Best Tent Camping near Nucla, CO

This was a great site for our group of 3 couples. We had plenty of room on our site to set up camp around the picnic table and fire ring. 

We snagged the last site with a picnic table and fire ring around 10AM on a Friday morning. Throughout the weekend more people showed up and there seemed to be a bit more space to camp throughout. 

The sites vary from right out in the open to being completely tree covered. Ours was right near a stream and had good shade during the day. 

There's nothing but a vault toilet here so be sure to bring lots of water. If you're in need of a shower, head down to Trout Lake for a quick dip.

Sunshine is a first come-first serve campground with 15 sites. There are several sites with beautiful views and full sun, but those were taken when we arrived. We stayed in site #8 which was quite lovely, tucked in the aspen trees with a picnic table and fire ring. The small pond behind our site was dried up, probably due to the ongoing drought. There is a short viewing trail just off site #9 that provided spectacular views of the mountains. We set up a couple of chairs on the trail and watched the fabulous sunset. The vault toilets were closed and the sign said they’d be closed through the ‘22 season. Portable toilets were provided in their place. The camp hosts, Don & Linda were super helpful by providing us with info about the adjacent bike trails and a short cut to get to Telluride. The campground was very quiet and while we heard some road traffic when we first arrived we never heard any during the night. I got 2 bars of AT&T cell service, enough to stream a movie on my iPad!

Camp fees are $20/day or $10/day with a Senior America the Beautiful Pass. We’ll definitely stay at this gem again!

This was our second night boondocking near Moab, and it was peaceful. We were the only ones out in this area camping with not a single car driving by while we were here. On the way up we passed several campers right near the entrance of Yellow Circle Road. The campsite provides views of the mountains. The sunset was amazing even through the shrubbery. It does get windy out here in May; however, the shrubbery provides a solid wind break and the wind usually dies down in the evening. There was already a fire ring when we got here. Broken glass was found in some areas, be sure to watch where you step. If one doesn’t have firewood, there are plenty of dead branches laying around to use as firewood. There is potential room for other campers if one decided to come in a group with a similar set up to our camping set up. To get to this campsite, one doesn’t need high clearance; however, parts of the road aren’t crushed gravel (good tires are a must). Enjoy this beautifully, remote campsite!

Fantastic national forest campground. Mountain views all around. Woods Lake itself was a short hike away. Enjoyed fishing there with beautiful views. The campground is over 9400 feet in elevation. I did some huffing & puffing while walking around there. Our campsite, #4, was narrow & deep; no problem for a camper van. It has a table, metal fire ring/grill, lantern poll and a tent pad set back deeper in the woods. Surrounded by aspens. Camped there in early June. Vault toilets were not yet open, but clean portable chem toilets were provided. Potable water stations were not yet turned on. Helpful camp host was on duty. Firewood was available at $10/bundle. Our site, as well as others, were private & reasonably separated from others. No shower and hookups. Deer everywhere. Saw sign of mountain lions & bears on the nearby hiking trails. This is one of the prettiest national forest campgrounds that I ever camped in.

Deluxe Camping in Telluride, and by that I mean that they have flush and vault toilets, showers, drinking water, trash collection and hook ups for your RV or tent. If you have no “roughing it” bone in your body this is the campground for you!

I went here to check out the site since I had heard it was so improved and yes indeed I was impressed by the amenities.

Each site had the typical fire ring and picnic table and with two loops you can choose from either a more wooded feel or more open feel depending on your preference.

Tent sites here have a nice even feel to them clear of obstructions and sharp rocks which for me meant an easy 5 minute set up of my camp. That to me means that I can immediately start enjoying my stay without having to work hard to just prepare my site.

I chose site #12 which was an unimproved tent site, one of only a few they have. I didn’t feel just because I was at a campground that had electricity I needed to pay for it since I didn’t need it. There is a cost of $8 just for electricity. I paid $18 for my site.

My views here were nice and there were not a lot of people at the site mid week, however when I spoke to someone in town (only about 10 minutes away) they said this campground is the weekenders destination during September before it closes and during summer is busy throughout the week with vacationers.

At night this place was a little chilly in September but during the day the weather was ideal. I had a light jacket I carried with me for hiking and I made sure to have my 40 degree sleeping bag for night when temps dropped.

The views here area spectacular much like all of those in Telluride area. In the distance you always will see a snow capped mountain and in September you start to see the fall leaves emerge with their golden tones.

The only negative I could see from this campground was in cell signal for those looking to not be “roughing it” being plugged in with AT&T was a little tough. I had to leave the camp and go toward town before I picked up on signal and even then it was a bit spotty at times.

Pulled into this area late one evening on a fall camping trip across Colorado. Totally expected it to be full but there were a couple areas left to setup thankfully. Everything in this area was filled by 630p however.

Clean toilet which is a bonus if needed and designated parking for each little area. Some sites needed to walk in a bit but no big deal.

Beautiful area all around and one in awhile you could hear road noise but not an issue. In fall you can’t hear Elk as well which is really cool and obviously being surrounded by the colors is great too.

Fire rings in most spots but double check fire bans before.

Stayed for 4 nights in early Oct 2024. Nice little campground with large bear boxes for food storage. I felt it's at a good location to venture off each day from.

Not too many sites, had leveled tent areas, pit toilets, deer went through the campground adding to the nice views there and a river by it.

The cons were there's no trash disposal there you need to go up the road to the other campground to get rid of it, cars were constantly going by looking for a campsite which was constant noise into the evening and they went really fast making the campground road not feel very safe to walk along, not the flattest of parking spots if using a rooftop tent or car camping without anything to level with

Enjoyed the place.