Best Tent Camping near Pueblo, 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.

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.

We booked this site last minute and it was perfect! The grounds were quiet and people respected the Quiet Hours curfew. Each site has a covered picnic table to block the wind. The site we booked had electricity hookups. We stayed in a car tent, so we needed non-concrete ground to anchor our tent stakes - the sites are all concrete and gravel with a lot of grass surrounding the main driveway. We were able to park our SUV so that we had access to the grassy area without being intrusive to other folks. The showers are in their own bathroom - toilet, sink, trashcan, bench, towel hooks, and shower. I strongly advise to NOT place clothing or towels on the bench near the shower. The shower has a strong spray and it will get your items slightly wet if too close. The showers are included in your camping fee (aka free to use). There isn't anything to block the wind (except at the picnic table) so be advised weaker tents won't be comfortable.

We stayed here because it was close to shelf rd rock climbing areas. Very basic, almost primitive campsites. There are 16 Individual campsites that are $7/night and accommodate 8-10 people. group campsites are $14/night and accommodate up to 20 people. All sites are first-come, first-served. The campsites include picnic tables, fire rings and tent pads. Fire ban is currently in effect.

There is an exhilarating drive on on lane dirt road through the canyons just past the campsite. so amazing, but be careful! one wrong move could send you and your car over the cliff!

climbers trail to "the gallery" climbing area starts bw sites 9 and 10

The site was really nicely set up on the top of a hill. Plenty of spots open when we got there on a Thursday night, also, ITS FREE! Lots of nice trails nearby that are rated easy. Beautiful spot to watch a sunset. The only drawback was the bathrooms, which were filled with flys and trash from previous campers, there was a fire ban in place at the time, and lots of bugs, which wasn’t a bother for us, but maybe for others. Nice and warm for the elevation, especially at nice, which was especially nice considering the other campsites we stayed at that were about 20 degrees cooler at night.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO.

http://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/Parks/cheyennemountain

Made our way to Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs. The tent only sites are walk-in and $18…and by walk-in…between 10-100ft from the parking area depending on the site. By midday most were taken and we landed in the available #45 (which was handicap accessible). Pluses and minuses: close to the restroom. Convenience comes at a cost, a motion sensor light constantly tripping on and a tad noisy. Tent pads only…comprised of a small pea gravel base, but elevated two railroad ties high…you will not get standing water, that's for certain. #45 is a handicap site so it is all paved…walkway, picnic table, animal-proof food container and fire pit area…no dust or dirt. Could be a positive or negative depending on your expectations. In April the trees were just budding so there wasn't a ton of concealment or cover from your neighbors provided by the leafless shrubbery and mountain scrub. A water pump is ten feet away. Another site was handicap accessible like this one but the others were situated further back in the scrub in dirt trails offering greater privacy. Hammock hanging was limited on site #45 but could be creatively managed. Restrooms were very clean and well-stocked. The visitor center is beautiful, large, interesting and offers local trinkets to purchase. Camp registration office is located by the campground and also houses restrooms and the coin operated showers and laundry. Water appeared to be at a premium as the water fountains were not operating. Depending on the wind direction, and with no leaves on the trees yet…highway noise could be heard in the distance from interstate 25…but not loud enough to be an irritation… Not to mention the sound breaking the early morning air…revelee from the nearby Air Force base. Signage leaves little doubt where you are or where to go throughout the park. The trails are superb and offer a variety of high plains and mountain views. Trail markings are remarkable, offering both self-guided tutorial placards and strategically located gps coordinates, in case of injury. Runners and mountain bikers frequent the trails. Wildlife aplenty. Mule deer sauntered by throughout the park and tom turkeys strutted their stuff for all to see. Colorful songbirds dotted the trail (my favorite…bright blue mountain bluebird). Keep the elevation in mind when choosing activities. Being a "flatlander," it takes about 7-10 days for your body to adjust to high elevations, so allocate more time on the trails for recovery breaks and hydration. Definite plus or minus…dogs are allowed in the park, but not on the trails and must be leashed at all times. Even on a Monday night in mid April, the park was filled so reservations would be advised. You can choose electric/water sites but there is no privacy from your RV neighbor.

Creative mountainscape photos are necessary to avoid the mountaintop antenna towers from NORAD.

It was a pleasant camping experience and would visit again.

There is so much to do nearby that you need to stay in the area at least a week.

Here are a few of my favorite nearby hikes: -Mt Cutler trail, Mt Muscoco trail, Helen Hunt Falls, Seven Bridges Trail, Red Rock Canyon, The Manitou Incline (parking fee), The Barr Trail (to Pikes Peak summit), Garden of the gods, Palmer Park, and Stanley Canyon Reservoir (on the Air Force Academy grounds)…all are must do's! Only Red Rock Canyon and Garden of the gods are flatter and easy strolling. Countless other trails exist and would take a lifetime to explore…worthy reason to return again and again!

Pueblo State Park is so underrated. We booked with on a few weeks notice so worried about how good the park and our spot would be. We weren’t really close to the water and Pueblo isn't known for having much tree coverage. But to our surprise, our spot was wonderful and we really enjoyed the park. 

**camping hack: pull up google maps and check out your spot from an overhead view to make sure the site orientation works with your set-up. Pictures don’t always do it justice.  The majority of sites at Juniper Breaks have the picnic table and fire ring on the drivers side of your vehicle (if you back in). We have young kids so wanted to be able to see the door of our camper if the kids came out after bedtime while the parents were still up. 

Our site was in great shape and was really level which made setting up our old pop-up camper a breeze. The bathrooms were as great as vault toilets can be and there were water pumps by all of the bathrooms. The rangers were really helpful even though we got threatened with a ticket for parking on the gravel at our site. There’s lots of extra parking by the bathrooms for day visitors too. 

We took our kids (2, 5, & 7) to the junior ranger class they host at the visitor center almost every Saturday. They learned about boat safety and got free sunglasses and emergency whistles. My 7 year old niece finished her ranger booklet and got a junior ranger badge, which she loved. 

We spent some time fishing but didn’t catch anything but our site we hiked to was secluded and nice. The lake is so big, there are plenty of spots to hide out and fish at. There is also a swim beach nearby...it was too cold when we were there to justify swimming.