Hayden Creek Road

Very remote. Camped right by the creek. Beautiful and fun for any exploring.

Stayed: 10/16/2021

Cost: FREE 

Site: 38.332778,-105.809964

Vehicle: Buick Verano

Equipment: Tent

AT&T and T-Mobile: No service

Beautiful site along Hayden Creek. Multiple dispersed sites are along Hayden Creek Rd before reaching Hayden Creek Campground. There’s a General Store and Liquor Store in Cotopaxi right on Highway 50. Plenty of room for a decent size setup with existing fire rings. Easy dirt road access. It got very cold in October, but has beautiful views of the mountains!

#DareToEverywhere

Tent camped in the dispersed area because Hayden creek was full, near Rainbow trailhead, entire area to ourselves 98% of the time besides two groups of hikers over 2 nights almost 3 days. Bring camp toilet for dispersed camp areas or walk to the vault toilet at Hayden creek (long walk). Camped right along the brook an filtered water.

Loved the campground. Remote, dirt road and bringing my pop up camper was a tiny challenge but loved the spacing of campgrounds and wooded area! We weren’t on the creek side but ventured over there and it was rad. One thing I would recommend is to get there early. We got there Friday right at 2pm and there were only a couple sites left. It’s all first come first served. We had a rowdy group across from us and there are no camp hosts to it was kind of a free-for-all which was probably my only complaint. The scenic photos here are not all in the campground but places right near the grounds! Pit toilet, but was actually in pretty good shape. As far as getting there, using google maps is the way to go and NOT Apple Maps. Apple Maps sends you to Cuttys down the street and not to Hayden Creek Campground. Great place! We will be back!

Our campsite was hands down the best out of all 11. It had everything we needed: plenty of shade, the creek rolling by right next to us. I loved falling asleep to the sound of the water. There is one vault toilet but you will need to bring in your own water. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. There were several dispersed camp sites just off the side of the road before you get to the campground. They were also alongside the creek but didn’t have much privacy there.

We didn’t get a chance to hike the Rainbow Trail, but we did go over Hayden Pass (we started at the other end in Villa Grove) which was a lot of fun but you must have a 4x4 with good clearance. We will definitely be back!

Really pretty remote-ish campground along Hayden Creek. Even though the creek here was really high and moving fast this spring, there was no danger of campsites flooding. The sites are really pretty large and will accommodate more than one tent or small camper. There are fire pits with grills and picnic tables, and a fairly decent vault. (It’s worth noting that there are several camping areas just outside the campground that don’t offer the grill and table, but are free and are also along the creek. ) It’s worth the hike if your able, up towards Rainbow, but there are also nice trails along the creek. There has not been a host here any of the three times we’ve visited.

was a really great campground, but went to camp there again, and the Forrest service has it shut down. hope it’s not permanent.