Dakota Terraces Campground — Ridgway State Park

I've. been visiting this area of Colorado since childhood so it has special meaning for me. We remember the area BEFORE there was a reservoir!  This campground doesn't disappoint!  Our site had a view of Courthouse Peak.  The area feels natural and sites are spaced out. We had water and electric.  There's a dump station on site.

We only had one night here, it was the last night of the season for our area and the next nights were full.

Popular campground likely requires advance reservations for peak season.

Nicely developed state park. Only 4 stars due to lack of a bike path from CGs to day use beach.

This is a large state park campground with a lot of activity. The sites are mostly spaced out from each other but not much for trees for privacy. The loops are great for bike riding and walking. The restrooms were clean during our visit, however, there was a water leak problem on our day of departure so the bathrooms were all closed. We had one encounter with the host who made a rude comment at !2:05 when we were still hooking up our trailer for departure. I know, we were a few minutes late, but rude comments are not necessary. 

This is a beautiful area for exploring, we always head down and explore Ouray. The reservoir is nice, just super windy so we couldn't paddle board during our visit.

A great eat location to call home while exploring the area. Nice views at camp. Clean restrooms and showers! We spent a lot of time in Telluride, Ouray, and Silverton so we did not take advantage of the park. However, there was access to kayak, paddle board, and boat rentals. Great pad area and fire pit. Accommodated our tent well. Close to your neighbors, but not too crazy.

Camping here was nice. Limited trees so summer can be rough in direct sunlight. Sites are okay size wise. Bathroom and shower facilities were clean. Very pretty area. Park staff were super friendly. 5 min from Ridgeway, 25 from Ouray, 45 from Telluride.

Pro: Nice clean campground by a lake. Free showers. Clean bathrooms. Laundry facilities on site. Just a short drive to Montrose (Walmart, Target, etc) and Black Hills of the Gunnison National Park. Ouray and Telluride are nearby as well.

Con: Minimal shade - which is less than ideal on a hot summer day. Some sites have a shelter over the picnic table - others don't. I utilized a pop up canopy and clipped a tarp on the side that faced the sun. It's also not far off the highway... So there is the faint sound of cars driving by.

My wife and I stayed here in March of 2022. The campground was awesome and there didn’t seem to be a bad spot in the entire loop. Good views of the San Juan Mountains to the south! Power hook-ups were nice, but no water hook-ups during “winter” months. With that said, there was community spigots located near the campsites that were still on if you need to top off your fresh water tanks. The dump station was also nice, but no running water there during the winter either.

The location of this place was perfect for us as we were there for skiing; One hour from Telluride, one hour from Silverton, and only 30 minutes from the Red Mountain backcountry skiing area.

Ridgway Colorado is only a few miles down the road if you need gas or supplies, and Ouray is just past that if you’re looking for great restaurants and breweries.

If you are looking for a quiet and serene camping experience in the winter, this is your campground. Ridgeway State Park has one loop open during the winter in Dakota Terraces. They have winter rates. And they have great cell signal if you have Verizon and supposedly AT&T. (There’s a cell tower in one of the park’s campgrounds.)

[Internet. Verizon via iPhone 12: 14 mbps down and 4 mbps up with 51 ms ping.]

Read all the campground details straight from the park’s website before winter camping. Keep in mind the guest services building is closed for the winter. That means no laundry or showers. The restroom building is open. The dump station is open but the water fill is shut off. You can, however, fill you tanks up using the water spigots throughout the campground. We use a 5-gallon jerry can to transport the water. We’ve been here through a winter storm and they haven’t frozen yet. They also plow the roads.

The visitor center is open which you should check out! There’s an overlook there. This time of year part of the reservoir is frozen. You can get loaner snow shoes at the visitor center! How awesome! Since it’s snowed almost a foot, we’ve been snowshoeing all over the park and through the trails and closed campgrounds.

There’s like 5 campsites occupied. It’s so quiet. We have our own little winter wonderland.

We stayed here for 7 nights, and loved it. Not much shade is the only negative. Beautiful swimming beach, plenty of hiking trails. Restrooms were always clean. 

Close to Black Canyon of the Gunnison ( main reason we booked it), Ouray,Telluride, Silverton. Several good golf courses nearby. Montrose is about 24 miles away, has all the grocery & fuel needs. 

I'd definitely return if in the area.

Great family fun. One of our fav spots to do some fishing and biking. There is a cool trail (best if you can get dropped at the top, haha) for some off-road biking (careful with little ones, it can get steep, bumpy, and have sharp corners). But it’s a blast! Biking around the roads is super family friendly and the campsites are clean as well as the bathrooms. We loved having a nice shaded area at our campsite with a bench for eating.

We were a group of 3 campers. The spacing of the sites is ample and most of the sites have covered picnic tables. Inside the park there are some nice hikes around the Reservoir. The fishing from the shore and a boat was better than most of the places we have camped. The campground is super clean and well patrolled. We will absolutely go back.

Ridgeway is a very well kept park with beautiful views, lots of amenities, and conveniences. Clean bathrooms, laundry, firewood and ice all available at the campground and very reasonably priced. The beach was within a bike ride or a walk from our site. Most sites have a covered picnic table which was very helpful during the frequent light rain showers. My kids enjoyed the rock climbing nearby. We stayed for 2 days and wished we had another night.

This park is a great place for families because there is so much to do, from the endless bike trails to fishing and water access. All of the sites are large and have plenty of space from the next site. The only problem that we had was that where we were there was very little shade, but at the higher sites, there is plenty of coverage. If you are tent camping the lower area will have a lot of RV's next to you, but it was not a problem for us. This is for sure a campground that we will be going back to in the future.

Love, love this place, we’ve spent 3 nights in the Dakota c loop. This loop is closest to lake access and has electric at each site. The spots also each have a Firepit and shade (except spot 068). Our 2 year-old loved it due to the open area and awesome parks. We will be back. The lake also has kayak and paddle board rentals.

Ridgway State Park was a convenient location for my trip through Colorado to Utah. After a stop at Black Canyon of the Gunnison Ridgway was a great spot to stop for an overnight out of any city. At the Dakota Terraces there are only a handful of spots for tents so if you know you are going to camp here make a reservation. This was a last minute stop on our trip and I snagged the last tent spot in the campground. They have full facilities and even a few Yurts you can rent for larger parties that looked like fun. Didn't stay long because we were only looking for a spot for the night. The only downfall is that the site were very close together and this is more of an RV Campground.

Beautiful views of the mountains and a 5-mile long reservoir make this campground pretty spectacular. You can even rent one of the 3 yurts if you like. You are also only about 10 minutes from the Orvis Hot Springs and a great BBQ place called Welded Elephant BBQ Shack.