Horse camping is the perfect way to enjoy Fort Collins. If you're an equestrian lover who prefers nature-based adventure, yet still wants comfort, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Whether you own a horse or are joining a tour group, equestrian camping is an adventurous and unique way to experience the city. Find our top-rated horse campsites from other campers like you. Plan the perfect trip in minutes.
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
Curt Gowdy State Park is nestled conveniently between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Here you will discover three reservoirs, endless recreation and unforgettable experiences! The Park is a well known destination for mountain bikers, hikers, archery enthusiasts and those just looking for a relaxing getaway. Named after the well-known sportscaster Curt Gowdy, the park was established in 1971.
$19 - $33 / night
$20 / night
Terry Bison Ranch Resort is a ranch resort and Western adventure destination in Cheyenne, WY. When you visit us, we want you to have a great time, experience something new and make lots of happy memories. Your whole family will love exploring our bison ranch. Join us for one of our bison train tours! Contact us to learn more about our accommodations including our RV park, tent sites, and cabins.
$20 - $100 / night
Jacks Gulch Recreation Area is located 48 miles northwest of Fort Collins, in northern Colorado. Visitors enjoy the area for its great hiking, biking and horseback riding opportunities.
Popular activities include hiking, biking, horseback riding, birding and viewing wildlife. A nature trail circles the entire area of Jacks Gulch, with one section providing stunning views of the Mummy Range.
The campground is situated in a ponderosa pine forest, dotted with aspens. Grassy meadows are scattered throughout the area.
For facility specific information, please call (530) 529-0578.
$155 - $206 / night
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.
$40 - $60 / night
Traveler
Stayed here 2024/09/11. Easy access, well marked and well separated dispersed campsites. Good views. Only downside was distant traffic noise from I-80. Would stay here again.
Guide
Lots of room to spread out but some weird regulations. Like only 3.2% alcohol?
Scout
Love all the room in the big sites! Area can be busy but keep going down the road and you’re bound to find a spot! Great area with lots of spots!
Guide
Semi-dispersed. My site GP153 is not level. Need level blocks! Entrance right to the lake for water sports. Easy hiking trial to loop the lake at your campsite. Fire ring was allowed even with high fire warning and fire bans south in CO.
LegendAs you enter Cheyenne there are plenty of signs directing you to Curt Gowdy State Park. Our GPS agreed with the park instructions to take us out of Cheyenne on I-25 then onto Happy Jack Rd, which leads you up the mountain to the State Park. The signage was less plentiful as we turned left and passed under the big Curt Gowdy State Park sign over the road. We followed the road up to the visitors’ center and registered then proceeded as told down to Tumbleweed pull-through site 24, which was water and electric. As we got into the Tumbleweed area, we realized our door would be facing the road and the utilities by pulling in that direction. So we decided to pull in the opposite direction, which we had to go back up and make a tighter right turn to get us back on the road to put us into the pull-through with utilities on the driver’s side. We were then able to pull into site T24 with no issues. This gravel site is at a bit of a downhill angle, but we were able to auto-level. The pad was plenty long enough for our 40’ 5th wheel and F450. The water and electric(50 and 30 AMP) were more toward the back of this pad, but we had no problem reaching to hookups. The water pressure was around 40 psi. We got 1 bar on Verizon, but there was a clear shot either north or south for satellite. In our case, north for Starlink. We had a cement pad with a concrete picnic table plus a nice-sized fire pit off to the side. We were not too far from the reservoir with a nice lake view from the right/door side of the site. We were here in the middle of the week and the park and campground were about 3/4 full, but by Thursday the CG was filling up and the reservoir much busier with boats and jet skis. We enjoyed our stay here to include some pretty good shore fishing for trout.
GuideWe stayed at site 7, big enough for our caravan of 3 campers. Very spacious! Great views and nice center fire pit!
Scout
I had an awesome site but I guess it was too good to be true. Not one but two other cars came, one pulling a horse trailer crashed on my site. It’s a campsite not a campground. Then, the day I was leaving, someone else came and dumped a trailer on the site. I packed up and left. That would never happen in Montana or Idaho where people actually have manners!
GuideThis area is huge on Stillwater road so keep going for a spot! We are here in July and found a spot completely secluded and some of the large lots have vault toilets! Which is a real treat when you spent two weeks on dispersed areas all over the west with no bathrooms. Mosquitoes are a little heavy so bring spray. No wildlife spotted but this area did suffer a wild fire so a lot of the trees are burnt. A lot of the spots have fire pits made by rocks but bring wood! The first stops have more Mountain View’s and the farther you drive is next to the water!
GuideWe were driving through the area and needed a quick/easy place to camp for the night. Even in mid-July, we were the only people there. Spots are labeled well, with great fire pits at every sight. Rock formations were awesome. We nestled behind a rock and couldn’t even hear the traffic by nearby road. Definitely planning another trip soon
RangerSpent a night here with my dog. Very cool rock formations along the road , very big spots, very peaceful and secluded from neighbors, open and beautiful. Will be staying again on my way through.
Ranger
This is a really well run campground. They have tons and tons of activities on site and you could honestly spend your entire trip just at the campsite. They have horseback rides, ATV rentals, an animal farm, social events, pickle ball court, volleyball court, a nice general store, clean showers, bathrooms, laundry rooms, really everything you could ever want. The only downside is that it’s quite pricey, basically double what I would normally expect. But given the amount of amenities they have, it’s not surprising.
A cool fact is that you’ll be right next to the Colorado River. This is not far from where the river begins so its journey starts around here as a fairly unassuming creek.
ScoutReally easy to get to and the services were spot on. The views are also stunning and there is plenty of hiking to do.
Guide
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.
Guide
Loads of options going down 103. Found a solid spot by the river that even had a few primitive structures built. Great fishing and pondering spot until neighbors rolled in on both sides. Guessing you can generally count on neighbors in summer months even in seemingly nestled spots quite a ways down 103 and it was a a random Monday. I still had plenty of space and privacy. But I could hear a group of RVers playing music through the trees (and they were in view, too) at night which led me to seek a new spot after night one.
Traveler
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!
Guide
We have a 38ft travel trailer and we were able to go only about 3 miles up but found a great off the road spot by a creek.
Traveler
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.
LegendOnline 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.
GuideAbsolutely awesome campground. Beautiful stars at night. Be careful of your ways or GPS sending you in a different direction
GuideWe stayed in two different spots. The first one was nice but the second one was so spacious and had so many trees and was far from the road so traffic didn’t sound too bad. Had many fires in the available fire rings. The place is busy during the weekend but dead during the week, especially when it started to cool down. The pictures will speak for the amazing views!
GuideUnfortunately we only got to stay one night here and I only got a few pictures. We got lucky and we’re able to book one of the last spot available for weeks. This place is always booked and I see why!Very quiet. A beautiful lake view. Ice and fire wood available nearby. Would definitely stay again
Ranger
Nice spot. Great views. Only a third full mid week September. Water near entrance. Vault toilets. Sites well separated but limited screening between. Very Sunny Trees are sparse and short. Hiking trails in camp. Moose along trail. Nice lakes. Large tent pads 15’x15’. Level sites. Limited T mobile
TravelerFabulous rock formations and peaceful. It's well worth the ridged dirt roads and the drive to find the perfect spot.
TravelerDespersed camping with easy access and great trails nearby. Rock climbing also.
TravelerWe only got to stay one night but we enjoyed our stay! We were right next to the lake and watched the super blue moon come up over the lake. The showers are in the downstairs of the visitor center and you have to pay with quarters, there is a change machine $1.25 for the first 7.5 minutes and then you can add more as needed.
Traveler
About 45 minutes from Grand Lake entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. 9 mile dirt road to get to the campground. Nice level sites each with picnic/tent area. Vault toilets were clean. No water fill, dump stations, showers or flush toilets. Hosts said the camp was packed from 4th July until Aug 20th
Guide
Stayed for 3 nights w/ my dogs. Campground was about 40% occupid the entire time. Bathrooms were clean. Limited cell service. I have t-mobile and could pick up a few bars at the entrance but not at campsite. Grab groceries before bc you’re in the middle of no where. About 2-3 miles of gravel to get to sites but well maintained.
Horse camping in Colorado offers a unique blend of stunning landscapes and equestrian-friendly facilities, making it a perfect getaway for horse lovers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Fort Collins, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Fort Collins, CO is East Portal Campground at Estes Park with a 4.5-star rating from 40 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Fort Collins, CO?
TheDyrt.com has all 27 equestrian camping locations near Fort Collins, CO, with real photos and reviews from campers.
