Best RV Parks & Resorts near San Juan National Forest

Ancient Cedars RV park is a great place to stay when visiting Mesa Verde National Park. It's located directly across from the visitor center on the other side of the freeway. The RV park has a combination of full hook-ups to campsites. 

The park has a playground with a miniature golf course. There's a recreation room with a pool table, TV, and games. It's a great place for the kids to hang out in. 

The cell service is good

Priest Gulch Campground is a privately owned campground/RV park. They have 98 RV sites with full hookups along with tent spaces and 8 cabins available for rent. They also offer free firewood, shower facilities, and laundry along with a camp store. The property is immaculately maintained and all the hosts are kind, warm, and helpful. The RV spaces are quite close together, but there are no generators and the camp strictly enforced quiet hours. We found it to be extremely calm and relaxing with our spot right on the Animas River.

Would stat inside the national park if available- this was a great RV resort with a playground, pool, pond, dog walk area.

Cozy, clean gorgeous! They make you feel like family. Staff is friendly and fun loving! Not your ordinary camp ground, very much a resort!! Stoner RV Resort makes you feel as if you don’t have a care in the world!

It's OASIS RV Resort & Cottages now, as you can see on Google Maps: https://www.myrvoasis.com

We've just stayed there and wouldn't go back. The location is very close to Durango but right off the highway so it's noisy. It was a noisy experience in general with large families partying every night (apparently they got warned by the hosts but that only helped one night), and loud music blasting in the washrooms 24/7. Some of the tent sites are mixed use, they come with electricity but the don't have a nice level gravel pad for the tent. Hosts seemed nice, facilities were very clean. Paper towels in the washrooms would be nice, or even better a hand free kickstand to open the door in times of Corona!

Fantastic RV park with full hookups, good Wi-Fi, two bars of Verizon, beautiful location, and excellent management. Nice amenities that are well maintained. Daily trash pickup at every site. I’m estimating that about 30% of the sites are occupied by guests that stay for six months every year and return each season. These people are nice, have very nice rigs, and even personally landscape their areas to look very nice. The staff is extremely nice and helpful. Great restaurant about five miles down the road and several places nearby to get necessities including a small onsite store. A+++!

Stayed in a nice, small space with full hook-up with a 30ft RV. Despite close quarters, the spaces were cosy and private with fire pits and great peeks to the mountains. A lot of amenities (shop, laundry, gas station) and despite high season, the campground was not full at all.

We stayed here several times when we were planning our wedding in Ouray. It is right in town, there are RV hookups and tent only sites (which we stayed at). Showers and bathrooms are clean and the staff was friendly and helpful. Location is right in town, so walking distance to everything and if you need to wash clothes, there were machines very close by.

Sites are relatively close together so not a ton of privacy, but the tent sites have a bit more trees and back into the mountain range.

This park is very nice but, no camp fires only grills. And it is like a koa. Your so close together you can here people whisper. There is a pool and tennis courts. But the courts have to be reserved. There is lots of hikes nearby but you have to drive to a lot of them. It's ok for RV type campers, no full hook up though. But it's made for that type of life style. If you're like me and have a small bag ass hot hatch and just want to take a tent and be with nature. It's not for you. Also really hard to find campground in park at night not signs or maps.

This is a really pretty place with level sites. Full hookups. One end of the Campground has cabins, yurts, Prarie Schooner wagons, and triframe cabins. All along the gorgeous Dolores River. This would be the perfect spot to meet with friends or family who don't have an RV. We were at site 13 with our 30' Grand Design bumper pull trailer. Plenty of room. Our site backs up to a fishing pond (catch and release). Big, clean restrooms and showers. The town of Dolores is a 5 minute drive... plenty of restaurants and a brewery. Definitely coming back.

OK, calling this an RV Park would do it a big disservice. Rather, this is the land of an elderly ranching couple, Gordon and Jeanna, who have opened up to RV camping on 5 spots carved out of one of their fields along the bubbling Dolores River. 

This is dry camping, no hookups are available. Self-contained RVs only, no tents. Sites include picnic tables and wood-fired stoves/firepits. It's $25/night and includes free firewood and trash pickup, and shared use of a large deck overhanging the river. Water is available at the couple's home across the road, and they welcome you to dump your grey water (not black, of course!) on their farm field. 

There's no website, and the couple has no email address. You may call to reserve a spot. Sites 2 through 5 are right along the riverbank, whereas site 1 is just a few feet away. Rafters and kayakers paddle right past the campsites every hour or two. You may fish the river without a license as it's on private property, and we know of at least one brown trout coming out of that river this week.

Cell service varies. We have both Verizon and AT&T. Verizon has proven to be useful only for voice calls and texts, as their data has been erratic even with a booster. AT&T has been sufficient for working on VPN and streaming video, with our booster and a Yagi antenna pointing due west.

This is a great campground. Full hookups available for $46 a night. Rv spots are kinda close together but we enjoyed having some younger families around. There is wifi but its hit or miss, laundry, restrooms, and satellite dishes at select spaces. The grounds are well maintained and the staff is very friendly. There is a short trail on site (Toehole Trail) that's super easy for kids and only goes about a quarter mile.

Late fall in Telluride can be one of the most beautiful times to visit. Before the snow covers the mountains entirely the crisp air engulfs the town and blends just the right amount of frost with greenery.

This was the setting of my trip to Telluride in early October. I arrived and roads were clear, the gondola was unfortunately down for pre-snow maintenance and the community was all the buzz preparing for their busiest season.

Camping is a bit difficult to find here unless you navigate outward, which is what I initially did before meeting a slick mountainside and having car issues which forced me to come back to town. Frantic and just before dark, I asked around for a safe place to stay. Just beside one of the cities green spaces and the park area is a lot designed for just that, short term over night parking. They call it “free parking”. It is located near the park and car henge which is a lot in downtown established to facilitate ski traffic during the busy season.

When I arrived there were several small off grid capable vehicles there already, a few short buses, RVs and suvs clearly converted to be adventure vehicles.

I myself wasn’t expecting to stay in my car as I usually camp in a tent, however this is a vehicle only site!! So I cozied up for the night inside the car, and boy was I happy I did!! The chill of winter blew in that night and with it 20 degree mornings.

I woke up and explored the area from this location and realized there was a public restroom at the front of the lot designed for those who stayed in the lot and others for ski community. It was nice and bare bones, no shower but warm!! The location was minutes from cafes and walking trails and the heart of Telluride.

When I spoke to people later in the day they said the lot was set up for RVs which could not park in many of the ski community parking areas. There is a shuttle that runs during season to pick people up from some of the hotels and this lot. Over time they extended overnight parking but not long term parking.

I was so thankful for this location, a true camping savior in the middle of this beautiful town!!

TIPS:

• When pulling into town this lot is going to be at the first major crossroad toward the right after the roundabout.
• Arrive Early! I was lucky that there was a space available when I arrived however I was told it is typically capacity well before dark.

To check out more about my experience camping here as well as more things that I found around Telluride which made sleeping in my car at FREE PARKING worth it check out these two links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJuB5F43FKI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Hp36Qq8Qc