Little Molas Lake Campground

Nice little campground on the Million Dollar Highway heading between Durango and Silverton, with the Colorado Trail passing right through the campground. There is a main road with sites spread out over a few close ridges, and a small loop that ends in at the day use parking and vault toilet. It seemed that the “group” sites were closest to the vault toilets next to the day use parking, which could present an issue as it was very busy. The “group” sites were very crowded, which could have been just too many people in a small area, or the area could have been just too small.  Sites further away from the toilets were more spacious, but no site was huge. All sites seemed to have good hammocking trees. It seemed the best sites were the ones closest to the entrance: the parking pads were up next to the road and the tent pads and fire rings were set back from the road down a steepish grade. This was a great spot to camp as a home base for hiking the Colorado Trail. There are great trails heading out of the campground in both directions. The usual picnic tables and fire pits could be found at all sites we looked at.

Busy campground on the Colorado Trail

You literally cannot beat the views of the San Juan mountains.  This area is beautiful.  I have only backpacked into these areas, you can find established sites along the trails.  Please remember to take your trash.  

THE VIEWS

One of my favourite campgrounds. The views are spectacular, the sites large and level with good amenities, and the management friendly and helpful.

The campgrounds and the lake are absolutely beautiful. We even saw a lynx on the bank one morning! Ten minutes from town, right off the road--we thought we hit it good. But as soon as it got dark, the semis started trucking through, and that's all that was heard throughout the night.

Per all campsites, you'll need to buy your own wood. The office here may or may not be open, but you can get wood in town. We picked up our car decal in the on the bulletin board outside the office upon arrival. The grounds and restrooms are clean.

Great for some leisurely fishing, and there is a hiking trail, which connects to the Continental Divide Trail.

We stayed during the week, so there were not a lot of other visitors. It was quiet and peaceful--except for the road noise, of course. I probably wouldn't stay there again because of the noise throughout the night. If it weren't for that, I'd give it a 5\. What a shame.

Semi-Truck Pass

Quiet site 12000 feet or so in the San Juan national forest. Stayed for 2 nights without a reservation seems to be a first come first serve style campground 

Great Site

6/28/22 - 7/12/22: This was a nice retreat for us. It is a very popular place on the weekend, but during the week it is much quieter. Most of the weekend traffic is heading to the trailhead for hiking or biking. There are 8 sites here, several large enough for my 34’ fifth-wheel trailer, one is a pull-through with two sites. Vault toilet, no water or dump station. There was 1-bar 5G Verizon, and 2-bars AT&amp;T 4G that were both spotty; cloud cover between the lake and Silverton caused occational intermittent connectivity. Elevation is about 10,300 and posed a problem for our generator that caused severe spark-plug fouling. But, re-jetting the carburetor from a #61 to #58 solved the problem.

Poplar picturesque site 

Amazing views at this free, dispersed campground.   Stayed here in a tent in July 2015.

Amazing view at this free campsite

Beautiful campsite with easy access to lots of fun trails, including the CO trail. Only a short drive from Silverton and an hour or so outside Durango

Cool Campsite Outside of Silverton

Absolutely stunning! We had the whole lake to ourselves! 