Accessibility is not guaranteed, always scout ahead before driving down dirt roads.

Priest Lake Dispersed Camping Area

This is a dispersed site—pack in/pack out (especially garbage; the nearest dumpster is in the town of Telluride). There is no running water, one outhouse, no service, no electrical outlets or RV pumps. Bears (and moose) are extremely active in this area, so it is especially important to store food in bear canisters and tie up properly. This site is not for the faint of heart! That said, the campers at this site have been some of the most genuine and good-natured humans I have ever met. The views are spectacular, and it’s not far from some fantastic hikes!

Rugged Life. Unbeatable Views

We set up our tent here for 2 days.  It is completely free, and you are able to get into the site with a 2WD car.  We left our tent over night and had no problems.  There were campers that also were able to get into the area.  Fire pits were already there and there is pretty much unlimited space.  You can hike down to the lake where we saw some fish!

Pretty Views

Priest lake is by trout lake. Not far from telluride. We pulled in shortly after lunch on a Friday and it was already somewhat crowded but by bed time it was packed. But, from our site, we couldn't tell. We could see the lake from our site, which is nice. We walked in to our site and the parking gets really full, come early! Plenty of fire pits to be had. There is one vault toilet, bring your own tp. Its not the prettiest vault but it works. We were there during monsoon season so it was raining when we got there and it started raining again at 11 the next day. But being so close to telluride, it's a worthwhile jaunt in. We could see tiny fish jumping in the lake but none swimming. Fished for a while with no luck at all. Finally we decided to rig up a bubble type bobber that you can put water in and it sets the hook when you get a bite, it's mostly for kiddos but allows you to use flies with a regular rod, put a wet fly on, a little young bug looking thing, and we got a bite. We switched to a smaller dry fly to mimic what was hatching and we caught one fish. A super small brook trout, very pretty and very feisty so that was fun, but overall, the fishing was not worth the energy. Of all the people we saw fishing, we only saw one other catch something. The kids enjoyed being able to fish though with little supervision since the lake is really quite shallow and it's very close to the sites. It's a pretty place with very scenic views. There are two abandoned cabins that were pretty cool to check out, although, we are pretty sure someone was living in the big one as there was a cot set up with a whole lot of clothes in the back room. Exploring was fun and watching the ducks and geese and the occasional deer, it was pretty cool. Temps were nice too, considering where we live it's HOT, this was a nice cool retreat.

Georgous

We camped here in a campervan and it was perfect! We arrived around 7pm and were able to find a place to park, but if you have a larger vehicle or need a spot for a tent, I’d try to arrive a bit earlier. Having the vault toilet is a nice perk for a dispersed camping site, and the views are second to none!

Great dispersed camping!

This, like many of the areas around Telluride is dispersed camping.    Down a winding path and into the mountains where you will have a view of some of the best vistas Telluride has to offer.    

This is a smaller site perfect for tents but it is set apart from some of the other dispersed camping sites I have found in this area in that it has a vault toilet on the grounds. BIG UPGRADE!!

This site is not one of those I would want to find myself adventuring to late fall through early spring, the roads are not great for driving in during that unpredictable time of year and it is to far to hike in from the main road.   Not to mention there is a requirement posted on the kiosk of the campground about storing food only in hard sided vehicles, so hiking in would be out of the question.

One of my favorite features of this site itself was that it is completely FREE!!  Usually when you find any improvements at all they want to charge a small fee for use, however this site is one of the exceptions I found in this area.  For this reason it is a first come first serve campground, but I cannot imagine it being so busy that you couldn’t find a space.

I loved the appearance of this site and how secluded it is.   When I look at a campsite I look at it for a number of reasons based on what I enjoy and also what I believe that my blog followers might enjoy.   I feel like this hits the nail on the head for me as a person who doesn’t require much in way of amenities but also suits my less adventurous followers in that they world doesn’t have to be their bathroom and they can feel like their are still camping within their comfort.

I also enjoyed that this site is a part of several small trail systems nearby and has a map located as you first enter the site so you can have an idea of the full potential of the area.    I found several people were horseback riding in the area, however I never saw where they had parked their trailers so I assume there must be another area that is a bit larger and designed for that.



Dispersed Camping But Not Fully Backcountry

Great location. Beautiful area. Some of the campsites lack privacy for not having much for trees and the restroom was long overdue for a service. But I loved my stay and would go back in a heartbeat. 

Highly recommend. 

This was a great site for our group of 3 couples. We had plenty of room on our site to set up camp around the picnic table and fire ring. 

  

We snagged the last site with a picnic table and fire ring around 10AM on a Friday morning. Throughout the weekend more people showed up and there seemed to be a bit more space to camp throughout. 

  

The sites vary from right out in the open to being completely tree covered. Ours was right near a stream and had good shade during the day. 

  

There's nothing but a vault toilet here so be sure to bring lots of water. If you're in need of a shower, head down to Trout Lake for a quick dip.

Secluded and Beautiful

Had a wonderful stay right next to the lake. Woke up to the sounds of birds.  Sites include RV/van sites (2?) and at least six tent only sites.  Each night only one other site was occupied. Views of surrounding mountains are beautiful.  San Bernado Peak is a great rewarding (largely off-trail) hike right on the other side of the highway, with views of Lizard Head and more. 

Peaceful site, beautiful views

There are less than 10 spaces but they seem to fill slowly! I arrived around 7PM on Friday during Memorial Weekend and thought I'd be out of luck but it was barely half full! The bathrooms were still closed although the sign said they hoped to have it ready by Memorial Day this weekend. Plenty of leftover wood in the pits (which I always appreciate) and plenty of space between sites. There are little walking paths around the Priest Lakes that are very short and easy, plus another trail that I didn't check out. The stars were BEAUTIFUL! This is a great spot for stargazers too.

Perfect Dispersed Camping

Came across this in June 2020 on a late Friday night about 10pm and saw a ton of people camping on top of each other so we left and camped elsewhere. FF a year (Father's Day weekend), we stopped by to check capacity on a Saturday night at 6pm and found the opposite with only 4 of 6 tent sites taken and plenty of parking for small RV/van camping. Tent sites were pretty spread out so we didn't see the 2 empty sites available down the hill until early the next morning. We just ended up taking a parking space, instead, and set up our SUV tent. Sunday morning, the entire campground was cleared by 10am except for 1 other vehicle so we were easily able to take a tent site. By noon, a few new campers showed. We left our camp for the day to explore and it was fine all day. A couple other campers did the same and were fine, too. A picnic table and fire ring are provided at all sites, if not all. Toilet is also provided which is always a huge plus for dispersed camping. TP ran out once so BYO. Not a lot of camp shade except for the one site on the north side of parking.  Several trailheads are nearby. Scenery is absolutely gorgeous and is situated at 10k feet next to Priest Lake which is just a big pond. Fishers were present but Trout Lake may be your better option which is just down by the main entrance. For showers, just head to the next campground (Matterhorn?) and freshen up for $8. They also sell firewood for $10 if you forget to grab a bundle from Telluride. Only downside, no Verizon service. Oh! And don't freak out on the crazy howling screams from humans at 8pm. It's a Coloradan ritual which I was not aware of. Hope this helps!

Free Dispersed Camping with Toilet

Pulled into this area late one evening on a fall camping trip across Colorado. Totally expected it to be full but there were a couple areas left to setup thankfully. Everything in this area was filled by 630p however.

Clean toilet which is a bonus if needed and designated parking for each little area. Some sites needed to walk in a bit but no big deal.

Beautiful area all around and one in awhile you could hear road noise but not an issue. In fall you can’t hear Elk as well which is really cool and obviously being surrounded by the colors is great too.

Fire rings in most spots but double check fire bans before.



Dispersed with some perks

We drove from Phoenix Arizona, through Gallup NM, up to our Campsite. Once you hit Colorado, the views are endless. I love that there was a Lake Called Trout Lake when you are pulling up to get to your campsite. The Lake had HUGE mountains surrounding it. It was breathtaking. We loved our dispersed campsite for the first night. The temperature was perfect! Coming from over 100 degree weather by 9:00AM. This 3 day trip was amazing and sooooo glad we stopped here and enjoyed the views. Telluride town is a 30 min drive or so and the drive was breathtaking, amazing. ITS A MUST. 

Amazing Views 

Small rough road FREE dispersed area. 7 day camping limit.  Lake is a pothole weedy area not really good for floating IMO..go to the public access at the much larger Trout Lake.  Nine designated campsites are all walk in tent sites. One small vault toilet, no dumpsters or water.  NO TTs allowed as NO turnaround.  No big RVs either. Access road is rough rocky. 

Small tight - NO TTs or Big RVs

Any car can make it to the lot. The lot has some holes and rocks but again, any car could make it to a spot. There were people coming it at all hours of the night, and camping area was more of a small parking lot, with people parked within about 4 feet of eachother. Works if you’re just looking for a place to sleep. There were a few decent Brooke trout in the lake just below that were easy to catch with a fly rod. NOT friendly for large RVs as the signs say, but they will likely be in there trying to park despite not fitting, and thus causing issues for everyone else.

Easy but busy

Great views. There were quite a few people though.