West Magnolia Trailhead provides access to eight miles of singletrack trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding west of the Peak-to-Peak Highway south of Nederland. An additional eight miles of Forest Roads are open seasonally (check the Road Status Table before your visit)&nbsp;to motorized and non-motorized activities. Along these roadways are designated campsites. Camping is allowed within 50 feet of the&nbsp;campsite&nbsp;markers. There are no facilities of any kind. The free Boulder Ranger District Motor Vehicle Use Map &nbsp;displays National Forest System (NFS) routes open to motorized travel and is available online and at the Boulder Ranger District offfice. Recreational shooting closures exist in this area. Click here for more information.



West Magnolia Campground

Great (free) Forrest Service campground west of Boulder, CO near a cute little town Nederland. Camping in designated spots only, spread out and lots of space, access to mtb bike trails and there were some campers with motorbikes/4-wheelers in the area (but we didn't feel bothered by this). Road was mostly accessible by 2WD, we had to turn around once in a spot that was too rutted out but only led to one more campsite down the road.

Great free forrest service camping! 

I didn't mind the the neighbors too much as the sites are really well placed. No comments at all. The only reason I'm going to downplay west mag is that not all neighbors realize how important fire safety is. 4.9/5, would bring my kid.

Nice dispersed camping!

It’s first come first serve and it fills up quickly. We got there after dark and checked out every spot before deciding to just camp at the trail head because every spot was full. The spots are SUPER secluded though which was awesome and easy to find. Very well labeled. There were also lots of pretty wildflowers when we were there. Also I had full bars of service and was able to look up where we were going the next day and communicate with my friend. 

Crowded

Camping in designated campsites only even if a site has a fire ring.  The sites are posted with numbers.  The road in will pass a trailhead and the designated campsites will be one mile past. You will pass some private houses and the turn for the campsites will be to the left.  The gravel road to the sites is in good shape.  Once you turn off the gravel road the campsite road is not the best.  As you travel further down the road they have built burms across the road to stop the rain from washing the road.  Be careful as you might drag if you have very little clearance.  The sites are small and have rock fire rings.  We arrived early in the day and mid week and all the sites were taken with tents.  Some of them had fallen in which made us wonder if the spots were dust being held for the weekend.  I know this happens but I was in hopes that was not the case.  Well we discovered later that it was the case. By the time Friday afternoon arrived all tents had been replaced with small RV's.  Get there early in the week and maybe you will get a site.  The Mountain Pine beetle is destroying the forest and what was once a beautiful tree covered forest is becoming a pasture.  The forest service is taking down the trees and removing the stumps.  If you can get a site this is a great area.

LNT

Pack it in pack it out

Stay safe happy travels

Stark

Was going to check it out today but went on their website and seen the access roads are seasonal so gotta wait a little longer

Access Roads Closed Nov. - May

The road was easy to get down and well maintained.  (Jeep stock undercarriage) 
Unfortunately, there is some road noise, and houses built around the site (though not close).

However, it was perfect for what I used it for, which is a place to sleep at between hikes.

Beautiful campground (site 11

Beautiful spot; close enough to civilization to feel secure yet secluded enough to feel private. In the section of camp spots I stayed at, most were full, but I got one as soon as I pulled in probably by luck. Judging by the fact that it is a Tuesday, I would assume this place would be packed on a weekend. The road getting here was a little rough but extremely short, no need for a four-wheel drive. The campsites are spread out enough to limit others noise pollution and feel secluded. There is a fire ring at all campsites, but no amenities. Overall, pretty good for dispersed.

Beautiful dispersed spots in range of Boulder

West Magnolia was awesome! Not only is this pretty easy to reach, but Peak to Peak highway is great to drive. Just take P to P south from Nederland and turn right on HWY 132… Campsites and trailhead are about 1/2 mile down. 

Hiking/biking trails everywhere. Campgrounds were clean with a few exceptions. 

This is dispersed camping… Most of the sites are tucked away, without view of your neighbors. Fire rings provided, that's it, no amenities. 

We camped at site 15 and 11. Both offered a great experience, but different settings. 

15 is close to the main road (132), but tucked away in the evergreens. Really cool site, fire ring provided (but this area was under a stage 1 while we were there). You can still catch a glimpse of the mountains if you position your camp facing west. Plenty of space… You could get a group with 2-3 trucks setup in there no problem. 

Campsite 11 is one of the best (in our opinion). Nice and wide open. You could also get a group of 3-4 trucks/tents on this site. Facing east you can see mountains, sunsets/rises are incredible. Its a little off the path, so people rarely drove by our camp while we were at 11. 

During the day we hiked around and checked out all of the other campsites, they all looked great and had their own pluses/minuses. We'd like to camp at site 13 in the future. Pictures don't do the views around Magnolia justice. 

We will absolutely be back here down the road.

GREAT Campground!

Istarted my site search on a Friday morning aound 8:30am.  Almost all of the sites were already occupied  i felt lucky that i found site 16.  The roads around the whole campground were a little rough but i did okay in my Ford Escape.  All of the sites seems to be really spread out. 

There were several people in the campground.   Many hikers, mountain bikers,and an occasional dirt biker.

One suggestion I would offer is to read the fire ban signs very closely.   I was visited by the forest service who helped me put our my food that was very small in the for ring.   Luckily he found me before the fire service did because it would have been a $500 fine. 

