Best Equestrian Camping near Fort Collins, CO

To say we love Beaver Meadows would be a huge understatement. We spend just about every other weekend there all year long - winter and summer. We got married there in 2014 (as our photos show) and it was beautiful. The outdoor wedding area is amazing and right by a river. The reception hall for after is so cool with giant windows so you can look out in every direction on nature and you celebrate your big day. Ever since we've been hooked. They had cabins, condos, lodges, and camp spots so every guest had a place to stay the night.

When you pull around the corner and into the valley it takes your breath away every single time. Lush green fields, ponds, stunning mountain backdrops, wildlife, horses running free, people fishing and riding horses. It's a playground for adults and kids and it's only an hour from our house in Fort Collins - we can't stay away. They have a yummy restaurant too so we never even bring food - we just eat there.

In the winter we go snow tubing (12 + runs with a lift) and stay in one of their little heated cabins which is so cozy but also provides all the amenities of home (kitchen, bedrooms, entertainment, etc). We love to go up before a storm and watch the snow start to fall. In the spring and summer we are up there camping along the river all the time. Each site is unique so we like to change it up each time - we go hiking, horseback riding, and fish in the stocked ponds! There are some unique fish in there - really neat. In the fall we like to go up and do the "river walk" - a series of paths and bridges through tall foilage that feels like your in a different world. Watching the leaves change is awesome in the fall - compares to any drive you can do in the state - soooo many aspens.

If your looking for a romantic weekend with the significant other or a family vacation with the kiddos - I would highly suggest making the drive up - I bet you will fall in love with it just like we did and won't be able to stay away.

If you drive about 9 miles or so down the road you’ll come to a sign that points you towards the University (Poudre Park Road).

More of a dirt road than anything but wide for large vehicles. Semis and trucks with large trailers and campers up and down the mountain all day and night.

It’s a road that dead ends at the University, so a lot of student traffic all day.

We seen maybe one ranger patrol the whole 3 weeks we were there. You can camp here all year long. No stay limit.

No bathrooms, water or trash disposal. Nearest town besides Fort Collins is about 13 miles away.

Not quiet at all. Most camp spots are entirely too close together, so close it’s like a huge party spot. The day we left was because there was a fire ban and somewhere around 10 people showed up with chainsaws and were going to have a fire. They weren’t the nicest people and had a lot of dogs as well. No privacy.

The road was so steep that our transmission overflowed and left us stranded for a few days past what we wanted to be there for (when we took a trip into town and back).

Nowhere near water. We walked 3 miles to get to the closest creek (they call them rivers there).

Wildlife was there but not abundant because of the traffic.

Very beautiful and i would definitely give it another go if we had a more updated camper.

Absolutely zero cell service!

We found State Forest State Park on a whim this past July 2018. We were on a road trip from California to Colorado for a wedding in Granby, CO. We were camping in Utah at Dinosaur National Monument, but due to the smoke from a nearby wildfire and the high heat of the summer, we decided to cut our stay one day short, and head over to the Rockies a day early. We wanted to be fairly close to our final destinations, Granby then RMNP, but wanted to go somewhere we hadn’t been before. My boyfriend and I are both animal lovers, and our dream was to finally see a moose on this trip out to Colorado. In researching moosey areas on the internet, we found the Moose Visitor Center at State Forest State Park. We figured that a place with a Moose Visitors Center was as moosey as it comes, so we reserved a site online and headed out to Colorado.

It was late afternoon when we arrived, but since we had already eaten, we didn’t have much to do besides set up our tent and sleeping pads for the night. Getting to the campground and visitors center is easy as they are both right off the highways 41 and 14, but it is quite a drive to get to, in general. The scenery is so pretty, that we did not mind the drive to or from SFSP. North Michigan Campground is right by a lake, it is pretty.

The sites are primitive - each site had picnic benches and a firepit, but at the time we visited there was a Stage 2 fire ban in place, so we couldn’t have a campfire. The fire ban included the burning of wood and charcoal - using a propane stove was OK.

There were pit toilets, and they were well maintained. The sites appeared to have once had more in the way of trees and shade, but it looks as though SFSP was hit by the pine beetles, like so much of Colorado. It’s sad to see the destruction the beetles left in their wake, and fewer trees mean less privacy and less shade for tent campers. We would have had a hard time setting up extra tarps in case it had rained that evening. Bringing an easy-up or canopy would be smart in the summer to protect against sun and heat, or a passing thunderstorm.

WARNING: You ARE in bear country and there were no bear bins in the campground - be bear safe and bear smart, lock all of your food and toiletries inside your car at night. I was once told by a ranger in Yosemite NP that bears can recognize coolers when peering into car windows, so we always put a towel and gear over our coolers when keeping them in the car overnight.

We packed up early and arrived at the Moose Visitors Center when they opened. The visitors center was educational and interesting, and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. After studying some maps of the area with the rangers, we decided to try our luck driving along Highway 14 towards Fort Collins.

We stopped at various spots along the highway, and ended up walking around the Joe Wright Reservoir for a while. Thunderheads were rolling in, and some rain and thunder started, so we decided to start making our way back towards SFSP then head down to Granby, our next stop. We were around Cameron Pass and had given up on seeing any moose when we saw traffic slowing and cars stopped alongside the road - there were two young bull moose snacking by a small river on the side of the road! We pulled over, turned our hazard lights on, grabbed the camera, and jumped out to see our first moose. The moose seemed unconcerned by their growing audience, and continued to chomp away on their lunch - there was a small ravine between the moose and their human audience, so neither moose nor humans felt threatened.

According to the staff at the Moose Visitor Center, there are only about 1,000 moose in the entire state of Colorado - and here we stumbled across two moose at once! We were ecstatic, and so happy we made the impromptu, unplanned trip out to State Forest State Park! We returned to the Moose Visitors Center to share the experience with the rangers (they record the specifics of moose sightings in the area on a board), and the ranger gave us a high five for spotting our first ever moose.

I would like to return to the area someday to hike, I imagine the nearby trails must be goregous!

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $18/night

Plumbed Toilets: NO - pit

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: NO

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grates: Yes

Shade: Limited!

Cell Service: NO

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: NO

This is a beautiful campground with lots of family-friendly activities to do.  They have direct access to the headwaters of the Colorado River.  We visited a little late in the season (August) to catch many fish, but we still had fun.  We found some tailwaters below the big lakes and caught some trout on the fly rods.  

This site is minutes away from an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We got up early and hiked a trail in RMNP and had a few moose walk right past us.  It is also close by to the major lakes of the area.  

They rent ATVs and lots of people bring their own horses to this campground to enjoy the many back-country trails that begin at the back of the property and go high up into the mountains.  

Facilities were well kept and clean.

A lovely wooded campground literally on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park - we even saw moose from the back window of our RV!  Options for everyone from cabins, to FHU RV sites (limited and not the ideal locations, but still nice), water/electric sites and tenting areas.  Even Conestoga wagons!  There is horseback riding on site and we loved watching the horses run in and out each morning/evening and you just have to cross the road for a pretty hike along the Colorado River in RMNP (no dogs on the trails).  We camped with our Great Dane - very dog friendly with bag stations around the park.  Friendly and helpful staff, a small shop with supplies and souvenirs, a cute little petting zoo with goats, sheep, and pigs.

After driving for nearly 4hrs to find a spot in any of the first come first serve camp grounds up Poudre Canyon we started to head home only to pull into Pingree Park for one last cry for help... we stumbled upon Jack’s Gulch, a little hidden gem, tucked inside a cute mountain trek to the CSU campus at Pingree Park. It didn’t have any “water features” like a stream or a river but it was a quick car ride to find that. The spots were clean, noise was minimal, and there were bathrooms if you needed them. A lot of options as far as camping goes - electrical sites, walk up sites, equestrian sites, and mixed use (what I like to call a mixture of tent and RV). There were also trails all around the campsite that were accessible for bikes, or hiking. It was definitely a Father’s Day to remember. Oh yea, some coyotes at night definitely woke us up! I don’t believe they made it to the campsite but they were close 😳

This is a great park. I camped in late July. With the exception of a few rain showers, the weather was great. This campground has all the privacy you would expect yet provides easy access to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountian National Forest. The Laramie County Staff that were on site were kind and helpful. I even had the chance to see some elk walk through while picking up firewood at the office. There are miles of trails within the park if you choose not to venture out to the National Forest. I will 100% be staying at this park again!  Group sites and equestrian sites are available too.