Best Glamping near Basalt, CO

This campground is conveniently located off of I-70 just a few miles from Glenwood Springs in No Name, CO. The staff are pleasant and the office was very clean with some cute souvenirs available for purchase.

This place is EXPENSIVE. It is not worth the nightly rate. You are paying for the proximity to town and if you reserved a waterfront site, the view. The campsites are tiny, so be prepared to back your travel trailer into a tight spot and make friends with your neighbors. You will be in their campsite while setting up your rig and vice versa.

The No Name Grill & Bar was still closed when we were here (May ‘21), which was not disclosed on their site. The WiFi is a single unsecured access point near the laundry/bath house that did not work. There is no WiFi available in the actual campground. We had 2 bars of cell coverage on AT&T. Laundry is pricey too; $4/load for washer and $3/load for dryer. There is no vending for detergent or dryer sheets, so pack accordingly.

As beautiful as it was to be right next to the Colorado river, this place is not at all worth the cost. Save your money and drive the 90 miles to Grand Junction or Fruita for more affordable campgrounds with better amenities.

The Deep Lake area of Flat tops Wilderness offers a variety of scenic hikes and drives as well as 4x4 trails and great lake fishing. The drive up to this area is up a dirt road about 10 miles, the road can be a beat beat up in areas. I blew a tire on my truck on the way up. Other than that the drive up is very scenic, you will pass the deep creek overlook and can see Aspen, Beaver Creek, and Vail Ski Resorts all in the same view.

The campgrounds are very large and spaced out. We went with a large group, 5 cars and many tents and had plenty of room. Some site are able to accommodate an RV or trailers. Sites vary between open and exposed to set against the forest for shaded. Restrooms were located fairly close to our spot and i remember it being one of the cleanest vault toilets i have ever used! Each spot also has a metal fire pit with a grill over top.

Like i mentioned earlier the Deep Lake area is a great base camp to go out and explore. You will find many people driving off road vehicles around. The fishing in the lake is also very good, the Forest Service stocks the lake every year. Lastly the campground sits at 10.500 ft so it does gets chilly up there even in the middle of summer.

The reservoir has restrictions on all boats so make sure you follow the rules or else they can hit you with a huge fine. 

The campgrounds are large and can accommodate a lot of people and large and small rv’s. 

There are multiple loops near the water and a larger camping area on the north mesa overlooking the lake. Most of the sites have some sort of shade whether that is a picnic canopy or trees. The lower sites near the lake are tightly compacted but can fit RV's and have tent pads with gravel. There are trash cans placed throughout the park for easy access. 

There is a dump station, water on site, and clean bathrooms. Each loop has a camp host so the sites are clean and maintained. They are very friendly but are always on site and the quiet hours are heavily enforced.

The lake is stunning blue and large enough that you will rarely run into other people while out on it. There is a boat ramp for launching on the lake.

There are day use areas with covered picnic tables that you can hang out at and a nature trail through the marsh that you can walk.

If you like to have a nice relaxing time camping… don’t come here! Seriously! If you can… cancel and go literally anywhere else.

• Do you camp with dogs?
• Do you camp with Kids?
• Do you camp with an RV?
• Do you camp with more than 8 people?
• Do you camp with a grill?
• Do you like to NOT be micromanaged when you camp?

Then read on, Baby Doe is NOT the place for you in 2021.

First of all, you need to know are a family that camps with kids, and camps a lot! We are respectful camp neighbors. We have never been treated this way. (Please read my other reviews)

The camp host are Camp rule vigilantes. They don’t need a complaint or a “danger” to harass you. They are actively looking for things that no one is even complaining about, and they are enforcing rules that I’ve never even heard of.

Not only do the camp host have the extremely excessive camp rules posted on the tables (included in pictures), after you’ve arrived they come and ask you if you I’ve read the rules.

DOGS - They said if your dog is off leash, they don’t give you a warning, they consider the posted rules the warning, they only give fines. Also make sure you have an in-ground dog steak because they are enthusiastic about dogs not being tied to trees.

KIDS- Their posted rules include “children should never race bikes / shout throughout the camp site” … are you kidding me. So basically don’t bring your kids. The camp host were so aggressive about the other rules I was scared for my children to wander to far from our campsite. Our friend that had an older child was told to slow down when she was riding her bike.

RV - a friend in our group left their exterior lights on and sure enough the camp host came knocking. She started with “I’m not saying you’re breaking any rules but…” … long story short, he was asked to turn them off.

8 PEOPLE PER CAMP SITE - I’m not joking, they were trying to enforce 8 people per camping site. It was us and a couple families calmly hanging by the camp fire (no music playing) they told is we’re not supposed to have more than 8 people per camp site. The hilarious part about this is that the Ranger rolled by our campsite not even 5 mins before the host did and didn’t stop to say anything about it.

GRILL- Have you ever stayed at a camp ground that wouldn’t allow a charcoal grill because there’s “almost” fire ban?? Instead they recommend using the fire pit to cook. We stayed 6/18 and some counties are under a fire ban, Lake County where Baby does is located is NOT under a fire ban, but they still asked us not to use a charcoal grill.

QUIET-HOURS - at 9:52 they came to tell us that in 8 mins it’s quiet hours. Then proceeded to be ridiculously aggressive about it, despite us having ZERO complaints. We weren’t playing music, we were quietly hanging by the campsite.

I’d like to say the water was nice and the fishing was good but all of these positive things were overshadowed by being harassed by the camp host over non-issues.

Do your self a favor, find a better camp spot.

Please don’t take my word for it… people must be getting the memo because I’ve never seen so many empty camp sites! It was so hostile I’ve considered filing a formal complaint about how bad they were.

Wow! This is a beautiful spot. The lower campground is for tents and smaller RVs, but is definitely the spot to be if you can swing it! This campground has cabins, glamping tents, tent pads and spaces for RVs. We camped in spaces 17 and 18 in the lower campground right by the river. The “resorts has a rafting company, zip line, and restaurant/bar on premises.

Pros:

• Easy to access off of I-70, but you feel a million miles away
• Gorgeous scenery all around
• Very easy access to the bike/walk trail through Glenwood Canyon
• 5 to 10 minute drive to Glenwood Springs attractions - Hot Springs, Gondola, downtown shopping a land restaurants

Cons:

• Spaces are EXTREMELY close together
• The train runs by, which is very nice to see and experience as it runs through the canyon, but at 5 am, that sucker is LOUD
• It’s a pricey campground, but could be worth it if you take advantage of all the amenities and it fits in your plans

Overall, this is a great campground. I might save it for a mid-week stay or slightly off season so you aren’t stacked on top of your neighbors.

Nice campsite right on the banks of Roaring Fork River. Small site with 10 spots, first come, first serve. Arrived on a Wednesday in July just before noon and there were several spots to pick from. Sites 4 - 7 are on the river, which was very nice, good for sleeping. There are as fire pits and tables at each campsite. Vault toilets and a water spout on site. Plenty of lodgepole pines between sites so it feels private. Trail head for Lost Man Trail is right across the street, or head east on Hwy 82 to Independence and Lost Man Lake Tail head for a nice out and back.

This campground is best suited for campers that have no children or pets, people who will spend zero time at their campsite or folks who are in their tent/camper by 9:30 pm.

This campground has zero tolerance for children playing

Our first impression wasn’t that great. Our site was clearly not cleaned up after the last campers departed. The remnants of their half burnt logs and ash soup was still in our fire pit. The wrong name was written on our site which left me quite anxious until we could confirm with the camp host that our spot was not given away to someone else.

The camp hosts were very rude and not helpful. They made every effort to tell us what we could not do without offering solutions of what we can do. For example, you can tie your dog to a tree if you have flat straps. Thank goodness for the kind Ranger patrolling the area that told us that!

Some of the things we were talked to about on our 3 day stay:

• Our awning lights need to be turned off. They might be bothering people.
• Your dogs can’t be leashed to a tree. They can’t be left alone in the camper or outside, even if you’re just running to the restroom.
• We should go into the woods if we want to play any games such as Cornhole so we don’t bother other campers. (Meanwhile a neighboring campsite was throwing knives and axes at a log 50 feet from us and they were never told to go elsewhere)
• They WILL yell at your children. The female camp host screamed at a little girl for going too fast on her bike.
• Quiet hours between 10pm - 8am mean: No more than 8 people around the fire, even if you’re quiet. You cannot ride your bike from one campsite to another because your headlamp might bother someone. No talking. No music, even if it can’t be heard outside your campsite. No laughing. (We were yelled at for laughing when they told us there were 6 minutes and 33 seconds left until quiet time).

The lake itself is gorgeous and had it not rained, we would have spent much more time there. Sandy beach area with rocks. Bring your sunscreen and stay at a different campground!