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.

This is one of my all-time favorite places to hike and camp in Colorado. I have not yet stayed in any of the campgrounds but have backpacked to the top of the American Lakes Trail. Not only is this hike fantasticly beautiful and full of wildlife (tons of moose especially) but there is great dispersed camping along the trails. You simply cannot find more scenic and free camping in Colorado. I would highly recommended camping anywhere in State Forest State Park!

Also, there are quite a few huts, cabins and yurts that can be rented year round in SFSP!

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

You must first stop at the base to check in this is where very friedly people checked us in explained the bear behavior and bear safty. The site have bear boxes. We then paid the 9 dollar a day use fee . When we reserved we had already paid 43 dollars a day for dry camp. This is my only reason for 4 stars instead of 5. There is a short drive over a tall hill to a valkey with 3 camp grounds. Hermits hollow, Bob cat and kruger equestrian . Hermits hollow is better for small rigs and tents. Some sites are not level but all are nice. Bob cat is better for your midsize rigs and seems a bit more managable. Kruger equestrian is for hourse trailers. There is a great hike up to the top of kruger rock thats not to hard. Your not far from Estes Park a tourist town that has shops food and fishing.

We camped here in a trailer for almost a week. We were shocked at the availability of spaces given that Colorado is notoriously booked up by February.

Our space was The Overlook and it had an amazing view. The stable horses came up next to the site every morning. It is a massive site that accommodated our trailer, a 2-person tent, 2 vehicles and still had room to spare. The only downsides were no picnic table, little shade, and lots of wind up there.

We drove around to view the other sites. Many options including walk-in sites, riverside camping, and campsites with corrals for horse camping. If you have a larger trailer, avoid the lower sites. Keep to 1-5 or the Overlook for access.

There are stocked trout ponds. You have to pay an additional fee to fish in them. We bought fish food and never saw a fish. The ponds really needed to be maintained as there was a lot of weed growth.

The office is on the first floor of the condo building. Usually open until 4 pm. There is a restaurant (closed while we were there).

Showers are available for $5.

A gift shop/store is available with various small items and treats.

WiFi is available at the office and restaurant. Campsites are too far away. Couldn’t reach it with our WiFi extender either. (Normally wouldn’t want to but working sucks.)

Water for trailers is available bit a tad challenging to access simply because of sharp turns. I can’t speak to water availability for lower campsites.

Trash containers at both the lodge area and at the lower campground.

There is no dump on-site. However, there is a fee-based dump about 1.5 miles away in the Crystal Lakes Community. $10 per use with free water.

The stables are managed separately but are directly across the road. Super friendly and reasonable rates for trail rides. Our 5 & 7 year old granddaughters were able to ride their own horses and had trail riders lead them. Super nice folks!

This is open year-round (condos/cabins in winter) with tubing, skating, and X-country skiing in winter.