Best Tent Camping near Cowdrey, CO

A basic family style campground directly on the Yampa River within city limits of Steamboat Springs. Tent sites, RV sites, tent cabins and full fledged cabins. We had a tent site right on the river. Miniature golf. Various bikes to rent. This was the priciest camp site on our cross country trip. But it is located within an upscale ski resort town so probably expected. A little noisy from road traffic.

Leaving a review at 4 stars to keep the average.

We stopped in late looking for a tent spot. The only tent sites this location provides for late check in are their luxury riverside tent sites, despite their being a huge open loop of others(that other tenters had booked earlier in the day). I’m not going to get started on how horribly placed and awkward these late spots are. But I will say you’ll get charged $50/night for them.

We just booked a hotel instead.

Tent sites are really nice and close to the river.

rough road up, in a sprinter 4x4, not a lot of great options. seems better for tent camping. did see one or two RVs up, shocked they made it.

Status: Open year round 

Reserve mid spring through September 877-444-6777 or recreation.gov 

weekend reservations recommended 

70 sites including 10 walk-in tent 30 sites year round $24.00 tent sites $32.00 electric $64.00 double sites 

Vault toilets, water during season ,tent sites have bear boxes, picnic table, fire ring/grill, trash no sewer or water hookups The campground has beautiful Ponderosa Pines but the Pine beetle is beginning to take its toil. 

The back loop closes early fall. all sites have electric except the tent sites. There are 5 double sites. The campground can accept various size rigs. The day use area with a boat ramp and pit toilet with a nice size parking lot. There were a lot of people fishing from the shore. The lake is beautiful with small islands and rock formations. The road to and in the campground is gravel and rather dusty. Potholes 

Directions: Drive 21 miles north of Fort Collins on US Highway 287. Turn left (west) onto the Red Feather Lakes Road (County 74E) and travel approximately 22 miles. Turn right (north) and travel another mile to signed campground entrance on the right.

LNT

Better than when you found it 

Stay safe Happy travels

Beautiful quiet campground  but a little hard to get to. Road from the east is much better than from Steamboat Springs. Quiet , well maintained,  more suited to car/tent camping. Great views of lake from many sites. Grills, tables, trash and toilets, No water. Went on weeknight  in July and it was about 3/4 full

Right on the lake and super close to the west part of the RMNP. The staff was super helpful and they have free showers (with not time limit) and Wi-Fi in the front office area. If you select tent camping though, just know you have to tow your tent in and don’t park next to the spot so not good for vans (have to get an RV spot)

This campground is great! The lake is wonderful to kayak on and to fish. The sites are very clean and large. They have a picnic table and fire pit. Of course the sites very in size. There is electric hookups in most sites with the exception of the tent sites. The hosts are very friendly and welcoming. Lots of trees for shade and beautiful views.

West Lake campground is a beautiful spot off 74. The lake is great for fishing, and the tent campsites are super private. Your pass includes access to other lakes in the surrounding area as well.

We didn’t see any moose but we could definitely hear them early in the morning.

Clean bathrooms and great, friendly hosts!

Loved it, Went on an adventure with my husband, we booked a tent site here because it is cannabis friendly. Which it is. The Hosts are very nice and Accommodating. The views were amazing, met some great people, and chipmunks.
The drive to Fort Collins is about an hour, however it's a beautiful trip. You are a short time away from Chambers Lake, and the Reservoir. Highly recommend this area.

Arrived on a Monday, practically had the place to ourselves all week, though filled on Friday. 8 tent sites, water pump, vault toilet, and dozens of moose.

Had beautiful weather, only a couple of squalls. Definitely bring tie-downs!

Sites are a little close together, again, only an issue on the weekend.

Outstanding hikes (corral and neota creek, not the ditch road) and views for miles.

No luck with the fish, but not a problem with views like below.

$20/night. Payment by drop box - Host at Long Draw Campground.

Beautiful camp sight! Went tent camping for 3 night and had a great time with my boyfriend. Found plenty of spots open Friday morning and stayed pretty empty through most of the day. Began filling up Saturday afternoon. Stayed in sight 21, close enough to a river to drown out some noise. Each sight is FF and does have a bear box, which is a nice addition. Camp sight was clean, bathrooms were very clean and well maintained. Camp host was very friendly! Plenty of spots to dip in the river or go fishing. I do wish it had more trees around each camp sight for privacy. Got to see a momma and baby moose pass through. Over all; a wonderful stay!

We pitched a tent here for 3 nights. Excellent, very large facility next to RMNP. The tent sites are large and spaced out nicely to provide some privacy. Loved the shower and bathroom facilities, large, clean, and modern with plenty of hot water in the morning. The general store was very handy and staff very friendly. Was a great base for going out and exploring the greater area and less than 10 minutes from the restaurants and stores of Grand Lake. Unfortunately, the area is going to be recovering from last year's fires for quite some time. But will be interesting to see how things recover over time. The only knock, if you want to call it one, is the bathrooms are a little ways away from camp sites, so if you need to go in the middle of the night, it's a bit of a walk. But would highly recommend this resort and hope to be back in the future.

I’ve tent camped at Winding River Resort twice and both times really enjoyed it. It’s a little more expensive that some, but has lots of amenities that make it totally worth it. If you love real bathrooms and showers, this is your place! There’s a wonderful petting zoo area, playground, basketball courts and much more. They offer all sorts of activities such as horseback riding, ice cream social, chuckwagon breakfast, square dancing, cowboy church. Some do have an additional fee. You may bring your own horses here too! There a several lodging options including camping, full RV hookups and cabins. The location near Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park can’t be beaten! So much to do in the area. There’s a separately owned, but very convenient onsite place where you can rent ATVs, bikes and snowmobiles. There’s even a small store onsite with necessities, T-shirts, souvenirs, etc. The campsites are large and trees and wildflowers abound.

The bathrooms are very clean and that’s something that’s very important to me. We went the weekend after Fourth of July and the bathrooms weren’t ever crowded from what I saw. Everyone was far enough apart. Their store is well stocked, everyone was helpful. The animals were adorable. Horseback riding was fun, staff was friendly. Gumdrop is my buddy.

The ground is more dirt than grass at site 106 and the tent sites near it. Can hear the horses neighing. Close enough to hear neighbors talking or singing loudly or closing car doors. Heard a lot of vehicles passing by at night, people returning to their sites. 106 had some decent trees to hang hammocks from, the others nearby didn’t from what I saw. Very windy, not much shade. Next time I’d like to be at the grassier tent sites with more shade.

My groundhog stakes went in the ground just fine and did not come out super easy. There were some broken plastic yellow stakes left on the ground from previous occupants.

Playground was small and looked nice. There’s a bocce ball court with a basketball hoop. Spigots for drinking water all around. Water was delicious and refreshing.

It was my first time going to one of these places and it was a good experience. Will be coming back. There was also a young moose wandering around. This was my first camping experience as an adult so I did not know this: you need a reservation just to DRIVE through the national park to get to Estes. After 3pm you don’t, and you still need to pay a fee. Just a heads up for other newbies like me.

Note: I did email them twice, two different ways (through their form on the website, and direct email) and they never responded. We did get a hold of them over the phone very easily though. Their map says one tent per site, and when we called they said two tents are alright. No campfires allowed when we were there. Only fuel fires that you can turn off. Dogs are supposed to remain on leash. We saw a lot that weren’t and it must be because they are well behaved. Horses, and a donkey walk around like they own the place. The building at the back that’s supposed to have laundry and bathrooms wasn’t finished and therefore wasn’t open during our stay.