Best Tent Camping near Manitou Springs, CO

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.

CAMPGROUND REVIEW: COLORADO CAMPGROUND PIKE NATIONAL FOREST

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/colorado-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70684

Colorado Campground is one of several campgrounds less than 10 miles north of the city of Woodland Park off Route 67 in the Pike National Forest.

Situated at 7800 feet elevation, even summer nights get cool. Nearby 5 acre Manitou Lake is a trail walk away. You can toss your canoe or kayak in, but unless you are simply trout fishing, it’s tiny size doesn’t offer much variation.

Numerous foot trails lead into the National Forest, offering wonderfully quiet hikes and exploration.

There are 81 sites available, but some are adjacent to highway 67, so periodic road noise will be heard. The ponderosa pines assist in muffling highway noise.

Neighboring sites are visible across the entire campground, but they are situated in such a way that you are not directly on top of each other.

The back loop sites are larger and set deeper (Site 19, 20,21, 22, 23) which are my choice. Sites can be secured on www.recreation.gov. There are double sites which garner double fees. At the time of this review, sites are $23.00 nightly (a bit pricey for no showers or modern facilities). When there during the week, not including the host and groundskeeper, only four sites were filled. Most sites were reserved for weekends and upcoming Labor Day holiday.

No RV/Campers over 36 ft permitted. Parking pads are gravel, a few are pull-through. Sites are non-electric with no hookups…no showers Water spigots, metal trash containers and pit latrines are spaced out through the campground. Each site has one stationary picnic table and a fire pit. Most sites appeared fairly level. No specific tent pad locations.

With the towering ponderosa pines, there is ample shade.

Plenty of trails permit mountain biking as well as the paved centennial bike path that runs along highway 67 from Woodland Park 15 miles north…that you can walk, in-line, cycle and even ebike.

You have plenty of local activities to keep you busy, including the Red Rocks a couple miles south…or drive east on Rt 24 to Pikes Peak, or further into Manitou Springs for the Incline, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Garden of the gods and more!

Just six miles south into Woodland Park offers every food or shopping option.

All in all, a nice, clean campground in a great location.

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.

This campground is set a couple miles down road 550 after all the free recreation area campsites.

The sites are pretty close together but there are well maintained pit toilets as well as a dumpster on site for trash. The surrounding area is filled with hiking and biking trails, including the Colorado Trail. 

The campground is over 7k feet of elevation and a lot of trails intersect so make sure you keep track of where you are and what trail you are hiking on for the day. Not many are loops on their own. 

There are a couple pit toilets places throughout the campground. Clean fire rings and picnic tables at all the sites. 

Keep your eyes out for ticks and mosquitos. We found a couple of ticks on the dogs after they ran through the tall grass and the creek. 

Across the road is a creek that is great for water hangouts and light fishing. We were here in May and the weather was about 70 during the day and 35-40 at night with plenty of shade and wind protection. It has sites for RV’s, tent, or van stay.

We stayed at this campground in order to help out with the Xterra Race that was taking place the next day. We reserved two walk in sites (30 and 34) and it was easy to find them. The walk in sites are between 20-40 feet form the parking lot and on a slight (and rocky) hill. There was plenty of privacy by way of shrubs so it felt secluded even though the sites are right next to each other. 

You can only set up tents on the tent pads in the sites so that was a little challenging being that we needed to sleep 10 and could only fit 1 tent per site. But we were able to make it work. Also, the ground is very compact, so stakes were hard to get into the ground and we had to tie off our guy-lines to the bushes to keep them in place during the night.  

Keep in mind that you are on a military base area so you will hear TAPS periodically throughout the day and night. Campground is open year-round 

It has:

51 Full Hook-Up sites 

10 Basic Tent sites 

Coin operated showers and laundry (Seasonal; These amenities are for active campers only.)

Overall the sites were great. Bear food lockers and water at each site. The firepits were large and well ventilated. The bathrooms were super clean and accommodating. Lots of trails and ranger led events happening to keep you (and your kids and dogs) entertained.

Beautiful lakeside camping just outside of Denver. Campsites are a bit close together, but great for groups! No hookups here but you have bathroom facilities and a visitor center where you can buy firewood. Campfires allowed in the fire pits. If you have an RV beware quiet hours from 10pm to 8am, no generators allowed. Lake is perfect for paddleboarding, kayaking and fishing and you will most likely have phone service if you are with AT&T or Verizon. Many day use areas, however vehicles and individuals are charged. For campers, if you bring more than one vehicle you will be charged daily for any additional ones. No drinking water is available, you must bring your own. Dirt roads to the lake are rough and narrow. Close to Deckers for incidentals. Intersects with the Colorado trail for hiking and biking and close to the Colorado River for tubing!