Best Tent Camping near Hartsel, CO

We stayed at the Gore Creek Campground last summer 2017 on a drive from Southern California to Denver, CO. We took highway 15 through Nevada and Utah, and connected to Highway 70 in Utah to Colorado. To budget this trip, we tried to camp most of the way out and back to California - we saved our Airbnb rentals for Denver, where I️ was competing in Pole Theatre USA, an international pole dancing competition. We wanted to find a spot to camp for the night that was close to highway 70 and not toooooo far outside of Denver - Gore Creek Campground was the spot. It’s about 10-15 minutes outside of Vail, and about and hour and a half outside of Denver.

Campsites at Gore Creek are reservable ahead of time on recreation.org - we planned this trip about 6 months in advanced so had no problem reserving a site for one night on a weeknight. This campground is fairly small, however, with fewer than 30 sites, so I️ imagine it fills up quickly during the peak summer months. There are mostly drive-in sites in this campground, but there were some neat walk-in sites in a loop beyond the drive-in sites.

Gore Creek is a beautiful wooded campground that sits next to Gore Creek. There are a few ‘riverside sites’ in the campground, that were 60 yards or so from the creek. We had our pick of the sites that many months in advanced, so we chose site 9 as it appeared to be well secluded and close to the river - both were true! The area is densely wooded, so the sites have a lot of privacy, and the sound of the river is relaxing and peaceful at night, and drowned out most of the noise pollution from the nearby highway.

Each site has a fire ring and picnic table. The camp hosts were extremely kind and welcoming, and kept the grounds and the vault toilets very clean. There is NO WATER available at Gore Creek, so make sure to bring in plenty of water for cooking, washing, and drinking.

WARNING: You ARE in bear country - be bear smart and safe and use your bear box! We had our own bear box in our campsite - I believe each site has its own food locker. Try to lock all of your food and toiletries inside the food locker - they are large, and we have always been able to fit our big cooler into locker. If you do have to leave a cooler in the car, I was once told by a ranger in Yosemite NP that bears can recognize coolers when peering into car windows - he suggested putting put a towel and gear over your coolers when keeping them in the car overnight in bear territory.

There is a lot of beautiful hiking trails in the Vail - Gore Creek area. We did not have much time to explore as I️ had an appointment in Denver in the afternoon, but the area is absolutely gorgeous.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $25/night

Plumbed Toilets: NO - vault

Water: NO

Showers: NO

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grate: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: Yes

Trash: Yes

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: YES

This campground used to be free when I first found it years ago while visiting the Royal Gorge. Since the city has invested money into fixing up the campsites with fire rings, tent pads, and what seems to be pretty good county road maintenance, it’s definitely understandable why they charge a fee.

No water is available. There are vault toilets.

There are NO bear boxes.

Rules worth nothing (according to the sign upon entering camp):

1. no alcohol (that didn’t seem to stop anyone from enjoying themselves at their site)
2. You can only stay for 72 hours per visit unless otherwise noted.

There’s lots of hiking and mountain bike trails near the campground, which brought lots of mellow mtb riders in during my stay.

Because of the rules/amenities, i felt the price was a little steep as others have mentioned. However it is clean, close enough to Cañon city that you can go to town if needed, but far enough away to “unplug” from the world in a beautiful location. Overall I’d recommend visiting this campsite! I’ll happily return.

I love this place. The campground is full every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day due to reservations made at recreation.gov up to 6 months and more than 48 hours in advance, and being so close to metro Denver.

The campground has 16 sites; 4 Walk-In, 1 host and 11 are reservable. Check in after 2:00 and check out by 1:00. If someone has a reservation, like a hotel, their site is held until 1:00 the next day because of the Forest Service rule that the campsite must be occupied the first night and they could have had delays.

The campground is at 9600’ and the last mile of the dirt road is a bit rough, but I have seen low profile cars and 42’ Class A motor home with a towed vehicle. Well water normally supplies the campground to faucets, but has not been productive the entire 2019 season and there are vault toilets. Each site has its own bear box and fire ring. The creek is less than 100 meters from the campground and fishing this year was poor... water level was low. Lots of great hiking and climbing in the area. About a 40 degree difference between day and night. During the fire ban, dispersed camping is limited to just a few areas so the campground is a great place to stay and you might still be able to have a fire in the fire ring. Privately owned cabins can be seen as you walk through the woods. Hell’s Hole Trail is a few hundred yards from the campground. I’m looking forward to going back there as host next year.

The reservoir and surrounding areas are beautiful, but we don't plan to return to this campground. The roads in are so rough and created so much vibration that it was actually damaging to our A-Liner camper (with an off-road package). The speed limit is 55 and we weren't able to go much faster than 10 mph without the vibration becoming unbearable. The campsites are totally exposed with no tree cover, but it was too windy to set up our shade tent. The winds were so strong that we slept poorly; a neighbor in a tent said the wind ripped off two of his rain fly straps overnight. We chose Site 612 because the sites in that loop looked more private and spacious, but we failed to note that there was no bathroom on that side of the campground, with the nearest facilities being a short drive away. We left after the first night.

I gave this a 4 star because of the crowds.I backpacked to a high alpine lake called Kroenke Lake in the Collegiate Peaks wilderness area near Buena Vista, CO in August to catch some high country Cutthroats. This is a very popular hike during the summer. Camping can be congested but there are enough trees in between spots for some privacy. The designated camp sites we kept very clean by the previous visitors. There was not any trash in or around the fire ring that I often come across in other areas. The people that have previously visited, practiced leave no trace with the exception of the designated fire ring. The scenery was beautiful with a gorgeous lake with peaks of granite in the background. All of the people on the trail were friendly and courteous. It does get congested on the weekend being so close to Buena Vista and Salida. If you go little further, you can escape the congestion. I would highly recommend this hike to anyone looking for a weekend backpack trip.