Best Equestrian Camping near Rio Grande National Forest

This campground is in a secluded lovely valley on the south fork of the white river. Good fishing opportunities and trails for hiking and horseback riding. Spring cave is open seasonally April 15-aug15 with permit required to protect the bats from White nose syndrome. The cave is beautiful, and also wet and cold. Helmet and lights and good warm clothes are essential!

Campsites are close together, some smaller and some better or groups. Site#5 can fit 4-5 tents. Pit toilets which are kept very clean by camp host. Equestrian trailer parking available.

Nestled next to the Rio Grande River hand its gorgeous. This is the Rio Grande in Colorado so there's plenty of running water for tubing, rafting and fishing.

This privately owned campground feels like Colorado-at peace-to me.  Campgrounds, especially in the times of Covid are filled to the brim these days and that means a different type of experience complete with sometimes noisy neighbors, lots of vehicles and generators running at all hours.  

This. Place. Is. Peaceful.  

Your first look at the view on the way in to the camoground office should make you want to take a big breath of fresh CO air and leave the worries of the world behind.  

The owners/workers were all as friendly as can be and seemed extremely genuine in providing everyone an enjoyable experience. There are 3 ponds on property for fishing and there are some whoppers in there!  Do keep in mind, you need to get a permit at the office to partake in being an angler for the day.  

The campsites themselves are well spaced, shady, pretty level and have full hookups.  What more could you want?  They have even separated the RV area from the tent camping area which I find to be the most enjoyable for all parties involved.

As for the general area-you can't go wrong no matter which direction you go.  Pagosa Springs is a lovely town with everything you could need.  There are too many fishing opportunities to name in the area, and a MUST see-Treasure Falls-it's quite literally .5 miles from the campground entrance.

The website listed for this campground is correct Ponderosa campground Antonito, CO.

Phone 719.376.5857

This is a very relaxing place to stay and it seems like most of the people there have been there many times before. The drive in is easy on Route 17 and does not require a vehicle with high ground clearance. They do allow campfires, they have clean bathrooms and a shower house. I stayed in a backpacking tent after driving all day arriving on a Friday at about 4:00 PM. The campground is set-up for small campers and has some cabins for rent too. The bathrooms with showers are clean and comfortable. The sites have fire rings with grates and picnic tables. The owner manager is great, providing quality fishing advice, conversation and even a free cup of coffee in the morning. Hiking on the CDT is near the campground and fishing is right in the campground. The steam train is right up the pass and I happened to be there the night before opening day catching a photo when I drove over the pass to Chama New Mexico. The Cumbres and Toltec Train traveling between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. This is a very nice drive and Chama is a cool place to visit, it is a trail town on the CDT.

I will visit this campground again for sure.

Spots right on the river are pure bliss.  Full hookups and the sound of the Rio Grande to lull you to sleep.  How great is that? 

Full hookups were great.  Owners were fantastic and friendly. 

The town of South Fork is very small but you can get groceries and gas.  South Fork is on the East side of Wolf Creek Pass, which is a beautiful, steep, drive.  The best part about the area is the ample amount of fishing.  This area is an anglers dream, reservoirs in every corner of the map with the Rio Grande at your fingertips.  Fishing dreams made!

Campground spots were well positioned but a tiny bit close.  I would highly recommend any of the ones on the river, you have plenty of space to spread out between the picnic table, fire ring and grassy area by the river's edge.

This is a nice area. Bathroom with no running water or electric. We have a big unit and dry camped just below this campground on Red Mountain Creek at the bridge, 1/4 mile away. There are other spots along the road also. Fishing is good above Ivy Creek campground and on Red Mountain. The road getting there is excellent but does narrow down and gets curvy the last couple of miles. I have a 40’ 5th wheel and made it fine but would not want to meet other traffic in this short stretch. Plenty of hiking, biking, 4-wheeling, fishing or just sitting and enjoying the peaceful mountains. We were here in July and the temps at night were about 40 and the day was 70.

Overnight with One of my dogs had a great time very nice no bugs dark night

Nice campground right next to the San Juan nation forest. Could use a little landscaping. However, it is very peaceful and we would stay here again

The area is very beautiful and clean. We stayed in the Bob o link cabin Monday thru Thursday in June. Theres a cool shady area to sit by a creek just down the road from there, Awesome! The staff and other campers were very friendly. We had no hot water at the cabin, but hot showers were just feet away near the office!

The tent sites were large and well spaced. Well maintained and equipped with a great fire ring. Bathrooms very clean and great hot shower. Don’t go if you need to be connected digitally at this moment that is not up and running, but they did say by the end of the summer. The family was friendly and gave good advice when asked.

2nd stay in River hill CG. Loved every minute. Moose came through on 3rd day. Stayed at site 9,14 years ago. It’s beside the river. Stayed in site 16 this July and was a great site. So Quiet and peaceful.

This is a beautiful campground! We used it as both a home base and a place to hike out of. Situated along the banks of the Rio Grande, we were able to sleep with the sound of moving water which was so relaxing.

The bathrooms were clean and smelled like bubble gum. Our kids were enchanted by the old hand pump. The camp hosts were friendly and informative.

We stayed in site 5, which backed into a lovely meadow. The trailer was a bit of a tight fit, but ended up being a great block to the (minimal) road traffic.

We loved it!

River hill was a great spot for a weekend getaway. We did not have a reservation but were still able to get a spot on a Saturday afternoon. Camp was well maintained, clean vault restrooms, and horseshoes/frisbee golf on site. We hiked the trailhead to box canyon which starts at the campground and it was beautiful. Spent time fishing in the river that ran by the campsite. Would love to come again!