Best RV Parks & Resorts near San Juan National Forest

Mancos State Park has no-wake boating and is well-known for fishing, especially rainbow trout, a few brownies and yellow perch. There are 33 campsites on two sides of the lake, plus two all-season yurts. During the winter, it is a great place to use as a base for cross country skiing.

It is near the La Plata range to the east, and Mesa Verde National Park to the southwest. Durango is about 45 minutes to the east, and the City of Cortez about 25 minutes to the west. Telluride ski resort is about a two-hour drive. Both Cortez and Durango are full-service cities, with multiple supermarkets, other chains, etc. The town of Mancos, about a 12-minute drive from the park, has a full-service sit-down restaurant/bakery, a natural foods store, other restaurants, a community grocery store, shops, modern library and other amenities.

The park adjoins the San Juan National Forest, including multiple hiking trails, the Chicken Creek cross country ski area, the Sawtooth and Millwood trails, and other trails. The nearby forest (about a mile up the road) has dispersed camping as well as organized campgrounds accessible by a paved road.

There also is a dude ranch next to the park, and the approximate 1-mile trail around the park takes hikers over some beautiful scenery. There are no corrals, but horses are allowed on specific trails.

None of the campsites currently have water or electric hookups, but potable water is available at several connections on the east (main) side of the park. While there is no public WiFi, cell signals are strong.

This is a small campground, only 8 sites, outside of Cortez, CO with easy access to Mesa Verde National Park and to Cortez for supplies.  It is a gravel lot with each site being a pull through; big rig friendly (45'x75').  There are shared covered picnic tables.  Full hookups with 20/30/50 electric.  We had good AT&T cell coverage.  The property is surrounded by BLM land and close to Phil's World with bike trails.  It is centrally located for all of the areas attractions: Mesa Verde, Canyons of the Ancients, Hovenweep, Telluride, Durango (Durango to Silverton scenic train).  There are weekly and monthly rates which reduces the nightly rate.  The owner, Bill, was very nice and even stopped by with local brochures and maps.  We will definitely stop here again when out this way.

This is a good-sized campground consisting of several different one-way paved loops for access. Most of the sites are back in but there are some pull throughs. There are a mix of tent and RV camping sites. Flush toilet restrooms are available and there are showers and a laundry a few miles away where the café, store, and gas station are located. Each campsite has a picnic table and fire ring that can also be used for grilling. One section provides full hookups but most of the sites are for dry camping. There are several dump stations with fresh water available in the park. The information on the campground indicates 30 feet as the maximum size but some sites will accommodate rigs to 40 feet. Most of the sites are pretty level and are typically grass but a few have gravel. The area consists of small oak trees but only a few sites have shade. Our Verizon and AT&T hotspots did not work in the campground. Cell service was spotty and that was true through the national park. There is wifi in the campground that was pretty good most of the time. Good enough for email but not usually enough for streaming.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Friendly staff; shuffled our stay around so we could extend and not relocate during the week. 

WIFI/ CELL SERVICE: Camp wifi and speed seemed to work really well! I could use email and stream videos with no delay; however we used a hot spot for work calls to be more clear, but their wifi probably could have been fine to do so. 2 of 4 bars AT&T but calls came in fine throughout the entire park. 

SITE: Pretty campground layout. Love the"S" curved pull thru sites. We had an"S" shaped site with nice privacy and ease of arriving and leaving because of design. The sites all seemed to be nicely spaced from one another and private even though you are nearby. There were some views and there were a few pretty fall trees and a vacant pasture to look at while sitting at the picnic table. A small creek flows along the edge of site 23. Full hookup; level site; heated water so didn't have to worry about pipes freezing during stay; fire pit; grill; full sun site; rock roads but well maintained and not too dusty; light road noise. I'm sure the sites closer to the highway are louder near the campground entrance; no bugs in October that we experienced. 

OTHER: Nearby Walmart and shopping center. About 20 min drive from Historic Downtown; about 5 minutes from Anytime Fitness gym. Laundry room was small and they didn't clean our clothes very well, but it was kept clean.

We stayed here using Passport America discount on our way to Albuquerque. 

The park is a very basic RV park in the town of Cortez. There is quite a bit of road noise as to be expected in a town. It seemed a bit rundown but not awful. There were some long time residents living there. 

The guy (owner? manager?) who came out to meet us when we pulled in was very nice and gave us a lot of tips on things to do in the area. It is only 8 miles to Mesa Verde National Park so a great place to stay if you want to check that out. He gave us a list of other things in the area as well. Very knowledgable and friendly. 

There was one washer and dryer for a laundry room that shuts down at night. There are dumpsters for garbage but no recycling. The sites are full hook ups with pull through and back in available and they can accommodate big rigs. Each site had a picnic table as well. Overall a convenient place to stay if you want to check out Mesa Verde or are just traveling through. 

Good cell reception ATT and Verizon and the park offers Wifi.

Neat and tidy and friendly. This park is in the middle of Cortez, so you literally drive through"historic downtown Cortez" to get there and pull into it right off the main street. That's a little unusual. The park itself is a simple layout; the typical racecourse layout. An oval with sites on both sides as you drive around. The pull through lots are in the middle, of course, and that's where we stayed. When we arrived, we were greeted nicely and directed to our site. Pulled right in, and all the hook ups were in reasonable spots, making our set up easy. We did have to use ONE block on our front passenger tire to keep from hanging by our jack, so I wouldn't say the site was 100% level. Enough room to easily park our rig(29' 3") and our tow vehicle, a Honda Fit. Everything worked fine: water, sewer, electric. Did not use the cable TV that was available, and never even tried the wi-fi. My cell signal was strong enough(middle of town) that I just used a hot spot for the little bit of Netflix streaming we did that evening. The campground is spartan but nice. My only gripes, really, are that the sites are quite close together, and it's near enough to the main street that you do hear some traffic at night. You don't forget you have neighbors. But we'd still recommend this spot.

This is a small area at the fairgrounds that has space for 6 RVs. All of the sites are back in with 30 amp power and a shared water connection. There are no sewer connections but there are several dump stations in town. There are no showers or restrooms. The sites are gravel and pretty level. Our Verizon and AT&T hotspots both worked well and cell service was good. There is what looks like a maintenance area behind the campground so there was traffic back and forth most of the day that kicked up some dust. It was also a bit noisy. The Durango to Silverton train runs right next to the fairgrounds and that can be a bit noisy too. The Animas River trail is within walking distance. There is also a town trolley service that will take you into the main part of town. The weekends can have events going on which could make it a bit tight to get in and out with your RV. Overall, this was an ok place for a few days but it is certainly nothing fancy. It was very affordable though.