Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland

This is one of my all-time favorite places to hike and camp in Colorado. I have not yet stayed in any of the campgrounds but have backpacked to the top of the American Lakes Trail. Not only is this hike fantasticly beautiful and full of wildlife (tons of moose especially) but there is great dispersed camping along the trails. You simply cannot find more scenic and free camping in Colorado. I would highly recommended camping anywhere in State Forest State Park!

Also, there are quite a few huts, cabins and yurts that can be rented year round in SFSP!

Brought my son for his first camping trip and arrived without a reservation at 12:15 on a Friday. One tent spot remained. Spacious and far enough from the road to have some peace (albeit the stretch of road is a straightaway where folks pass so there is car sound still). Far enough away to avoid a more “loud crowd.” Found closer to Ft Collins. Four or five river access points and great for kids to run, play and get into the water (wider stretch of the Poudre). Great for relaxing and enjoying the wide open space. The section from the road to our site was about 300-400 yards, so plenty of space to walk, play and bring pets. Sites are closer to the trees.

This is a beautiful campground located along hwy 14 near Fort Collins. I brought my family here for some car camping last fall and was not disappointed by the campground itself, and the nearby dispersed camping along Hohnholz Lakes Road. We checked out the campground and were impressed by it’s cleanliness, well-appointed campsites and general amenities. This is especially nice to see in campground that has such a limited opening season, as we somewhat expected it to be somewhat neglected as we were visiting at a time so close to when they close for the season. 

Although the campground was nice, we actually opted to camp alone the Hohnholz Lakes Road just outside of the campground, which offers beautiful dispersed camp sites above the lake. We did this because we had 2 large dogs with us and figured having more space would be appreciated by the other campers and the dogs! The sites up here were even more scenic than within the boundaries of the campground, but still offered plenty of well cleared areas to set up tents, ample parking, and well-made stone fire pits.

I would highly recommend both the campground itself and the surrounding dispersed sites when the road conditions allow (summer and early fall).

First, SO many mosquito! They were biting through our jeans. This multi lake site has multiple vault toilets that may be just shy of a mile walk. Once we managed to get out on the lake to SUP, they follow you for hundreds of feet.  The center of the lake was nice n chill. A no wake zone lake, so the 2 fishing boats were no bother to our manually powered craft.
Many dogs off leash with little concern for those of us with leashed dogs.
Nice mountain views, and some wildlife, saw an otter. Though we heard much more through the night, the heavy steps and gutterall sounds nearby. Too dark to see from within the safety of our tent from mosquito swarms, so we didn't risk it to see what was just beyond our bear fence.
No firepits/grates. Circle some rocks and there ya make it.

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.

Big Creek Lakes Campground, Colorado (close to Wyoming border): camping here is only open for 3 months out of the year: June, July & August. It's camping at over 9,000ft elevation and requires for you to be extra prepared for snow even in the summer months, bears, mountain lions, mosquitos, aggressive horse flies, leeches, strong winds, thunder storms and altitude sickness. They do provide water which tastes fresh like newly melted snow. You can boat, fish, even hunt at some spots with a permit, hike, and swim at your own risk (can be cold, leeches, snakes). It is truly beautiful up here and the drive up the Poudre river makes it worth it. You can also spend the day rafting down the river or fishing.

$10; $5 with senior/interagency pass. Camped in site 8 on Oct 12, 2024; in my opinion, this is the best site. Short walk to his/hers vault toilets in day use area. Trash cans nearby. Site was level & accommodated my van. Area for setting up tent. Hammock camping possible. We'll water pump located near entrance to campground next to site #2. Picnic table and metal firering on site. Overall, the campsite was clean. Good separation between sites. Some trees and foliage between sites. Site was mostly shaded. Encampment River was behind the site. Hiking trail nearby. Liked this campground. I would stay here again. Campground was well maintained, and the vault toilet was clean and stocked. Very weak T-Mobile and AT&T service.