## Overview

 Buffalo Campground is one of two facilities within the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area, about an hour\'s drive southwest of Denver, Colorado. Visitors enjoy a variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking, mountain biking and trout fishing.\_\_ 
## Recreation

 The Buffalo Creek Recreation Area is home to a 40-mile trail system most popular with mountain bikers, but hikers and horseback riders enjoy the area as well. Several trailheads are within walking distance of the campground. The Lost Creek Wilderness Area can be accessed via the Colorado Trail, which stretches nearly 500 miles from Denver to Durango. Buffalo Creek is a popular fishing stream for brook trout.
## Facilities

 The campground offers single-family sites, some of which are designated for tent camping only. Each site is equipped with accessible picnic tables and campfire rings with grills. Vault toilets are provided. No hookups are available.
## Natural Features

 The campground is situated near Buffalo Creek at an elevation of 7,400 feet in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Summer temperatures are mild and range from 75-80 degrees during the day to 55-65 degrees at night. 
## Nearby Attractions

 The drive along County Road 126 southwest from Pine Junction affords magnificent views of the valleys below. Pikes Peak, at 14,110 feet, can be seen in the distance and other prominent rock formations present themselves throughout the scenic drive. 
## contact\_info

 For facility specific information, please call (303) 647-2366.
## 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.

Buffalo Campground

Since this is a first come, first serve campground and it's so conveniently close to Denver, it has gotten crowded over the years. The last time I went it was extremely difficult to find a spot so be prepared. Once you are there, it's beautiful. There are giant boulders which make the terrain interesting and unique. The river is close by for tubing, fishing, or swimming. It's a great campground for a quick getaway! The ground is mostly soft and there are plenty of trees for hammocks - they don't call it "Pine Valley" for nothin!

Close to Denver, beautiful, but can get busy

Love this place. I’m a new mountain biker and it’s currebtly my favorite trail system to ride. There’s currently a fire ban in most of Colorado, and Buffalo Creek is included. We just got creative with a small lantern so it felt like we were sitting around a fire.🔥The sites are very full on the weekends being so close to Denver, so a few people asked to share. The signage isn’t always clear, make sure you only camp where there’s a site number or it’s a $1K fine! It’s a favorite place, but don’t tell everyone! 😂

Spacious sites, great trail access

Not too bad of a campground. We weren't sure if we could find a walk up campsite available so we headed up on a Wednesday in June. There are 36 sites of which 10 are FCFS (sites 29-38). We found a great spot to fit our 29' camper plus truck well. 

Overall great camping trip. Bathrooms were clean, camp host was friendly and also made sure people were safe and following the rules.  

We found walk up sites!

This campground is set a couple miles down road 550 after all the free recreation area campsites.

  

The sites are pretty close together but there are well maintained pit toilets as well as a dumpster on site for trash. The surrounding area is filled with hiking and biking trails, including the Colorado Trail. 

  

The campground is over 7k feet of elevation and a lot of trails intersect so make sure you keep track of where you are and what trail you are hiking on for the day. Not many are loops on their own. 

  

There are a couple pit toilets places throughout the campground. Clean fire rings and picnic tables at all the sites. 

  

Keep your eyes out for ticks and mosquitos. We found a couple of ticks on the dogs after they ran through the tall grass and the creek. 

  

Across the road is a creek that is great for water hangouts and light fishing. We were here in May and the weather was about 70 during the day and 35-40 at night with plenty of shade and wind protection. It has sites for RV’s, tent, or van stay.

Great Campground for Hikers and Bikers

We had set up a small tent in a spot in Buffalo Creek and headed out for a hike and when we returned our tent had been stolen. We were just glad that we didn't put everything out. So we went in search for a more remote spot. We headed out to get to the backroad of Buffalo Creek through Bailey and found this spot. I think it might still be part of Buffalo Creek Recreation Area but it is after the split so we wanted to differentiate this one from the main camping area. 

The site was large (could easily fit a large RV) and tree lines but was pretty close to the road. There were cars going in an out but everyone was being super cautious and going slow. There were perfect trees to set up dog runs (see photos for rope lines). 

There were plenty of spots to use the bathroom that were hidden and far enough away from people but there was bathroom trash left all over the place and feces that was left unburied. Our dog quickly found and got into it. She got a bad stomachache after eating poo So I beg of all who camp, clean up after yourself!

After we did a trash clean up and burials, it was a pretty nice spot. Shaded, secluded, and only 4 miles away from Wellington Lake. There are also hiking trails close by and you can head down the road to hit the biking trails too. 

Be aware that there are sites on this road but people will still pull into parking areas and wander off behind other sites to camp. We were hiking around with the dogs and ran into (literally) a large encampment behind some big rocks that we could not see or hear until we were right on them. They were not camped in an actual camping spot. 

We also got to test out Campfare meals on this trip, I would recommend them for long backpacking trips but not really great for front country. They are pricey and work best as complimentary items to each other instead of stand alone. But on a through hike they would be a well received treat.

Quiet but Obviously Well Used Area

Great little fee area if you want to spend a weekend away. Very clean and the camp host is friendly.

We stayed in spot 29, which was close to the road but we wanted to walk down to the creek and lounge.

There are black bears in the area, I heard one rummaging around the trash bin around 4AM... make sure you don’t keep food in your tent and throw away your trash each night so they don’t visit your site.

Awesome Base Camp

Welcoming campground, spur trails connecting it straight to the Colorado Trail and other connections in the Buffalo Creek Recreation Area. Nearby creek down the dirt road to cool off after a ride or hike. I greatly enjoyed my two night stay here and the phenomenal access to trails! Definitely can be a busy spot!

Great access to mountain biking and the Colorado Trail!

We love this campground! We are a family with school aged kids and dogs. We tent camp so there are only a few sites with a good flat spot. No water is a bit of a hassle but manageable. Garbage dumpster is nice but there are bears in the area so be bear aware. The biggest downfall were the biting black flies from the full vault toilet. Final note,.the campground hosts were LOUD: their generator kicked on at 4am every night and they had at least 10 dogs that barked constantly. They were our only neighbor mid-week and they never checked in with us. They swapped out with another host the day we left and the new people were at least friendly. Plenty of shade, plenty of hammock trees, and peaceful mid-week nights. Bring your bug screen and be prepared for rainstorms. 

Mid-week Perfection

We've enjoyed staying here a few times over the past several years. Each visit timed to specifically mountain bike the excellent Buffalo Creek trail system. (Best to ride here during the later spring and early fall due to hot temps in summer, and snow that dump in spring and fall.) The trails are very close to the campground. It's nice to be able to reserve spots here on the weekend because the nearby roads fill up quickly with campers. Sites at the Buffalo CG are generally spacious and have a level of privacy between one another. It's important to note that it would be somewhat difficult to find a level tent location at some of the sites, and the FLIES were out of control at our site in June even though we were clean and quick with our food and toiletries. Clean vault toilets, decent shade at many sites, and access to trails are some of the high points.