Best Equestrian Camping near Salida, CO

Dispersed camping up at the lake. I say anything next to water is a bonus!

For Night 1 we hiked in stayed somewhere off the trail, at what seemed like a horse camp stop. Night 2 we stayed up at the lake campground. Got there early afternoon and was able to claim a prime spot. There is not much access to the water, so those spots get taken up rather quickly.

Great views, awesome sunrise.

I stopped at Browns Creek for one night on my Way to Salida. I set up in the dark because I got there so late but was still able to enjoy a bright full moon lit sky the coyotes chirping in the background and woke up to some incredible views

The campground won't accommodate fifth wheels only horse and rv up to 30 or so. Many of the sites in the 30,s up are useless other than a van. Tent sites are not good. Very uneven pads. The 40,s are much better and all mostly tents. The sites below 30 to 1 are pretty nice. Must say the hosts for the new concession explorUS were doing a bang up job.

Located in the middle of Salida and Buena Vista, there are a lot of spots in this area. Most of them are very large and can accommodate RVs and trailers. I loved this spot, they are spaced out from each other which makes it quiet and there is plenty of room for multiple cars, trailers and tents. 

This is dispersed camping, no facilities, tables or fire pits but free. Spots are managed by the forest service and follow all NFS rules, keep a look out for fire bans as this area is prone to dry spells. Camp spots are easily accessible via a dirt from off of the main highway. Road is in great shape and any car can make it. 

Close by you will find great hiking trails and mountain biking and not far from the spots are some 14ers to hike. Browns Creek trail is right off of the road and a very pretty hike. Salida and Buena Vista are about 20 minutes away if you need to go into town for food or to check out some great breweries.

Located at the bottom of Mount Princeton (14,199 ft) and Mount Antero (14,275 ft). 270-272 is one of the most unpleasant roads I’ve driven, but worth the traverse. Sites are heavily shaded. Great location if you’re visiting the Arkansas River. Apparently there is really great service here, but we didn’t experience it on T-mobile. Buena Vista and Salida are close. Stayed Sunday night and left in the morning. Very quiet at night, but busy during the day.

The first spots you'll find will be filled with massive RVs and big rigs and large groups looking for a party in the forest since it is so easy to get to. If you want to push on further, take the road to the left and keep going just past the Browns Creek Trailhead and over the creek. It gets quieter and prettier (and a little harder to get to). Great MTB rides near here and quick into Buena Vista and Salida.

Kinda busy with good access to Browns creek and the Colorado trail, but otherwise quiet if you can squeeze in. Easy for trailers too.

Close to hiking at browns which is really pretty hike and lots of options. We found a place on Memorial Day without a reservation which never happens in Colorado. It is near the co trail too! Quiet enough for our 1 year old

Great place for dispersed camping in San Isabel. We chose a tent site up 274 at the end of the road late Friday evening. Still plenty of spots available! Recommend the hike to browns lake nearby. Vault toilets at the trailhead if needed.

Our spot was right off the Colorado trail, lots of thru hikers going by. Originally we had wanted to stay at iron city campground (first come first serve) but all spots were taken. It was a happy mistake because we liked dispersed camping here better 🙂

It's a quick drive from Colorado Springs and tons of trails! Usually pretty quiet except for holiday weekends. We actually drive past the campground into national forest for free dispersed camping and to ride our atv. We've never stayed at the actual campground so I can't provide any information there. But, if you camp in national forest make sure not to park more than one car length off of the trail. Did not know this and was educated by a passing ranger.

It is gorgeous and so easy to access. From the 285 going north turn left on County road 270 until it becomes the 272 we went straight to the 274. At the cross of 2 National Forests, San Isabel and pike . We arrived around 5 pm on a Wednesday and most of the spots were taken but we were able to find one to fit our 40 feet toy hauler. We went for a hike, there were multiple hiking trails including access to the Colorado Trail. We also rode our mountain bikes on 272, 274A and the 273. It was very quiet and the sky was amazing at night. I highly recommend it if you are traveling on the 285.

There are extensive sites in the area for all sizes of rigs.  There is plenty of room and easy access for large rigs or tent camping.  FR 272 is the main road in but there are several spur roads, 273 and 274 that have plenty of options also.  One problem is that this area is well known and is becoming very popular.  On weekends, there may be more than 50 campers in the area.

Because of the overuse some sites are getting, the forest service is starting to fence some sites in so they don't grow in size.  The are working towards camping in designated sites only because so many campers are just trashing the area.

The hiking is good with several trailheads and easy access to the Colorado Trail.

I absolutely love this area of Colorado. It's breathtaking no matter which direction you look. Decent campground that was a bit too big for my taste. I agree with another reviewer: choose your site wisely! Dirty vault toilets. Water spigots that were almost all dripping (some almost running). I believe it should be posted at time of reservation if there are STEPS involved to set up camp. This site had maybe 10 steps, some in desperate need of repair. As a senior solo camper, this was challenging.  This site was not my choice but the only one available for my time-frame (right next door to the camp host and on the main/incoming road). When we were there, no availability of firewood from camp host, but a load did arrive while we were there. Really noisy campground (plenty of barking dogs), PLUS,a helicopter was doing a training mission two of the days we were there and flew directly over the campground, low-level, 3-5 times each day. 

No bear boxes. (there was a hiker/bear interaction on the Venable trail on June 17th.)

Positives were wildlife, scenery, wildflowers, awesome hiking both directions out of the campground, nice fellow campers (those we met).

In hindsight, I would have been really upset if I'd paid full price.

On my last trip to Colorado I had crossed paths with this campground and vowed that this time I would make it a stop on my journey. I love the location and though it is in a decently traveled area it is not close enough to the road to hear any traffic. The location is great for having that Colorado forest feeling for sure with towering pines and great spacing around the campground itself. 

While this campground does have a formal campground host on site there is a fee station and no money changes hands in person. The host also mentioned that the location is patrolled by forest service rangers to add a bit of additional accountability and safety. As a solo traveler who many times travels during off season or off days for travel this brought me a very settling feeling to know.

 The campground itself does not have connections of any kind, however there are a few water spigots(non drinking) throughout the camp for usage and also vault toilets for usage. Price point is fair at$17 and during the early portion of the camping season this location was pretty quiet. A few scattered campers were present but even if this was a full site it would still allow for plenty of spacing between campers with large parking for each and sites which are both deep and wide. 

All the locations included a picnic table which looked shaded, I did not see many spaces of full sun around camp at all in fact. There were also fire rings and marker poles for each site where you can hang your receipt for camping. 

Unlike many campgrounds I visited in this region where pine needles or leaves were everywhere, this one was very clear. Even downed limbs had been collected by rangers and host to keep the sites open for usage which was very nice. Though I didn’t see any marked pad sites at this location the ground was nice and even in most of the sites for a tent or many had large enough area for RVs of various sizes. I did not see any pull through sites however. 

This location they do recommend you reserving online before coming to camp, however they did have envelops for payment as well. I can see how online reservation would be very important during busy season and I truly believe they are trying to move to an exclusive online pay system for sites like this and others. I think this will prevent some of the box theft which has occurred around some of the more remote or unattended sites. 

I loved how quiet this camp was, how open it was and that it provided great access to the wildlife area which was only a short drive up the road. 

TIPS: 

• Prepare for your stay ahead of time by bringing everything you could need to camp this includes firewood and water. 
• Bring your own toilet paper. Though the site is maintained and has a host the paper is not guaranteed to be stocked so remember to come prepared.
•  If you have solar you are wanting to use pull up a map in advance to find the best location because of the shade.

We camped here ahead of whitewater rafting and found a huge, private site. Arrived mid-day Friday and plenty of sites available, definitely filled up through Friday evening. Great views and areas to walk around. Road was in great shape when we visited.

Will definitely be back to this area. Plenty of spots to pick from on memorial day weekend when we rolled in around 5pm. The spot we found had 360 views of mountains. Plenty of open space with trees for shade and hammock hanging. Loved the porta potty option. Dogs loved the freedom and we loved not being on top of other campers.

Great site, plenty of room, but there were so many open-range cows wandering around. Really didn’t mind during the day, until they started loudly mooing and screaming during the night. All the reviews here say it was quiet at night, so this must be a new development or we just got unlucky with timing. Never experienced anything like it. Put a damper on what was otherwise a great area for camping

We loved it! Very spread out, lots of space. Our camping spot was excellent and provided great views and seclusion. The creek on the map didn’t have any water in it though and the sun was brutal for a few hours.

This place is heavenly for dispersed camping. We had a wide open spot with some shade and no other people within sight or sound. The perfect spot for us was up and up past the trailhead and around the road to where there's a long pull off spot on the left. There's no creeks so plan for that. People left plenty of wood for campfires. It's so quiet at night. The definition of wide open spaces. When the moon goes down and the millions of stars come out - you feel like you stepped back in time a million years and like you're the only people on earth. It's spectacula!