is great, the hiking is great, this is a all around amazing place and I highly recommend it 

Favorite place

Awesome valley with access to the creek. There is also a nice trail up the mountain that forks into two other trails.