Best Tent Camping near Mesa Lakes, CO

One of my favorite tent camping spots, most sites are private and right along the creek. The park also provides bins to carry supplies to the tent sites which makes it much easier since you can’t park at your site.

An exceptional camping experience for our family. We go every summer and camp (in a tent) for about 10 days. The weather is superb and the trout is plentiful.

The greatest camping experience a family could possibly have! We go every summer and camp (in a tent) for about 10 days. The weather is perfect and the trout are plentiful!

A small but beautiful campground with awesome waterfalls, caves, and hiking.  There are 13 RV/tent sites and 7 walk-in tent sites.  The campground gets crowded during the weekends with hikers and fishermen so parking can be an issue.  The bathhouse has pit toilets only and no sinks.  There are dumpsters and a potable water point.  Great place to get away and unwind for the weekend.

We were in a Lakeview walk-in site. This is the first walk-in site I have encountered that provided wheelbarrows. It's by far the easiest walk-in site I have camped in. There's a gravel path of about an 1/8th of a mile back to the campsites. They're relatively secluded by vegetation and hills from other campers. You can hear your neighbors occasionally, but the privacy level is fairly good. On top of the wheelbarrows, the picnic tables are covered by an awning. Overall, the walk-in sites are excellent for tent camping. I don't recommend trying to reserve an RV hookup site for tent camping because these are open sites with a lot of asphalt.

Tent camping is pricey but the amenities r almost with it. Close to black canyon and in town food and booze with in walking distance. What more could u ask for. A pool, they got that.

Headed East and used this campground as a stop over. Tent sites at $22 were booked wound up with electric at $36. A bit pricey but hopefully the showers will make up for it.

Arrived in the evening on a Friday and somehow got the last first come tent site. Very nice area, shaded and easy to fly fish in the morning. Bathrooms were nearby as well

Wonderful, well kept camp grounds! Plenty of space so you don't feel like you're camping with strangers. Clean bathrooms with showers, full hook-up sites along with tent sites. Multiple camp grounds to choose from.

Nice campground, except some noise from highway. The tent sites are not free unless it is off season you may be able to get away with it. I stealth camped here in a parking spot and paid for a day pass.

Absolutely gorgeous spot. Grabbed a FCFS spot with an amazing view, particularly of the sunrise. No fires, which was sad for my 7 year old, but the stars were out and the weather was perfect. Only drawback was the rocky ground which made tent camping uncomfortable no matter how much air I got in my sleeping pad.

Very nice and well maintained facilities, beautiful scenery and peaceful camping. ADA accessible, and all different sites offered. The reservation process is relatively difficult online, walk-in sites are truly walk in. You have to park and carry your stuff in around 25-50 yards. There are wheelbarrows sitting there that we think are for moving stuff, so that was a nice touch. Toilets are closed in the colder seasons, except for the larger shower houses. Most tent sites are gravel covered. The map is a little vague, the roads pictures on the map are the driving roads. It was 28/night for the walk-in tent sites, which is a little outside of our budget but we decided to swing it because we wanted to shower. Turned out that the showers cost extra, so bring cash. That was a little frustrating to find out, since we felt we had already paid for the facilities.

We got site 51. Apparently sometimes I can't read and it was a walk in tent site, we have a lot of stuff, luckily they had wheelbarrows you could use. The site has a clear view over a pond and to the left you can see Colorado National Monument. The sites are so well maintained, the camp hosts were at the sites next to us within 10 minutes to rake the areas. No trash anywhere. Heated bathrooms. Trash cans available. Will gladly reserve here again!

Large designated area for dispersed camping.  Ground is lumpy, I wouldn't want to tent camp.  Several existing fire rings.  Solid Verizon service.  Lots of pit toilets in the area.  Nearby roads can become extremely difficult to travel after a light rain due to slick peanut butter mud.  I wouldn't come here just to camp, this is more a spot for people looking to do activities in the vicinity.

Rifle Falls is a very small, year-round campground (13 electric sites and 7 walk-in tent sites) but it is very popular for day use. In fact, we waited until after 6 pm on the day we arrived to walk the 1.5-mile path to see the waterfalls and caves because it was so crowded on a Sunday afternoon that it required a ranger to direct traffic. We took an additional walk there on Monday morning and it was quiet until around 11 am, when the crowds started to pick up again. 

There are two vault toilets and they were not very clean, likely due to so many non-campers using them. Seven of the RV electric sites are back-in (1-3 and 10-13) and the remainder are pull-through. Not a lot of physical separation between the sites but the sites are large enough and spaced far enough apart. The tent sites are spaced a very decent amount apart with lots of trees between them and carts are provided to bring your stuff to your site. 

In addition to your camping fees, an annual or day-use pass is required to enter the park (applies to all Colorado state parks). 

The main draws to this park are the waterfalls and caves and both were definitely worth a stay in this park to see them.

Stayed in Mechau loop in a tent. Sites were nicely separated for privacy. Hosts Don and John were super friendly and had great recommendations for activities nearby! Pit toilets were probably the cleanest I’ve ever used at a campground. Towns of Carbondale, redstone, and marble are fun to explore (get the pizza in redstone). Cool off in the river just a short walk from camp!

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is an incredible park - the history is incredible, but the views are awesome! Truly majestic. If you are tent camping, head on down to East Portal so you are right on the river, but if you are driving an RV. This is the place you want to be.

Not a lot of amenities, but you can get your rig parked easily and enjoy the views. One of the more incredible views you'll find in here.

this place was great! I reserved it 3 months in advance, so am not sure if it filled up later on. I tent camped and there was plenty of room for my 2-person tent and enough room if I hadn’t been solo. The walk to get water was close as were the restrooms. It was my first time camping where I needed a bear box and the one provided was huge—I’d call it a bear locker. 😃 It was a quiet campsite and BCGNP is a dark sky park so the stars were amazing at night.

Pioneer Campground was a great place to camp. We used a walk-in tent site. The trail for the sites was clear, clean, and the sites were the same. Bathroom was clean and did not smell at all, water from the spigot was clean and cool. Most sites were nicely shaded to provide privacy, but the one we stayed in had a beautiful view of the lake. The tent platforms were raised which was helpful. Bug spray is necessary as mosquitos are pretty rampant in June-July.