Best Equestrian Camping near Walden, CO

This is a beautiful campground with lots of family-friendly activities to do.  They have direct access to the headwaters of the Colorado River.  We visited a little late in the season (August) to catch many fish, but we still had fun.  We found some tailwaters below the big lakes and caught some trout on the fly rods.  

This site is minutes away from an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We got up early and hiked a trail in RMNP and had a few moose walk right past us.  It is also close by to the major lakes of the area.  

They rent ATVs and lots of people bring their own horses to this campground to enjoy the many back-country trails that begin at the back of the property and go high up into the mountains.  

Facilities were well kept and clean.

Big Creek Lakes Campground, Colorado (close to Wyoming border): camping here is only open for 3 months out of the year: June, July & August. It's camping at over 9,000ft elevation and requires for you to be extra prepared for snow even in the summer months, bears, mountain lions, mosquitos, aggressive horse flies, leeches, strong winds, thunder storms and altitude sickness. They do provide water which tastes fresh like newly melted snow. You can boat, fish, even hunt at some spots with a permit, hike, and swim at your own risk (can be cold, leeches, snakes). It is truly beautiful up here and the drive up the Poudre river makes it worth it. You can also spend the day rafting down the river or fishing.

A lovely wooded campground literally on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park - we even saw moose from the back window of our RV!  Options for everyone from cabins, to FHU RV sites (limited and not the ideal locations, but still nice), water/electric sites and tenting areas.  Even Conestoga wagons!  There is horseback riding on site and we loved watching the horses run in and out each morning/evening and you just have to cross the road for a pretty hike along the Colorado River in RMNP (no dogs on the trails).  We camped with our Great Dane - very dog friendly with bag stations around the park.  Friendly and helpful staff, a small shop with supplies and souvenirs, a cute little petting zoo with goats, sheep, and pigs.

After driving for nearly 4hrs to find a spot in any of the first come first serve camp grounds up Poudre Canyon we started to head home only to pull into Pingree Park for one last cry for help... we stumbled upon Jack’s Gulch, a little hidden gem, tucked inside a cute mountain trek to the CSU campus at Pingree Park. It didn’t have any “water features” like a stream or a river but it was a quick car ride to find that. The spots were clean, noise was minimal, and there were bathrooms if you needed them. A lot of options as far as camping goes - electrical sites, walk up sites, equestrian sites, and mixed use (what I like to call a mixture of tent and RV). There were also trails all around the campsite that were accessible for bikes, or hiking. It was definitely a Father’s Day to remember. Oh yea, some coyotes at night definitely woke us up! I don’t believe they made it to the campsite but they were close 😳

We camped here in a trailer for almost a week. We were shocked at the availability of spaces given that Colorado is notoriously booked up by February.

Our space was The Overlook and it had an amazing view. The stable horses came up next to the site every morning. It is a massive site that accommodated our trailer, a 2-person tent, 2 vehicles and still had room to spare. The only downsides were no picnic table, little shade, and lots of wind up there.

We drove around to view the other sites. Many options including walk-in sites, riverside camping, and campsites with corrals for horse camping. If you have a larger trailer, avoid the lower sites. Keep to 1-5 or the Overlook for access.

There are stocked trout ponds. You have to pay an additional fee to fish in them. We bought fish food and never saw a fish. The ponds really needed to be maintained as there was a lot of weed growth.

The office is on the first floor of the condo building. Usually open until 4 pm. There is a restaurant (closed while we were there).

Showers are available for $5.

A gift shop/store is available with various small items and treats.

WiFi is available at the office and restaurant. Campsites are too far away. Couldn’t reach it with our WiFi extender either. (Normally wouldn’t want to but working sucks.)

Water for trailers is available bit a tad challenging to access simply because of sharp turns. I can’t speak to water availability for lower campsites.

Trash containers at both the lodge area and at the lower campground.

There is no dump on-site. However, there is a fee-based dump about 1.5 miles away in the Crystal Lakes Community. $10 per use with free water.

The stables are managed separately but are directly across the road. Super friendly and reasonable rates for trail rides. Our 5 & 7 year old granddaughters were able to ride their own horses and had trail riders lead them. Super nice folks!

This is open year-round (condos/cabins in winter) with tubing, skating, and X-country skiing in winter.