Best Equestrian Camping near Brighton, CO
Looking for a rustic and comfortable horse camping experience near Brighton? Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. Find Colorado equestrian campgrounds with ease on The Dyrt.
Looking for a rustic and comfortable horse camping experience near Brighton? Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. Find Colorado equestrian campgrounds with ease on The Dyrt.
This recreation area is part of Chatfield Lake
This recreation area is part of Cherry Creek Lake
Golden Gate Canyon State Park offers multiple campgrounds, cabins, yurts, RV sites, group sites, and a guest house. From Memorial Day to early October, there are 132 campsites in two campgrounds: Reverend’s Ridge and Aspen Meadow. Reverend’s Ridge offers 38 tent sites and 59 sites with electrical hook-ups. Facilities at Reverend’s Ridge include flush toilets, shower, ice machine, laundry facilities, and a dump station. Aspen Meadow offers 35 tent sites and vault toilets. As of January 1, 2019 both campgrounds will be Reservation Only. Golden Gate also offers 20 backcountry tent sites and four backcountry shelters. Our backcountry sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis year-round. Please register for backcountry sites at the Visitor Center.
$18 - $90 / night
This recreation area is part of Bear Creek Lake
Camping is allowed at numbered designated campsites. No fee is charged. Practice Leave No Trace Principles.
Camping is limited to 14 days in one location. After 14 days, your camp must be moved at least three miles away.
Maximum stay is 28 days within a 60-day period. After 28 days, all property and people must leave the Roosevelt National Forest.
So close, yet feels so far away from the hustle and bustle of Estes Park. This very popular campground is located at an elevation of 8,300 feet at the end of a beautiful road just west of town. There are wonderful views of the snow covered peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park and access to the East Portal Reservoir which has ample opportunities for fishing. This double loop campground offers shady sites suitable for tenters and campers with small RVs and trailers shorter than 22 feet in length. It is especially well-suited for families and outdoor enthusiasts looking to explore nearby nature and trails in Rocky Mountain National Park. Sites at this campground open up to views of Rocky Mountain National Park and starry nighttime skies. A mature blend of ponderosa and lodgepole pines interspersed with groves of aspens makes it a wonderful home away from home. It is an ideal setting for guests seeking recreation and relaxation. The camping season runs from mid-May to late September.
The Estes Park Campground at East Portal has 66 sites suitable for tents and small trailers and RVs. There is a maximum length of 22 feet for RVs. All sites are equipped with picnic tables and campfire rings, some with ADA accessibility. Guests also have access to drinking water, flush toilets, hot showers, water & electric hookups, dump station, firewood and ice sales, and a playground for the kids. Cell phone service is spotty and there is no wi-fi, so please plan accordingly.
$35 - $50 / night
$30 - $120 / night
If you want to get into the Park, suggest you go EARLY, EARLY, EARLY in the day. Traffic backs up all the way from the Entrance on Parker Rd to the Entrance Booth on weekends and holidays. Plan on an hour OR MORE to just get to the booth. Once the capacity for the Park is reached, you will not be allowed in.
Nice Swim Beach with brand new Bldg. Many covered Picnic sites, but again, you MUST arrive at the break of day to secure one.
Please plan to pack your trash out. Seems to be a severe shortage of dumpsters or trash cans and people leave behind huge bags of trash - or, sadly, just trash strewn around. Please respect our space!
Campground is usually fully booked all season. Reservations can be made six months out. Two week limit.
I live close to the Park and visit every month of the year.
Very clean, very well maintained. Large spaces near the lake.
Stayed the last night with a rental RV that we needed to return to Denver by 10;30 AM. Campground has an unusual lay out with "loops" being 3 rings of sites. Sites are spread out well. Lots of privacy, Within an hour's drive of the RV rental return location (with a Costco on the way to fill the gas tank). Some sites have elec/water/sewer at the sites. Some have just electrical - this was our site. A communal water/sewer was available with ability to handle two vehicles at the same time.
Sites weren’t marked like other places I’ve been but I expected it being dispersed. Had a wonderful time the sky was pretty it was secluded and lots of space for dogs to run!
Lots of room to spread out but some weird regulations. Like only 3.2% alcohol?
Came here with my roommates in July after only dispersed camping earlier in the summer. Nice spot with a metal fire pit (good for stage 1 fire ban), picnic table, and tent pad. Tent pad was big enough to squeeze two 3-person tents and a 6-person tent (barely). Walking distance to vault toilets. Some nice foresty hikes between Aspen Meadows and Reverend's Ridge. We could see some other campsites but didn't feel too squished. There's an actual parking lot but we just parked next to our campsite, off the road enough to let other cars pass by easily.
I’m currently here and it’s pretty great. Nice campgrounds. Not close to anyone. Road up is 2wd. Keep heading up the small road to get to all the secluded camp grounds.
Our spot was in Aspen Meadows. The reservation confirmation gave us directions to Reverend's Ridge campground, which is wrong. It also said our site was on Aspen Loop, and there is no Aspen Loop - only Conifer Loop. It's a very poorly marked campground. It's also directly under a flight path. The toilets smelled like ammonia, horribly...but the campsite itself was clean.
Really easy to get to and the services were spot on. The views are also stunning and there is plenty of hiking to do.
Road leading to spots is dirt but not bad. Once you turn onto where the spots are the road does get Rocky. We stopped at the first site. Quiet. Off roaders showed up in the morning!
As usual this was a great place to camp. Site 1 is the most private but furthest from the bathrooms, Site 2/3 are closest together, Site 3 has the very best flat pad with the table, ring and still room for a 10x10 tent or shade tent area. Sites 1-4 have shade, sites 5-8 do not.
Hosts are friendly and helpful, bathrooms cleanish, stalls in good shape.
Trail #800 is pretty sketchy these days due to excessive water erosion. 3' deep and 8" wide troughs to walk along with so much overgrowth it's hard to navigate.
The trail heading North out of the parking lot is great, well maintained and also has hidden 7 dwarfs along the trail to try and find. We did it four times just to make sure we found all 7.
Family friendly campground at the end of a quiet road near RMNP. Quiet, no generators heard as big rigs won’t fit! Tents, vans, car camping and camper trailers fit well. Clean bathrooms, hot showers, friendly hosts, ice and fire wood for sale. Big playground and not crazy expensive.
We drove up around 8/9pm from Boulder. Most camps spots were already taken (1-8 sites only..) but we made our own site / shared with campsite #2. Roads are rough. Some loud campers nearby but we had fun.
Beautiful views and campfire spots!
You definitely need to know where you’re going with this one, as the location on here isn’t really even close. The trail getting in/out is fairly rough and uneven, so you’ll need something with some sort of clearance. The sites themselves were pretty fantastic, clean, and accessible. There are more rewarding and harder to reach spots the farther you go, but plenty are easily available. You’ll find lots of fine folks walking, riding quads/bikes, etc. It’s not often you find a spot like this that isn’t crowded out.
The state park is enjoyable. The staff is realy nice and you have all the services that you need
Beautiful state park. Great for a day or two. Bathrooms were exceptionally clean and well maintained.
Online reservation was easy as was the check in. The staff were helpful and friendly. Some reviews balked at the price and the tight spaces. Expected in this sort of prime location. Live with it! That being said, we were there at the tail end of the season, with the other campgrounds around us literally closing. The result for us was that we had few neighbors. This made navigating the narrow roads and tight campsite much easier. All in all a very pleasant couple of days.
The group campsite was spacious. The site was also pretty clean. Bathrooms were coin operated so that wasn’t the best for a shower. Would preferred a way to obtain coins or a heads up on that one. The spot we had was far from the lake so it was a bit of a walk. I’d recommend finding a site closer to the lake so you can get to the water quicker when it’s super hot. We had canopies but the sun beat us down pretty bad during the high part of the day. Very pretty paddle boarding sites.
I drove here December 16th on a sunny day. Take the exit onto Fall River Road from the highway, a short road. You are then soon connected with forest service road of sorts York gultch. This connects a lot of off grid housing to the highway. well maintained crushed dirt.
At the GPS coordinates there are 3-4 drive in campsites and then a road that might lead to more. Idk I hiked around 1 mile and didn’t see other spots, you might have do drive in a couple more mirles
I spent the night here while I partied in Idaho springs for a mini vacation
This is a very nice, quiet and quaint camping spot! We loved the wooded areas. The flat parking pads and hook ups! There’s nothing extra special here to make it a 5 star. I’d absolutely visit again!!…. But it’s not a bucket list spot!
The coolest thing is we did see a moose!
Amazing views, friendly staff & nice set up. Wish we could have stayed a little longer. But definitely helpful when passing through.
We were going to give this a 3 star review based on our first night here in D loop. No water, sites close together and a long walk to the vault toilets, plus the site was not level. Our second night was in E loop. Sites are over 100 feet apart, level, flush heads, near free showers, and water available plus dish washing area, but no tent pads. Loops are either RV or tent. Tent loops also have sites too close for our taste, about 37 feet apart. Though if you choose carefully, a few sites are more remote. Some of the tent loops let you park adjacent to your site (loops H and I). Others you park in a common area and walk to your site. Volunteer staff very friendly. In season camp programs. Much jet noise from airliners leaving Denver. Some road noise also, but very quiet at night. Your experience will vary with your chosen loop and site. Overall nice, much more so in E loop and B loop looks similar. For tenting, I’d suggest H or I loop. Good T-Mobile.
I came up for a night of camping with one of my dogs. I reserved the area with electric hookup since I brought the van. The area was very organized and tidy. Campsite was large with a picnic table, fire pit, and central spot for trash and recycling. Area was quiet, but close to a road. No cell service for phone if you’re wondering.
Chatfield has quickly become one of our favorite state parks. We have stayed here many times over the last few years. This was our first time camping here with our Class C and we had plenty of room to center our rig while leaving room for our tow dolly and SUV.
We stayed at Site 54 on Loop B. This is the first time we’ve ever noticed the noise from the model airplane field while camping here. We were woken up multiple mornings before 7AM to the sound of model airplanes. Not a big deal, but something to be mindful of if you’re looking to sleep in.
The shower facility at the center of Loop B did not have soap or hand dryers in the restroom. Again, not a big deal, but something to know so you can plan ahead. There was also only one working dryer in the laundry, so it was a challenge to get wash done if multiple campers were trying to wash clothes at the same time.
First time camping here. The Gold Rush loop is all full hookups. We stayed in Site 95 and had no trouble fitting our 29’ Class C, tow dolly, and towed vehicle.
There are multiple facilities in the campground that have hot showers and flush toilets. The building closest to the campground office also has a laundry that works via coins or pay via app, $2 per load.
Easy access to the sand beach on Cherry Creek reservoir, plenty of hiking and biking trails, and close proximity to Aurora, Centennial, and the greater Denver metro area. We would definitely stay here again.
Cherry Creek State Park offers a variety of activities including water sports and a sand beach. The campground has tent and RV sites including full hookups.
We stayed in Site #95 which is a great private spot on the Gold Rush loop. The campground offers multiple bath houses as well as a laundry that is coin operated as well as available via an app at $2 per wash.
This was our first time staying at Bear Creek Lake. The park is not part of the Colorado Wilds or CPW State Park system, but daily vehicle fees are included with your camping reservation. Our towed vehicle was included when we checked in at the ranger station.
The campground is at the back of the park, roughly 2 miles from the entrance. There is a lot of bike traffic and windy roads. Sites are mostly level, electric only, and relatively close together. We stayed in Site 41 which was walking distance to the pit toilets and water spigot. We had no trouble fitting our 29' Class C, tow dolly, and towed vehicle.
We filled our 7 gallon water jugs at the spigot to top off our fresh water tank. The spigot is the terrible skinny faucet that is not threaded as to dissuade RVers from connecting a fill hose to it. If you want to fill water jugs like we did, bring a short (<6') hose and a water bandit so that you don't waste water.
Pit toilets and flush bathrooms were clean and well maintained. The bath house at the center of the campground features coin operated hot showers, $2 for 10 minutes. The water temperature was very hot, but manageable. A great convenience since there are no sewer hookups at the sites.
This is a great place to camp if you want to explore Morrison, Golden, or catch a show at Red Rocks. The main park entrance closes at 9:30 and a back gate accessible from I-470 opens that allows access to the campground. We had no trouble getting an Uber to pick us up to go to Red Rocks, but had several driver cancellations trying to get back after a concert.
Horse camping in Colorado offers a unique opportunity to explore the stunning landscapes while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride the trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Brighton, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Brighton, CO is Chatfield State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 75 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Brighton, CO?
TheDyrt.com has all 19 equestrian camping locations near Brighton, CO, with real photos and reviews from campers.