Best Equestrian Camping near Palisade, CO

This area is called Fluffle Campground, and the center is a large Group Are with Equestrian corral also. There are a total of 25 sites but 9 of them are in the so called group area complex. These sites are large and roomy and good for RVs and TTs. However they are close to I70 and some will have freeway noise depending on the site. One toilet is at the group areA. No dumpsters, no water, no RV dump. Cell signal is very strong. Sites all are reserved and paid for online. No FCFS but sort of a hybrid if FCFS and online pay for sites as most are open during the week. Likely alot of OHVs on weekends. Sites are $20/$10 senior with an $8 reservation online fee. 7 day camping limit

If you have ATVs, dirt bikes, horses, etc. this is a great place for you. It’s just 4 miles off of I-70 but still secluded. It is a designated OHV area so no worries about people stopping you from ripping around and exploring.

That said - I’m a quiet camper and prefer to avoid OHV areas calling them Obnoxiously High-noise Vehicle areas. I’m kidding, obviously. Seriously, everyone enjoys the outdoors in their own way and I don’t begrudge anyone their enjoyment. I took the chance and it was very quiet while I was there. Only one couple other than me that I’m aware of.

The weather was mild in mid-April during my stay - got to about 70 during the day and around 40 at night. It was windy during the day but it is a very open space and it is western Colorado. When the wind died down, the mosquitoes came out and they were persistent. I hiked around and they weren’t just at my campsite. There is a water treatment facility in the area and just down from the main camping is a treatment pond so I’m guessing that’s the culprit.

The road in is unpaved once you leave the small town but very easy. I base those sorts of claims off of the VW Jetta Scale - the vehicle I had for 8 years before my current vehicle. There are a few low creeks crossings but the beds are small and both were dry when I came through. Even if they had water, I still would have crossed if I were still in my Jetta. The roads were washboarded so don’t bring the nice china.

The pull offs are plentiful and large. Most could hold a few trailers or several vehicles and some have fire rings. I did not have a fire because the fire danger was too high (ALWAYS CHECK BEFORE HAVING A FIRE). The road is a loop so just follow it around until you find the spot you want.

The space is wide open and surrounded by 360 views of mountains. Sunset and Sunrise were great but - for you photographers - the light changes really fast so scout the compositions you want ahead of time.

No wildlife that I was aware of aside from birds and our mosquito friends. I didn’t hear coyotes, I didn’t even see deer tracks. Just horse and tire tracks.

Oh, on the way in there was a sign that said “Private Property, No Trespassing” and it looked like it was for the road going in; however, the other signs revealed that it was for the area around the water treatment plant. There isn’t a lot of signage, just one saying it’s an OHV area and one saying it’s a Limited Use area. Other signs are just to protect the sensitive areas.

We towed a 35 FT 5th wheel heading west on 105 until we discovered the perfect campsite by turning south at the intersection with 108. The road was very rough but doable by moving along very slowly. Our site was hidden by trees off a short dirt drive which wasn’t too bad. There was plenty of space for us to turn around, and a fire pit had been constructed of large rocks (with a resident chipmunk hanging out among them).
We loved being surrounded by tall trees on one side and having a long distance view across the meadow on the other side, watching storm clouds approaching every day. We were far enough from the road that we barely heard any traffic passing. However, the sound of cattle lowing was frequent, and there was evidence of their presence all over the ground! One bull approached and stood there bellowing at the camper before finally moving along, and another morning we looked outside to see several cows munching on the remains of our campfire. Apparently they like to eat ashes and charcoal for the minerals because it happened twice!
We camped there 6 nights and hated to leave. Our only reservations were driving on the long bumpy roads and cattle manure being everywhere. Otherwise, it was the best boondocking place we’ve stayed because of the scenery and remoteness. It was very quiet except for the cattle lowing. We rode our bikes down 108 one day and discovered that it was way too rough to drive with our dually pickup. Another day we rode all the way down 105 and then back on 100 which is Land’s End Road. There are lots more dispersed campsites further down 105, but many have huge potholes turning into them. Some are located next to reservoirs and have lovely views, but we were happy with our site because we didn’t have to drive that far to reach it. If you had a smaller rig, it would be worth trying those places.

Mud springs is a small campground tucked away on top of a national monument. To enter the monument, there is a fee, but if you are going to mud springs you can tell them that and not pay the park entrance fee. It's up on glade park but kind of off the beat and path. The road was wet from recent rain and a small stream flowed down the washboard surface. The park itself is small but nice. Quiet. A bit muddy when it rains. We saw deer in the morning. We had a nice tent pad and firerings. Room for hammocks. It's a good place with pit toilets. But it's quiet. We did have a couple things walk through our site, we weren't sure what they were but it put our dog on high alert. One had a bell so that was strange. The other we aren't sure of but our dog watched as whatever it was walked past the tent. There weren't many people there so it probably wasn't another camper but some sort of critter. There is also a fresh spring that you can collect water from I think. We looked at it but didn't opt to collect any water. Lots of trees though which is nice. It seems to rain in July there, although they go through severe droughts and then all of a sudden, rain for two days. But both times we've gone in July, it has rained.

Entrance is via 139 just before the 8 mile marker, you have to drive over a cattle grate and road is gravel. We were in a 28ft RV and the first 3 pullouts were very accessible, last one (furthest from the 139) was a little sketchy to reach at 10pm - would recommend for a smaller rv / 4x4 as there were a couple of large pot holes. We relied on Google maps satellite view to guide parking / finding pullouts at night.

No facilities I could see but there where 5rvs & caravans parked overnight. Pretty view over distance mountains & mesas at sunrise.

One pile of illegally dumped rubbish present else fairly clean/pristine.

Very easy to get to via the 139. The drive in locations are level and the sites are easy to reach with a camper van.

However, what surprised us was the amount of empty gun ammunition laying around on the campsite. As a European this might be more confronting than for a USA citizen, but it made us feel a bit uncomfortable. The sound of people doing target practice nearby also didn't help. Furthermore there was some burnt couches and chairs dumped on site 1 which contributed to the site feeling a bit sketchy.

Overall, we hade a fine overnight stay.

It was an hour and fifteen minute drive up. The road was very windy and gravel/dirt. It wasn't too bad until the turn off to the campground. That road was almost all dirt. Wash out in some places. Single width for most of it. We trucked along though. We got to the campground and we could see one site from the trailhead, which is also where the restrooms were. It was occupied but looked nice. Plenty of space to park and a lot of space to set up a big camp. However, the other sites were down a much narrower road, that had water crossing it. We opted to not venture down that road. It is a free campground. About 25 miles from the 141 turnoff. You have to really want to be in the middle of nowhere. It is so secluded that not a soul will find you if they didn't know you went. Side note, we did read that the road gets dangerous when wet, we totally can see that as the case, which is one reason we left. Although it didn't really look like rain when we started, it definitely was going to rain once we got there. I imagine with functioning four wheel drive (ours is broken) it might not be so bad, or a jeep, that would probably work great. Being a single width road, it does get kind of scary on the huge cliffs to have to pass a vehicle, we were fortunate enough to be on the inside and pulled off as much as we could, but the other drive stopped next to us and said his wife was freaking out since she was on the cliff side. It was, however, the only car we saw on that road for our two hour drive.