**Bear activity has been increasing. For this reason a food storage order is in effect at all developed campgrounds on the Eagle/Holy Cross Ranger District, and the Piney Gaurd Station, Tigiwon Lodge, Mount of the Holy Cross Overlook, Homestake Road FSR 703, and Nolan Creek Road. This order requires all food and refuse to be stored in hard-sided vehicles, approved bear-resistant containers, or supended at least 10 feet clear of the ground at all points and four feet horizontally from any supporting tree or pole. This order has been issued to provide for public safety and wildlife conservation. Hopefully it will reduce wildlife habituation problems.** The Halfmoon Campground is located at the top of Tigiwon Road #707 near the boundary for the Holy Cross Wilderness in a forested setting; all wilderness regulationsmust be observed when traveling in the wilderness (foot and horse travel only). This campground is located at the trailheads for several hiking trails and is heavily used by hikers who are climbing Mount of the Holy Cross. Due to the nature of the Forest Road to the campground and the short parking spurs within the campground, the Halfmoon Campground is not suitable for most RVs. There is a printable Recreation Quicksheet for this campground which is complete with directions, details, and other information about this campground.

Halfmoon Campground

Halfmoon campground is about 30 minutes from the town of Minturn, up Tigiwon Road, and a great jump off spot to many hikes; Notch Mountain, Mount of the Holy Cross, Tuhare and Lake Constantine as well as a few others. All of those spots offer great fishing, hiking and backpacking areas.

The campground itself is basic, 7 spots and two vault toilets.The spots are fairly spaced out and can fit a few tents in each. The areas to park are fairly small, one or maybe two cars but this is definitely not an area you want to bring a big RV or trailer. Most people staying here are there for a night and will be setting out on a hike the next day. This is a NFS run campsite so there is a fee and rules are enforced such as no camping within 100 feet of a source of water. That bring me to my next point, Notch Mountain Creek runs straight though the grounds and is a mosquito haven, Bring bug spray!!

The road up can be a bit beat up, most times any car can make it but be weary if you have a low clearance car. Rain and snow melt always play a part in how well the roads are. The road and campground usually open late June and close late to early September. Overall this is a great spot to use as a base camp for hiking.

Great base camp

Halfmoon Campground is located at the end of Notch Mountain Rd (forest Rd 707) near Minturn, CO in White River National Forest. It has the essentials - fire pits, picnic tables, vault toilets, and lots of shade. However, I found the dispersed campsites on the way up to the campground more desirable - they were free, had a view, and had no neighbors. Dispersed camping is allowed along 707 within 300 ft of the road centerline. There are maybe 10- 20 sites - you can see the fire rings from the road. I chose a site about 2/3 the way up the road in a clearing with a view of the mountains across the valley. I could see the back side of Vail Ski Resort from there. The best part about the site were the stars at night - I saw multiple shooting stars. One thing that wasn't so great was the proximity to the road. I wouldn't say the road was busy, but a car does drive by occasionally. Especially early in the morning, because there are trailheads at the end of the road by the campground. You can hike to the summit of Mt of the Holy Cross or to various lakes from there.

Halfmoon Campground - Dispersed

I drove up Notch Mountain Rd from Hwy 24 to reach the campground and Holy Cross Trail Head. The road was dirt, bumpy, rocky and has several low dips that would definitely fill after rains, but it was totally passable in my low-clearance 2WD old pickup. There was decent Verizon service the whole way up and at the campground, which was empty on a Tuesday night-Wednesday night. Bathrooms were standard NP composting toilets and sites were spacious with sufficient flat spaces for tents and perfect hammock hanging spots between evergreen trees. Little creek runs along Site 1 and it's very lovely. Used this campground as a base to hike Mt Holy Cross; a challenging but doable hike for fit folks. Use extreme caution choosing when to hike in regards to weather; hikers are exposed for a long time across scree fields and a windy ridge and the final scramble up to the summit.

Parking lot had sufficient space. Only saw 6 other hikers and two dogs, plus our 5 people and dog, during the 24 hours I was in the area, but it was a weekday. Saw 4+ hunters using the parking lot, as well.

Beautiful campground 

My husband and I did a backpacking trip out here and loved it. The trails had a few people on them but once we hiked out about 7 miles to camp it was perfect and secluded. Day hikes were perfect! Would be a definite YES to do again!!

Primitive canping

Good spot to camp, campsites aren’t busy but the trails there draw a lot of hikers. Has bathrooms, fire pits, and picnic tables. Trails are right by campsites. 

Perfect campsite 

during the week very few camper, campfires allowed. water. no electricity.  it was wonderful. no rain, great stars

tent camping 

The campground has seven sites fairly spread out from one another. Got there around 5pm on a Friday (9/9) and there was no one else there. A few more campers showed up on Saturday morning, but it wasn’t ever fully booked at any point this weekend. Very peaceful, secluded, great fire pit, decent bathroom. The trails around are beautiful. It would be especially convenient to camp here for climbing Mount of The Holy Cross.