Buckingham Campground
Florian J.
Reviewed Jul. 5, 2021

Great location, sites next to creek, but very busy

We came here in early July to hike up South and North Arapahoe Peaks (and Diamond Lake for warm-up). The sites are nice right next to a creek, with very few mosquitos. Make sure to stay close to the designated areas (fwiw, Rangers monitor the site). No campfires were allowed and they are no fire rings, so I assume that the fire ban is typical rather than the exception. Bear-proof food storage is provided at each site.

We made it up the dirt road in our little Honda Fit but that was touch and go at times, and required some careful driving. 99% of the cars at the campground and trailhead were 4x4s. 

The location is great with plenty of trailheads right next to the campground. But that also means that site is very busy. The trailhead parking fills up as early as 5am. It wasn't much of an issue in terms of loudness, but it does mean that the only two restrooms are also used by hundreds of hikers each day …

There are no trash bins (i.e., pack out whatever trash you produce), there is no drinking water (except for the creek if you have filters), all sites are walk-in though parking is just a few meters away (one is ADA accessible with parking right next to the site). With Google Fi (Spring) we had no cell reception (we lost signal even prior to the start of the dirt road, so many miles before the campground). Sites are in the shade below trees, and there are picnic tables.

Overall, I'd visit this place again, just because of the convenient access to amazing trails and scrambles. Trails to Diamond Lake (10km out-and-back) and Arapahoe pass were quite busy, but not unpleasantly so. The trail up to the Arapahoe Peaks (13km out-and-back to South Peak) was *much* less busy though we still saw about 8-10ish groups throughout the day (took us 2:10h up to South Arapahoe Peak, about 30-40 minutes to traverse to North Arapahoe).

Month of VisitAugust
  • Campsite
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021
  • Review photo of Buckingham Campground by Florian J., July 5, 2021