## Overview

 Baby Doe Campground is situated on the eastern shore of Turquoise Lake in the shade of a lodgepole pine and subalpine fir forest. This family-friendly campground is a popular summer destination for boating, hiking and fishing.The campground was named for Elizabeth McCourt, whose nickname was Baby Doe. She made a name for herself in the Colorado mining community in the 19th century when she took on the rugged work of a miner. 
## Recreation

 The 1.2-mile Turquoise Lake Nature Trail meanders along the shoreline is a gentle loop trail through the forest and down to the shoreline of Turquoise Lake. This trail connects to the 6.4-mile Turquoise Lake Trail that parallels the shoreline from Sugar Loaf Dam to May Queen Campground. Trail guides are available at the trailhead located about a mile south, at the entrance to Molly Brown Campground. On the lake, boating, sailing, canoeing and fishing are favorite activities. Anglers fish for stocked cutthroat, rainbow, brown and lake trout. A boat ramp is located about a mile south of the campground.
## Facilities

 The campground offers single-family sites, some of which are accessible. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and trash collection are provided. Firewood is available for purchase from the Host. Parking spurs are gravel or dirt. 
## Natural Features

 Campsites are perched along the scenic lakeshore. The Mount Massive Wilderness Area, a 30,540 acre stretch of primitive land boasting Colorado\'s second highest peak at 14,421 feet, is nearby. Much of the wilderness is above timberline with many alpine plant communities and permanent snowfields. 
## Nearby Attractions

 Venture to Independence Pass for a scenic drive with breathtaking views of the Rockies and surrounding alpine tundra habitat. At 12,095 feet, it is one of the highest paved mountain passes in the country and marks where the Top of the Rockies National Scenic and Historic Byway crosses the Continental Divide.
## Charges &amp; Cancellations

 Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee.\_\_ A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night\'s use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night\'s rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite.\_\_\_\_ Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive.\_\_ In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.

Baby Doe

Just west of Leadville Colorado sits Turquoise Lake at an elevation of around 10,000 ft. Baby Doe Campground is one of the few camps that are situated around the lake on its east side. You camp under the pine trees beside the lake with beautiful views of Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert to the south over turquoise water. Cost are $24 per night for car camping, bathrooms and water are provided. We camped on June 26th and 27th of 2018 and got to summit Mt. Sherman one of Colorado's 14ers on the 27th. I was really surprised at how bad the mosquito's were at the lake and at this elevation, definitely the worst mosquito experience I had while living in Colorado. If your in town while visiting be sure to check out Periodic Brewing and High Mountain Pies. Highlight: Being able to summit my 1st Colorado 14er was definitely the highlight of the trip, can't wait to go back for another one, I know where I'll be camping.

Turquoise Lake 

Great spot on the East side of the lake, Not far from the town of Leadville where there is a Safeway, places to eat and places to shop. It was a bit windy the day we stayed but great views, lots of hiking trails and things to explore. Campground is located a high elevation.

Accessible Sites, Boating, Campfire Rings, Canoeing, Drinking Water, Firewood Vendor, FishingGrills, Hiking, HostLake AccessSailing, Self Pay Station, Tables, Vault Toilets, Waterfront Sites

Less Than 1 Mile: Boat Ramp, Interpretive Trails, Water Skiing

Fun Fact:

The campground was named after Elizabeth McCourt's nickname, Baby Doe. She made a name for herself in the Colorado mining community in the 19th century when she took on the rugged work of a miner, and was given her nickname.

Pretty lake and Mountian views 

This is one of our favorite places to go. The campground is maintained very well and has beautiful scenery with the lake just walking distance from the campground. Bathrooms always clean. Love this place.

Good campground

Gorgeous campground with a few extra mosquitos, but not unusual for waterfront camping. Turquoise Lake is beautiful with fishing, boating, and hiking available. Short drive from Leadville. Be sure to bring warm clothes for nights because it’s gets chilly at night. Has vault toilets, potable water, and fairly level sites. Campground has larger sites so the generator noise from the larger rv’s can be loud, but family friendly.

Beautiful campground can be buggy

Some of the sites are close to each other. It is a short walk to the waterfront. The nature trail around the lake is awesome!

Beautiful views of Mt Massive + Mt Elbert

Beautiful location! Close to Turquoise Lake. Camp hosts came around in the morning to give us parking passes for the park. Also, the cleanest, best stocked and least offensive smelling vault toilet bathrooms I've ever come across. Each camp site allows two vehicles, but could definitely fit three if you have a larger group. Nice, level spot for tents.

Possibly my favorite campground

On beautiful turquoise lake, nice spacious campsites, high altitude camping.

Scenic, open, popular

Quiet clean campground with gorgeous views of   Turquoise Lake and the surrounding mountains! 

Beautiful Moutain Camping

It was a really nice campground. The hosts were SO gracious. They came up and talked to us about things to do and see and gave us a map of Leadville. The bathrooms there were kept up very nicely even though they were vault toilets. The lake itself was rather low when we went but still pretty. Would go again!

Pretty, but cold 

This was what my eight year old son said when we arrived. Really nice primitive  campsites nestled amongst the trees. Lake is stunning but wind can be strong

It smells like our Xmas tree!

Nice sites with plenty of shade. Clean facilties and close to the lake. Really beautiful woods all around with soft pine need floors... great for camping!!!

Wonderful campsites

If you like to have a nice relaxing time camping… don’t come here! Seriously! If you can… cancel and go literally anywhere else. 

* Do you camp with dogs?
* Do you camp with Kids?
* Do you camp with an RV?
* Do you camp with more than 8 people?
* Do you camp with a grill?
* Do you like to NOT be micromanaged when you camp?

Then read on, Baby Doe is NOT the place for you in 2021.

First of all, you need to know are a family that camps with kids, and camps a lot! We are respectful camp neighbors. We have *never* been treated this way. (Please read my other reviews)

The camp host are Camp rule vigilantes. They don’t need a complaint or a “danger” to harass you. They are actively looking for things that no one is even complaining about, and they are enforcing rules that I’ve never even heard of. 

Not only do the camp host have the extremely excessive camp rules posted on the tables (included in pictures), after you’ve arrived they come and ask you if you I’ve read the rules. 

DOGS - They said if your dog is off leash, they don’t give you a warning, they consider the posted rules the warning, they only give fines. Also make sure you have an in-ground dog steak because they are enthusiastic about dogs not being tied to trees. 

KIDS- Their posted rules include “children should never race bikes / shout throughout the camp site” … are you kidding me. So basically don’t bring your kids. The camp host were so aggressive about the other rules I was scared for my children to wander to far from our campsite. Our friend that had an older child was told to slow down when she was riding her bike. 

RV - a friend in our group left their exterior lights on and sure enough the camp host came knocking. She started with “I’m not saying you’re breaking any rules but…” … long story short, he was asked to turn them off. 

8 PEOPLE PER CAMP SITE - I’m not joking, they were trying to enforce 8 people per camping site. It was us and a couple families calmly hanging by the camp fire (no music playing) they told is we’re not supposed to have more than 8 people per camp site.  The hilarious part about this is that the Ranger rolled by our campsite not even 5 mins before the host did and didn’t stop to say anything about it. 

GRILL- Have you ever stayed at a camp ground that wouldn’t allow a charcoal grill because there’s “almost” fire ban??  Instead they recommend using the fire pit to cook. We stayed 6/18 and some counties are under a fire ban, Lake County where Baby does is located is NOT under a fire ban, but they still asked us not to use a charcoal grill.

QUIET-HOURS - at 9:52 they came to tell us that in 8 mins it’s quiet hours. Then proceeded to be ridiculously aggressive about it, despite us having ZERO complaints. We weren’t playing music, we were quietly hanging by the campsite. 

I’d like to say the water was nice and the fishing was good but all of these positive things were overshadowed by being harassed by the camp host over non-issues. 

Do your self a favor, find a better camp spot.

Please don’t take my word for it… people must be getting the memo because I’ve never seen so many empty camp sites! It was so hostile I’ve considered filing a formal complaint about how bad they were. 



Excessively Harassed By Camp Hosts

This campground is best suited for campers that have no children or pets, people who will spend zero time at their campsite or folks who are in their tent/camper by 9:30 pm. 

**This campground has zero tolerance for children playing**

Our first impression wasn’t that great. Our site was clearly not cleaned up after the last campers departed. The remnants of their half burnt logs and ash soup was still in our fire pit. The wrong name was written on our site which left me quite anxious until we could confirm with the camp host that our spot was not given away to someone else.

The camp hosts were very rude and not helpful. They made every effort to tell us what we could not do without offering solutions of what we can do. For example, you can tie your dog to a tree if you have flat straps. Thank goodness for the kind Ranger patrolling the area that told us that! 

Some of the things we were talked to about on our 3 day stay:

- Our awning lights need to be turned off. They might be bothering people. 
- Your dogs can’t be leashed to a tree. They can’t be left alone in the camper or outside, even if you’re just running to the restroom. 
- We should go into the woods if we want to play any games such as Cornhole so we don’t bother other campers. (Meanwhile a neighboring campsite was throwing knives and axes at a log 50 feet from us and they were never told to go elsewhere)
- They WILL yell at your children. The female camp host screamed at a little girl for going too fast on her bike.
- Quiet hours between 10pm - 8am mean: No more than 8 people around the fire, even if you’re quiet. You cannot ride your bike from one campsite to another because your headlamp might bother someone. No talking. No music, even if it can’t be heard outside your campsite. No laughing. (We were yelled at for laughing when they told us there were 6 minutes and 33 seconds left until quiet time). 

The lake itself is gorgeous and had it not rained, we would have spent much more time there. Sandy beach area with rocks. Bring your sunscreen and stay at a different campground!

Worst campground ever 

Love this place. **10,200 feet up in the Rockies,** big sites, clear Alpine lake full of trout. Been going many years but this was our best trip. Lake recently stocked with trout, caught 2 salmon in the runoffs. The camphosts Sara and Roy are awesome. Clean bathrooms, clean sites, great tips, warm, fun and welcoming. **Best hosts experienced in all of our 7 trips there**. Book in advance, **sites get locked in 6 mos in advance**, for good reason!