Best Equestrian Camping near Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests

This is for "Soap Creek Corral/ Coal Mesa Horse Camp" dispersed camping not the actual Soap Creek Campground. There were spots at the formal campground but they were small, unconcealed, and within close proximity to all other sites. However, there were true dispersed spots near the horse corrals where lots of horse trailers and off roaders park to ride the trails.

Off of HWY 50, we turned on to HWY 92 and then took FR 721 to FR 721 E where we turned and went right down to the proper campground before looping back out. We went out the same way in (FR 721) but split off onto the side road to find the horse corral area. Bear country. Pros/Cons: no mobile service, primitive, right next to a creek, lots of OHVs, milky way visible, mountain views, shade, creek sounds at night.

We decided to try this campground out on a whim, unsure how it would turn out. I’m glad to say it blew our expectations away! The campground was very well kept and quiet which is super hard to find nowadays. Many of the sites are shaded by the trees and the nearby creek provides soothing background noise during nights. Trails near the sites are very accessible. Views are gorgeous.

One warning: the road in gets narrow at times so if you’re bringing an RV or a larger sized car be extra cautious.

This has been our favorite campground in Colorado so far. I give this a 9/10!

Silver Jack Campground and reservoir are located in a beautiful setting. The reservoir isn't visible from the campground but there's a trail in the campground that leads to a scenic overlook with a great vista of the area. There are no RV hookups but plenty of sites are big enough for an RV. Motorized boats are not allowed on the reservoir.

We towed a 35 FT 5th wheel heading west on 105 until we discovered the perfect campsite by turning south at the intersection with 108. The road was very rough but doable by moving along very slowly. Our site was hidden by trees off a short dirt drive which wasn’t too bad. There was plenty of space for us to turn around, and a fire pit had been constructed of large rocks (with a resident chipmunk hanging out among them).
We loved being surrounded by tall trees on one side and having a long distance view across the meadow on the other side, watching storm clouds approaching every day. We were far enough from the road that we barely heard any traffic passing. However, the sound of cattle lowing was frequent, and there was evidence of their presence all over the ground! One bull approached and stood there bellowing at the camper before finally moving along, and another morning we looked outside to see several cows munching on the remains of our campfire. Apparently they like to eat ashes and charcoal for the minerals because it happened twice!
We camped there 6 nights and hated to leave. Our only reservations were driving on the long bumpy roads and cattle manure being everywhere. Otherwise, it was the best boondocking place we’ve stayed because of the scenery and remoteness. It was very quiet except for the cattle lowing. We rode our bikes down 108 one day and discovered that it was way too rough to drive with our dually pickup. Another day we rode all the way down 105 and then back on 100 which is Land’s End Road. There are lots more dispersed campsites further down 105, but many have huge potholes turning into them. Some are located next to reservoirs and have lovely views, but we were happy with our site because we didn’t have to drive that far to reach it. If you had a smaller rig, it would be worth trying those places.

We spent two weeks near vela resevoir. No fish but lots of mushrooms. The first trees are inoxicating. We are disappointed in the virtual take over by atvs. There are only 4 hiking trails dedicated for hiking. The atvs are allowed everywhere and even sig s stating no motor vehicles are ignored. They ruin meadows, roads, boat ramps. Noisy and stinky. We had to Bushwack to get quiet. It rained alot but we love rain.

Great BLM campground at higher cool elevation, 8400 elv. 2.8 miles of graded washboard gravel County road from end of pavement. Lots of aspen trees here. Friendly Host on site. Clean vault toilets, 13 sites, $10/$5 senior, 14d limit. All sites are first come, no reservations. Sites are mostly back in and not real big for larger TTs or RVs. Two group sites and a nice large picnic area loop sometimes used for overflow camping. Limited cell signal for Verizon, Att, but no TMobile. No trash and although normally water is available, it was not working in Aug 2021 due to drought. Update Aug 2024 visit..water system is working.

We arrived at Soap Creek Campground around noon on a Friday in mid-July and found several wonderful sites to choose from. We selected site 8 as it was fairly close to the restroom, had decent shade, and large enough to accommodate our large tent and two vehicles...with room enough to spare to play washers! Vault toilets only, but they were very clean...host normally sells firewood, but they were out, however they did allow us to gather our own. No water at this time as it is spring fed and was low. Mostly surrounded by tent campers, but a few RV's made it down the narrow, windy and bumpy dirt road to the campground...but for the most part they kept their generators off (no electricity at this campground) during quiet hours. We were able to walk to the creek and what a view! Would definitely recommend and can't wait to go back!

Well off the beaten path, about 5 miles down a dirt road off of route 92. The hosts were really nice. BEAR COUNTRY. No cell phone service. Very quiet and primitive. Right next to a creek

So let me start by saying we had a wonderful experience here. We had two overland tents on jeeps and one ground camper in our group. As we pulled into the campsite we were greeted by the host who was more than hospitable and drove around to find our site. We chose site 19 which had a beautiful open field behind it, perfect amount of space with flat ground for our overland tent ladders, and a tent pad for the ground campers in our group. This place is kept amazingly clean and quiet off the beaten path and complete with a small little store on the way where we picked up ice for the night. If you’re in this neck of the woods camp here, you won’t be disappointed!

We had this campground all too our selves in late May as it was still rather cold out in the area but it was a great spot for tent camping. Lots of trails near by to explore.

One of our best campsites so far. It’s a bit of a long road in and first come first serve sites. Nice tree shaded spots

This is a great spot tucked away behind the reservoir and along a sweet little creek. I didn’t stay because no one was there this time of year and I had no cell service. Good to know about and will be back!