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Free Camping Collection

Dispersed Camping

Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)

Mesa Verde National Park Boundary, near Cortez, Colorado, is a fantastic spot for those looking to immerse themselves in nature while being just a stone's throw from the iconic Mesa Verde National Park. This area offers a free camping experience with a few sites scattered around, perfect for tent and RV camping.

The location boasts stunning views and a sense of privacy that many visitors rave about. One camper mentioned, “We woke up to gorgeous views!” which captures the essence of what you can expect here. While the roads can be a bit bumpy, most vehicles can navigate them with care, and the peaceful surroundings make it worth the effort.

You’ll find fire pits at each site, allowing for cozy evenings under the stars, and pets are welcome, so you can bring your furry friends along for the adventure. Just keep in mind that amenities are minimal—there's no drinking water or restrooms, so come prepared. As one reviewer noted, “You can’t beat the price (free) and there were plenty of sites to choose from.”

If you're up for some exploration, the nearby Mesa Verde National Park offers incredible archaeological sites and hiking trails that showcase the area's rich history. Just remember to arrive early, as spots can fill up quickly, especially during peak season. Whether you're looking for a quick getaway or a longer stay, this location is a solid choice for those wanting to connect with nature.

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Location

Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) is located in Colorado

Detail location of campground

Coordinates

37.35959002 N
108.42285 W

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Access

  • Drive-In
    Park next to your site
  • Walk-In
    Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

  • WiFi
    Fair
  • Verizon
    Fair
  • AT&T
    Fair
  • T-Mobile
    Good

Site Types

  • Tent Sites
  • RV Sites
  • Standard (Tent/RV)
  • Dispersed
  • Group

Features

For Campers

  • Phone Service
  • Alcohol
  • Pets
  • Fires

DISPERSED CAMPING

Enjoy dispersed camping on government land and leave no trace. Pack in and pack out. No (or limited) services at this camping area. Permit may be required.


PERMIT might be REQUIRED

We curate permit requirements across the US for our PRO members. Try PRO to see if Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) needs a permit.


Reviews

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4.5

out of 5

25 Reviews

Reviewed Oct. 18, 2024

Great spot!

Camped at site #11. Beautiful sunset view. We drove a 4WD truck with truck bed camper with no problem. Never took it out of 2WD.

Site11
Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Diana K., October 18, 2024
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Diana K., October 18, 2024
Reviewed Oct. 13, 2024

Beautiful spot to camp when visiting Mesa Verde

17 spots all pretty spaced out, filled up around 5pm on Sunday October 12 (but this could be due to the Indigenous Peoples day being tomorrow).

The surrounding landscape is beautiful.

We didn’t find the road too bad in our Ram Promaster, but we have a pretty high clearance.

Site11
Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Juliana R., October 13, 2024
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Juliana R., October 13, 2024
Reviewed Sep. 30, 2024

Narrow, rough, steep service road

The only reason I give this place a 3 is because of the close proximity to Mesa Verde NP. This stay is only for high clearance vehicles and small RV's. Deep drain ditches between service road and sites. All sites are extremely uneven. Also the road and sites have sharp crushed shale stone. I have a 35 foot 5th RV and was way too big for this place. But by the grace of God I managed to back into site 12. How the use planks to shore up the ditches so I could get in without bottoming out. I will not return.

Site12
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Mark B., September 30, 2024
Reviewed Sep. 2, 2024

Get there early

This is a great spot, but there are only 15 sites, then it turns in to gated off private property. Get there early to help make sure you can find a spot.

Month of VisitSeptember
Reviewed Jul. 4, 2024

Nice Stay close to Mesa Verde

This was such a nice spot super close to Mesa Verde national park. It was about a 5 minute drive from the park entrance. The road was a little bumpy at places and some of the spots were rutted up but any vehicle could navigate it if they are careful.

Month of VisitJuly
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Bobby J., July 4, 2024
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Reviewed Jul. 3, 2024

Good, but coordinates are wrong.

Great place, but the coordinates are wrong . Using Google maps and it took us to town. Had to look at the map to get there.

SiteWasn't numbered, but towards the back.
Month of VisitJuly
Reviewed May. 21, 2024

Fantastic Site

Part of Chutes and Ladders. We stayed on site 9, 2024.05.20. The spot is huge. You hear the highway below but that dies down at night. Fantastc views of Mesa Verde.

Site9
Month of VisitMay
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Francois T., May 21, 2024
Reviewed Nov. 11, 2023

Awesome spot close to Mesa Verde

This place is incredible! Probably really crowded during peak season, but we had no trouble finding a spot at 10:30pm. We woke up to gorgeous views! The National Park was five minutes away.

Month of VisitNovember
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Lindsey C., November 11, 2023
Reviewed Sep. 1, 2023

Can't beat the location

So close to Mesa Verde and free! This area is called Chutes and Ladders. Each spot has a little pull in and firepit. Lots of bees! But they didn't sting.

Month of VisitAugust
Reviewed Jun. 15, 2023

Great free spot next to Mesa Verde

We were lucky and found a spot, there are probably 10-15 camp spots in there and only one was available. Guess that’s the one downside of some of these blm spots. Also keep in mind these are pretty small spots, large rvs might not be able to make it in. Great views of Mesa verde and the temp was super nice. Would definitely come back here again.

Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Patrick B., June 15, 2023
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Patrick B., June 15, 2023
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Patrick B., June 15, 2023
  • (5) View All
Reviewed May. 8, 2023

Not many sites

Arrived at 5pm on a Sunday night, most spots were taken and I think I snagged the last one which didn't have a great view. Areas with no site marking had posts that stated no motor vehicles. Some trash at my site. But if you get there early enough to snag the good spots the view looks incredible!

Site3
Month of VisitMay
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Janelle P., May 8, 2023
Reviewed Oct. 14, 2022

Way better than the Mesa Verde NP alternative

I started my trip to Mesa Verde NP not quite sure where I was going to camp for the night.  I entertained the idea of spending the night inside the park, at the sad, overpriced campground there.  Once I discovered they wanted north of 40 bucks for a tent site, I moseyed my way down the hill to this sick little dispersed campground.  You can't beat the price (free) and there were plenty of sites to choose from, even during Labor Day week.

I believe the BLM calls this site "Chutes & Ladders".  There are 15 or 16 sites available, and unlike a lot of other dispersed camping I've come across, this doesn't seem to be a place where people come to party.  It was quiet and there was a lot of space between sites.  Plenty of room for trailers if that's your thing.  Great place to spend the night!

Site14
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Patrick B., October 14, 2022
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Patrick B., October 14, 2022
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2022

Amazing views, convenient to Mesa Verda

The turn off (county road 34) is literally 1.5 miles from then turn into the park. The views of the mountains, and the park, from the campsites are amazing!

Site13a
Month of VisitAugust
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Chris N., August 21, 2022
Reviewed May. 27, 2022

Great Site near Mesa verde

Great dispersed camping near Mesa Verde. Tons of marked sites along the road. The road gets a little rougher the further you go in. It’s about a 10min drive to Walmart. The only downside is the dust but that is to be expected.

SiteSite 10
Month of VisitMay
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Griffen J., May 27, 2022
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Griffen J., May 27, 2022
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Griffen J., May 27, 2022
Reviewed Nov. 24, 2021

Great Campsite

This campsite was beautiful, easy to get to, and close to town. The temperature was low, but enough blankets and you’d be fine. The view of the rock formations was nice, and the distance to town and Mesa Verde is unrivaled.

Month of VisitNovember
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Brandon L., November 24, 2021
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Brandon L., November 24, 2021
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Brandon L., November 24, 2021
  • (4) View All
Reviewed Sep. 17, 2021

Great Free camping right by Mesa Verde

We got here just after midnight on a Sunday night, the first 6 sites were taken but the seventh was available (I didn't check to see how many were beyond ours) the site had a nice flat spot for our tent and a nice fire ring. There is a rest area about a mile away which made it nice when we needed to go number 2. I would definitely camp here again.

Site7
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Jake S., September 17, 2021
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Jake S., September 17, 2021
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Jake S., September 17, 2021
  • (10) View All
Reviewed Jul. 22, 2021

DUST STORM! still awesome spot

4 min drive from park entrance! after visiting the park this was a awesome place to camp for the night! It was a bumpy drive in but not bad, lots of obvious dispersed sites where people have camped. Nice and open beautiful place to look at the stars I’m sure if there wasn’t a dust storm!! As soon as we started to cook dinner we had to very quickly!! hop in the van cause the dust just suddenly started blowing in! Even through that it was still so cool to watch and listen to all the I’m sure pounds of sands hit the side of our van and at some points we could barely see out the windows!! Good thing we didn’t set up our tent cause it would have blown away for sure! Long story short; be careful! So nice out there though

Site27
Month of VisitJuly
  • *video does not show how severe it actually got* but still pretty cool
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Reviewed Oct. 15, 2020

Hidden Gem

These dispersed campsites were recommended to us and they did not disappoint! Secluded dry camping spots with great views of the monuments.

Reviewed Oct. 27, 2019

Great spot!

Great camping spot! Super close to Mesa Verde National Park! And it's freeeee! The road to get the the sites is rutted out so you do need some clearance! We have a subaru impreza and it was fine! No amentinites.. Spots are numbered. We stayed in 4!

  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Katie J., October 27, 2019
Reviewed Oct. 19, 2018

Free, Picturesque, and a bit muddy

This is BLM Land outside of Mesa Verde National Park. Has quite a few different sites that are all free and have fairly easy access to. The one downside (for us) was that it had just rained and the sites and road are clay which we ended up sinking into and getting stuck in. Luckily a few other campers nearby got up to watch the show and see us dig to get out (eventually they all helped push us out). There's a little road noise from the highway but it didn't bother us.

Each site has a little rock ringed fire pit and a flat area for a tent that we saw.

So if you want a free spot for up to 14 nights and want to check out Mesa Verde (highly recommend it), this is a pretty nice little spot.

Site3
Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Mauriel O., October 19, 2018
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Mauriel O., October 19, 2018
  • Review photo of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) by Mauriel O., October 19, 2018
  • (8) View All

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the elevation of Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)?

    Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land) is located at 6729 feet.

  • Are fires allowed at Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)?

    Yes, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, fires are allowed at Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land), although make sure to check current fire restrictions in the area.

  • Is there cell phone reception at Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)?

    According to campers on TheDyrt.com, Verizon signal is fair, AT&T is fair, and T-Mobile is good.