We had never been to Grand Mesa before, and after failing to secure a reservation at Ward Lake, Cobbett Lake, or Island Lake CGs, we decided to give this one a try. We arrived just before dark and found only one site occupied. We selected site 14 purely because we were trying to have a bit of privacy/space from the other party. There were other sites that we would have preferred, though, that offered better views of the lake and more shade. Site 14 was ok. There are metal fire rings and picnic tables at every site. There are two vault toilets, which were somewhat clean. There is no camp host. You can pay with cash, check, or credit card at the sign, and it was $16/night. We spent two nights.
Grand Mesa is free range area, so one thing you will need to be aware of is that there will most likely be cows wandering through the CG. There is no fence or anything keeping the cows out. This isn't a huge deal, but you will need to watch your step a bit more than usual, and it will be important to keep pups on a leash/cable (or well within voice control- if you have trained your pup this will, good on you!) to keep them from approaching the livestock. Our pup sneaked out the camper door behind one of us and found a juicy cow pie to roll in before we knew it. We were lucky our pop-up had an outdoor shower and she could rinse off swimming in Cottonwood Lake!
Having explored Grand Mesa a bit more now, there are definitely better options. Most people were dispersed camping and there were some great looking dispersed spots near cottonwood lake. I think we will probably go that route if we return to Grand Mesa rather than staying here again.
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