Best Glamping near Coalmont, CO

We absolutely love staying here! Many options to stay including walk in camping and covered wagon cabins. There is a long steepish trail that leads to many camp sites along the river. You are not allowed to drive to camp, you must walk your gear in. Very shaded and flat areas built for tents in each site, picnic table, gas grill with propane, fire pit, showers and bathrooms are a short distance away. Running water and easy access to the Hot Springs too.

The place is always updating and staying on top of upkeep. It has many pools of various sizes and temperatures. Even river access to cool off when it's not moving too quick.

As you can see on this visit, we were snowed on. As it seems to be a crazy season this spring 2019- be prepared for muddy rough conditions on the road to the Hot Springs entrance. It can require 4x4 and sometimes is not passable. Depending on weather and conditions. See there website and/or call!

This is a great little campground with only 7 campsites that are first come first served (no reservations). However, it's almost never full and if it is full there are plenty of free camping areas along the road (forest service road). There is no electricity or sewer capabilities for RV's and campers and the sites are relatively small, but a pop up or smaller 5th wheels and RVs will fit. There are pit toilets in the campground, but no running water - so pack your own or bring a filter to pump out of the creek.

The beautiful Kilpecker Creek runs through the camp and most of the campsites are situated right along the creek. All of the campsites have a good tent pad, fire pit and picnic table. The great thing about this campground is it's location and the fact that the sites are fairly spaced out giving you more privacy at each site. There is also a great communal area in the center of the campground of you have a small group up there.

Maka sure to use a bear bag or put all food in the car at night (bear country)

Campground Review

This campground is located in the Poudre Canyon area of Colorado. This is a private, 420-friendly campground. While many will be drawn to that allure, there is a lot of other features this campground offers that makes it a lovely place to stay. There’s communal fire pits, a jungle gym for kids, and hiking trails into and up the Poudre Canyon. It’s also a good place to bunk if you like to fish, with access into the rivers just across the road and so many other spots just a short drive away. Across the road is a general store for any last-minute camping supplies, munchies, booze, and ice. There’s also the Poudre Canyon Grille – a tiny, well-kept trailer serving up burgers, fries, and other fast food sandwiches. Near the office, there’s a large covered patio that has a cell and WiFi booster and in the summertime is a lounge area with a TV. There are two areas that have a bathroom with shower – both single use. When there are nearby music festivals, Canyonside has been known to shuttle festival goers to and from areas of greater access to help you enjoy the show. Speaking of shows, there are sometimes laser light shows where the hosts reflect their displays off the rocky canyon walls, and up the canyon there is also a small ampitheatre.

To learn more about what may be going on near the time of your stay, just call the campground. Which is also what I suggest you do before you book, especially if you’re interested in renting one of their really cool themed cabins (there’s a few, are different sizes, and each have a unique décor theme and were all incredibly clean). There are a few factors like the day of the week, amount of people, and amount of dogs you have that will affect your nightly rate. Ask about the dog policy when you call too, as not all sites allow for pets – like the tent sites – and there is a pet waiver that should be read.

One thing I noticed that was neat for tent dwellers was that one area of the tent sites (there are two sent site locations on either side of the park) had a hammock or swing chair and access to water to do dishes (there is also communal dishware) in addition to your typical flat plot, fire pit, and picnic table. There is also poured concrete sites for RVs with electric and water hookups, but I don’t remember seeing a dump station.

Not sure you want to go all the way in on a cabin but don’t want a tent site and you don’t own an RV? That’s OK as there’s also a pop up trailer on site that can be rented as a “glamping” option. It was a pretty neat little place, but due to the size and chance of trapping pet dander, dogs aren’t allowed in there either.

The hosts are very accommodating and want to help you enjoy your stay. They are approachable and can point you to resources to help you make your stay a 420-featured one, if that’s your thing. I understand they’re looking to add more tent sites and shaded areas and continue to tweak their internet to help it cover more of the grounds. I look forward to returning to see how the place evolves. I do like that there’s so many ways the hosts are there to accommodate you, and one thing that I would love to hear about is that they’ve added drinkable water access. Water is there for you but bring your own drinking water on site.

I want to give this place a 5 out of 5 because of how nice the hosts are, how well kept the grounds are, how many camping options there are, and how many activity options you have, but it gets a 4 out of 5 from me because of the water access, pet restrictions, and add-on fees (pet, extra guest), plus possible fines for any ‘dog infractions’. If you plan your trip ahead, you will have a great time here and really enjoy the atmosphere. 

Product Review

As part of the Dyrt Ranger program I am given camping gear to test from time to time, and today I was reviewing a new kind of spork, the Morsel Spork XL. This company makes 3 kinds: The regular sized spork, then the XL, and a spoon XL. I have the morsel XL spork. No better place to review a munchie-curing tool like a 420-friendly campground! I’ve used a lot of sporks over time, and there were three things about this one that I really liked. 

• it is long. At first I was like, “Why do I want a spork this big?” until I started using it with my rehydrated meals. I eat those right out of the bag and when you get near the bottom, with other sporks being shorter your hand starts picking up the juices/sauces from the dish when you start to really dig deep into the bag. This spork kept the pasta sauce on the food and away from my hands. 
• It had a flat edge end on the spoon side. I’ve seen this feature before and it’s an important one because it helps you dig down into the bottom of those bag meals better than a rounded spoon. May not seem like a big deal, but when you’re backpacking and those foods are your fuel, every morsel (see what I did there?) of food counts and a utensil that’s doing a better job than another is the one I’ll want to pack. 
• The rubberized outer coating. This creates a spatula-like effect and – again – helps with getting the most food on your spork, but also now has an argument as to why it could be used when cooking. I wouldn’t want a plastic spork stirring my eggs in case that thing melts into my food, but I’ve been using this morsel one on the stove top to mix simple meals and it does the job better than my JetBoil folding spatula because its rubberized and not as flimsy. 

These sporks are nowhere near the lightest sporks on the market, but their added weight gives them more durability. They aren’t indestructible, but they won’t snap when they get shoved in your pack either. It is technically also a knife because of the ribbed edges of the fork, but I didn’t have a lot of success cutting with this. I love how it’s dishwasher safe and BPA free! Their versatility for camping makes them a better all-around solution for satisfying your hunger than what you’re using now. 4.75/5 because of the whole knife thing not really working super great.

Well, what is there to say about Elk Meadow Lodge and RV. We booked a tent site for Fri-Sun. We are a fully contained truck with a roof top tent but we're not allowed an RV site (despite the fact we would have loved electricity and water, and were willing to pay for that luxury). We pulled in after hours to a $h1t show. Our site was unlevel (in the extreme, I pity the people in ground tents that don't have leveling blocks), had no picnic table, and had our neighbors fire pit 6 feet from the side of our truck. Since it was after hours I had to call the 'emergency number' so that my boyfriend and I would have the $50 a night luxury of cooking our dinner on a table. I also expressed concerns about the fire pit damaging our truck or roof top tent, to which I was told "well what do you want us to do, since we can't move the fire pit". Obviously not Jill, but I would like to bring it to your attention. She also offered to have us move sites, but since all the fire rings are in the parking space, I'm not quite sure what that would accomplish (excellent planning on their part!!). When Jill, and I'm assuming her husband arrived with the picnic table (all praise Jill for providing what we paid for!) They were nothing but mean, snarky and downright rude. The excuse for lack of a table was "were closing sites for winter). I'm writing this after only being at the offending RV park for 1.5 hours, but I can't wait to leave. You should save yourself the trouble by never entering in the first place. At least the views were pretty, if you like highway noise.

Update #1: Boyfriend almost got bitten by a black widow in the bathroom while turning on the light, someome flew a drone, very low, over our tent at 8 in the morning, children were screaming like coyotes all night (seriously), and it's been a rare moment that dogs have not been barking, yapping or howling (no not the kids this time). And I just got to hear the staff gossiping about us requesting a table. Can't wait to see what tonight brings!

P.S. I am so excited to see what their reply is to this review.