Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Hayden, CO

first place I went camping in Colorado and I loved it so much I paid for an extra day. it rained on the last day but it was still wonderful. felt lost in the mountains and loved it

This is a pet friendly campground around a square park right on 40. They have electric and non electric sites, but the majority were electric (and cost more). This was advertised $15 - $20 but the prices online were $38.50 for an electric site for one night (granted, it was a Saturday in August). There were not pet fees. There were lots of spaces available when we visited.

There is no office here, you pay for your rental online or on an iPad in the kiosk (if working). There is WiFi at the kiosk, but it does not reach many of the campsites well.

Sites are close together but level. Felt safe and it was quiet at night save for occasional passing cars. No fire pits or individual picnic tables, but there is a shared covered picnic area.

Clean bathrooms. Showers were more of a 2.5/5. Not super clean and water smelled rusty. Water from sink was fine though.

Morning became very busy with travelers stopping to use the public restrooms, which may help you decide where to park.

We spent July 4th holiday at this campground. The site had lots of green grass and some trees. We were close to the boat ramp so it was an easy walk down to the river. We drove out to Steamboat Springs one of the days and had a lot of fun on the river trail. Hayden has minimal services so stop in Craig or Steamboat if you need supplies. Decent cell and 4g reception.

Awesome camp site, great staff, beautiful right on the river, fresh water. Showers are located in center of KOA so be ready to walk or drive over. Very dog friendly and well maintained tent sites!

We went up in Mid-sept with our dogs to photograph fall color change and were not disappointed. There is a short trail around the reservoir and we even got pictures of a couple beavers. The campground itself is decent and I've never seen it crowded. Road is impassable in winter.

Recommend 4x4 high clearance to get to the campsites. If you have low clearance, there are a couple right at the start but they don't have much tree clearance. 

We drove about a quarter mile down the road and got a campsite that was lush with a ton of tree coverage. It felt like we were alone in the world, no other campsites in site. We even saw elk walking around the mossy ground. Bring bug spray!

Dog friendly, no amenities.

Beautiful Aspen groves surround you as you roll on endlessly down well maintained dirt roads. I've put in specific coordinates, but you can follow any of these FS roads after you pass through the "town" of Columbine. I prefer to go up to the right along 550. But you can't go wrong. 

Free range sheep are being guarded by Great Pyreneese dogs, Moose and Pronghorn are all abundant. Bears too, so lock it all up. 

Great easy MTB on the roads and some smaller trails.

Leave no trace.

We just returned from a quick overnight at Freeman Res Campground and enjoyed it more than any other camping this Summer. The campsites are well separated, and screened by trees for good privacy. Despite a mostly full campground after dark it was very quiet, no generators, no barking dogs, and no big parties. There is a mixture of pull through, back in, and some tent sites for all camping types. Multiple trailheads start at the campground or close by it. The reservoir is for non-motorized watercraft only, not all campsites can see the reservoir but one loop of sites can. We will go back and hope to enjoy multiple seasons from this campground.

Right outside of Steamboat Springs is Steamboat KOA. This campground has so many perks. Not only is there a beautiful Mountain View but it also has the Yampa river running through it. It has Rv sites, cute cabins, and tent sites. The Rv sites are separated in areas by what you need(electric, water, sewage). The RV sites each have picnic tables and a fire ring. There are regular cabins and deluxe ones which both include tables and fire rings. The tent area is located across the river and is so peaceful. There is a general store, putt putt, propane fill, a small dog run, bikes for rent, swimming in season and the city bus comes to take you to town for free. Although it is located right off the road, it was still peaceful and I felt safe. My favorite part about this campground is the fact you can stand on the bridge or sit by the Yampa River and enjoy the beauty and sounds, and watching people fly fish.

This is by far our favorite campground in the Colorado State Park system. It’s great for families because you of the swim beach and marina. The views are spectacular. Don’t miss the homemade fudge.

We are full-timers and have a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and had scouted the area a day before arriving with the RV. There are several sites along FR-302, which is actually in pretty decent shape, one about 1/2 mile in, several about a mile in at FR-3021B, which is where we stayed(to the left), and then a few more about another mile in or so. We found a nice site(40.3749046,-106.6699622) and stayed for 5 days(late June). It took a bit of jockeying to get our motorhome into the site, but with a little perseverance, we prevailed. This site was surprisingly level too, almost didn’t need to level at all. There was one beautiful site in a meadow about 1/4 past the one we chose, but the stretch of dirt road between them was deeply rutted and potholed, with a couple of sections that were fairly steeply pitched from side to side, so we decided not to risk it. They were also predicting rain, which it did for a couple days, and didn’t want to get stuck in the mud holes. There is a nice little stream that runs from the meadow along the road. There is little traffic on FR-302, which was nice, though you could hear some traffic on US-40 when it was otherwise quiet. We walked our dog on FR-302 a fair bit and only once encountered a vehicle on the road. There are a number of hiking trails off of US-40 in the surrounding area, but due to the weather, we didn’t get to hike them as much as we would have liked. AT&T coverage was poor without a booster, with 0-2 Bars of 3G service, but nearly no data throughput. With our weboost, it got a little better with 1-3 bars of 3G and speeds up to about 0.4 MB/s, but the speed varied considerably. T-Mobile service was nonexistent. We were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. There were also no OTA channels to be had with our fixed omni antenna.

This is one of our favorite campgrounds in Colorado. We make a habit of visiting the week after Labor Day. The crowds are gone and the campground is peaceful. Amenities as small boat rentals remain open. The local deer migrate into the campground. A site on lake’s edge is usually available. Fall’s morning fog greet you in the morning. Outstanding mountain and lake views suttound your campsite.

Colorado does a great job with their parks and this is no exception. Stayed here spur of the moment booking two nights prior to the stay. It’s a large facility and when we booked, for a midweek stay, there were 11 sites available, one with power. We had a large site with great views of the mountains and if we stood on our tippy toes we could see the lake.

We’ll be back aiming to snag one of the sites with lakeside views.

Loved this RV park! It was super quiet and peaceful. Meeker is one of my favorite towns in Colorado. Everyone is too nice there! Stayed for two weeks and will be back again. Laundry onsite, bathrooms and showers were cleaned daily. Was a few weeds growing here and there but the owners sprayed the day before we left! Meeker Airport is just across the highway so every once in awhile you could see cool helicopters, airplanes come in and fly away.

I was wandering from Yellowstone/Tetons en route to Colorado Springs when I reach a necessary point for rest. After trying my luck near Steamboat, I glanced through FCFS campgrounds close by and found Meadows. It’s just off the highway, really easy to bypass if you aren’t paying much attention, but it upheld as a quite space to rest. Even driving in at 1am, there were plenty of spaces available. 

The grounds includes a bathroom facility and spaces for both tent and RV camping. The grounds is relatively inexpensive for the beautiful space that it is located. Definitely saved me from getting to restless on the ride through.