Located about 20 minutes from the town of Crested Butte, Slate River Road is home to a bunch of campgrounds. Note: These areas differ from the BLM section you will drive through. After the Oh Be Joyful BLM land, you will then make your way into Forest Service operated areas where there is tons of dispersed camping and it is free.
We spent some time here around 4th of July and all the spots were filled as expected. Camp grounds are all dispersed, free and have no amenities at the site except some areas have vault toilets. There are a few campgrounds on the left side of the road and if those are all full there are many other spots just along the sides of the roads. The spot where the pin is for this site is one of the few “Camp grounds” where there is a small parking lot built and spots are somewhat defined.
Most of them were big enough for multiple cars and tents as well as full sized RV’s. The forest service does patrol this area and we saw them writing tickets for people who were parked in areas they should not be in. It seems they used rocks to define camping areas and people were parked beyond them. Keep that in mind when selecting a spot.
If you cannot find a spot in one of these campgrounds, keep driving. A good portion of the road is Forest Service and camping is allowed on the sides of the road. We saw people camping for miles up the road.
As is with most of Crested Butte, there is tons to do in this area. Drives, hikes, mountain biking, fishing…the list goes on. We spent a long weekend here, it was a great base camp spot however our spot was pretty exposed to the sun.
Bonus: We saw tons of wildlife every day right across the river from our camp chairs. Deer. Moose and a Bear!
