Best Equestrian Camping near Keenesburg, CO

Chatfield State Park is a great mixture of access to the outdoors with availability of many of the benefits of a metro area close by. We arrived a day earlier than what we had reserved and had site 10 for our first night. We stayed on site 59 for the remainder of our time at Chatfield. Both sites offered a level, concrete camping pad with full hookups. There is also a picnic table, fire ring, and a gravel tent pad set back about 10 yards behind the site. There is plentiful access to a number of different walking trails, many of which are paved.

A few things to be aware of if you haven’t been here before:

1. As others have pointed out, the WiFi is broadcast from the center of each camping loop, is slower than dial up, and has a very short range. I would not count on using this for anything more than light web browsing. We used our personal hotspots and had 4 bars of 5Ge on AT&T.
2. The trash dumpsters are also at the center of each loop. This is the only location on each loop to dispose of trash and can be a decent walk if your site is on the outside of the loop. They were overflowing with trash for several days during our stay.
3. There are two washers ($1.75/load) and two dryers ($1.50/load) available at each shower facility at the center of the loop. Consider doing your laundry early in the morning, as campers during our stay had a bad habit of leaving their wash in the machines for several hours after their cycle completed, leaving them unavailable for others to use.

This was our first time staying at Bear Creek Lake. The park is not part of the Colorado Wilds or CPW State Park system, but daily vehicle fees are included with your camping reservation. Our towed vehicle was included when we checked in at the ranger station.

The campground is at the back of the park, roughly 2 miles from the entrance. There is a lot of bike traffic and windy roads. Sites are mostly level, electric only, and relatively close together. We stayed in Site 41 which was walking distance to the pit toilets and water spigot. We had no trouble fitting our 29' Class C, tow dolly, and towed vehicle. 

We filled our 7 gallon water jugs at the spigot to top off our fresh water tank. The spigot is the terrible skinny faucet that is not threaded as to dissuade RVers from connecting a fill hose to it. If you want to fill water jugs like we did, bring a short (<6') hose and a water bandit so that you don't waste water.

Pit toilets and flush bathrooms were clean and well maintained. The bath house at the center of the campground features coin operated hot showers, $2 for 10 minutes. The water temperature was very hot, but manageable. A great convenience since there are no sewer hookups at the sites.

This is a great place to camp if you want to explore Morrison, Golden, or catch a show at Red Rocks. The main park entrance closes at 9:30 and a back gate accessible from I-470 opens that allows access to the campground. We had no trouble getting an Uber to pick us up to go to Red Rocks, but had several driver cancellations trying to get back after a concert.

We love to visit Golden Gate Canyon State Park early in the season because it is very busy all summer.  This is our second stay at the park in March, and we have had wonderful snow both times.  

The Reverends Ridge campground has limited sites available this time of year but is still well maintained.  The campground office restrooms were open, heated and clean.  Trash dumpsters were available as were recycling cans. The electric hookups were on. There is no water available except in the restrooms. 

The campsite (C-35) parking area was plowed open to exactly the width of our trailer, so with more than three feet of snow on the ground we needed to get some exercise and do a bit of shoveling so we could back in and be able to walk along side the trailer and open the door! .More snow was falling as we set up but the scenery was absolutely magical.  About 25 yards of more shovel work made it so we could find and dig out both the table and fire pit provided.  We had a warming fire going in no time.  

Golden Gate is a wildlife paradise and as we worked we could hear Turkeys calling form the trees.  We were also graced with the presence of four huge Moose who had taken up residency and were lounging in the snow.  In the distance we could hear the yips and howls of coyotes.  

Snow graced us for the first of our Friday to Sunday stay, but warmer temperatures  arrived Saturday afternoon and the great daytime thaw and evening freeze common to Colorado mountains in springtime began in earnest.  This made for some cautious walking around the snow piled nearly everywhere. 

One of the great things about this park is the winter activities available on the many trails, and the added benefit of Nederland, Black Hawk, and Central City Colorado being within easy driving distance for some small town amenities if desired.  This is a great park, and my wife is wishing to visit when there is no snow!   😎

This is the first time I’ve found a state park so close to a major metro area!!

Because of its proximity to Denver, Chatfield fills up quickly, so book well in advance. When I stayed in mid September, there was a zero percent chance of a walk in getting a space.

I stayed in Loop B, site 126. This is on what I’d call the “park side” side of the loop. If you’d like views of the lake or mountains, I’d suggest sites like 111 or 112. But this site was the cleanest I’ve ever camped at. The gravel was freshly raked, both around the picnic table and on the tent pad. Some very curious bunnies made their appearance each morning!

The bathroom was very clean, but there was no soap provided for hand washing, nor are there any trash cans within the actual bathroom, which I found incredibly odd. There is also a laundry area just outside the bathroom (which was a god send because I really needed to do a laundry!) and there was a trash can out there. The showers are coin operated and the water comes out almost directly onto the wall; there is no way to adjust the shower head.

There is a trail around the entire reservoir, which is great for a bike or a run, although many die hard road cyclists choose to use the actual street that runs around the park. And, of course, water activities abound.

The two entrances to the park make getting in and out very easy!