Best Dispersed Camping near Keenesburg, CO

My son and I joined a friend from Longmont and headed to this trail to camp for a couple days. Very accessible road, lots of spots to choose from (we showed up on Thursday, it did get a little busier on Friday and Saturday). Our spot was set back from the trail, right next to the stream. Just an amazing view, ample room for lots of tents, nice fire rings and huge logs around them for sitting. Fire wood abounds but it was all a little wet still from the rains they've been getting. Some folks didn't seem to be aware of the "leave no trace" rule when it comes to going to the bathroom, which was a little gross. Overall, great experience, pretty trail views, caught lots of trout (none big enough to keep). A great getaway.

The coordinates on Dyrt are a little off from the actual location but if you drive down roads that lead to toward views of the canyon, you’ll get there. The road passes through lots of private property, which can trick you into thinking you’re driving down the wrong road. The trailhead parking lot has one giant rut that you must be careful to navigate around. 2 Wheel Dr. and low clearance vehicles can do it, but should be extremely careful in how they approach. Parking lot is a short walk to some beautiful views of the canyon! Please be respectful as many people live within eyesight of the trailhead

Was desperate to find "something" after driving 11 hours that day, and normal paid camp grounds were full. HOWEVER I was pulling a smaller trailer, and that turned out to be a real issue. The hill getting to the site should not be a problem for any 2wd car/truck, but with the extra weight of the trailer it was definitely sketchy getting there, then once we got to the "parking lot" there was no place to turn around a trailer. I ended up backing up at least 1/8 of a mile to find a safe space to turn around.... so don't try to bring a trailer here, not even a teardrop camper.

We found a level place to park for the night at this location, and pulled out 1st thing in the morning.

Not trying to say there is anything wrong with the spot, but stay away with campers/trailers, and use it for tents only.

We went here with our 2 dogs for a quick overnighter-only about 45 minutes outside of Boulder. It was a Sunday morning and the lot was almost full when we got there around 9am. We packed it in and walked the whole trail looking for the best spot and ended up backtracking about half way to a site we saw across the St. Vrain. We crossed the creek by foot and set up right under what we later learned was a mountain lions apartment. We were far enough away from the trail that we were not bothered by day hikers. The stars were AMAZING and the sky was perfectly clear. Lots of firewood around-we brought our hand saw and cut enough feld wood to last until around 4am. We were about to go to bed around 11pm when our dogs started barking. My wife went to quiet them down and when I shined my head lamp toward the tent I saw a mountain lion perched above where we were camping on some rocks about 30 feet away. We yelled and made a lot of racket but it didn’t phase the lion. We threw rocks at it (something we had laughed at when we read about what to do in the event of an encounter) and that got it to slowly walk off into the night. About an hour later it came back and our dogs alerted us again. This time it was closer. We did the same thing-made a lot of noise and threw rocks at it until it went away. We stayed up making noise and being scared until our wood ran out and then passed out in our tent for a few hours until the sun came up. It was a scary experience but the next time we camp here we will stay closer to where everyone else stays at the beginning of the trail. When we got back to our car there was a big dusty bear paw print on our passenger side door. Colorado nature folks!