Woodland Park is an ideal place for camping adventures of all kinds. Woodland Park is a great camping destination for everyone. There are tons of nearby hikes, adventurous activities, and sights to see. Find the best campgrounds near Woodland Park, CO. Read helpful reviews and tips to find the perfect camping option for you and your crew.
$40 - $87 / night
"Lone Duck Campground was a good home base for us during our visit to Colorado Springs. The campground is several miles down from Woodland Park and about the same down to Manitou and the Springs."
"Our site had grass, shade, a picnic table, and a fire ring - everything you need for a basic campsite."
"Honestly so many spots some trash I picked up. But nothing to crazy. Lots of self made fire pits"
"Some people left trash, which is annoying. Views are great. Rough road getting there though"
"There are a lot of dirt bikes and atvs driving during the day however I didn’t find it overly disruptive."
"Restrooms at base of road. Found our spot 2.5 miles up the road, definitely needed AWD."
"Found a great little campsite and had a fox as a neighbor! Only downfall was there was broken glass everywhere 😔"
"Rock fire pits, wood around. No water, garbage, nor toilets. Cool temps, road in is rough go slow. Nice shady trees. First few spots you encounter left, then right seem ok."
"We drove a couple of miles up the decently maintained dirt road and found the second dispersed camping spot and decided to set up our roof top tent for the night. "
$99 - $150 / night
"Camp site has everything you need without the hassle of pitching your tent and packing it up."
"We were told of this spot by Great Outdoor Adventures in Woodland Park. The fire pit was insufficient so we built a new one that we are proud of! Live A Great Story!"
"Driving down to this campsite I was happy to have a small car because the road is very narrow to say the least. I cannot imagine the feeling of driving a large rig here."
"We arrived the Phantom Creek Road around 4:30pm. 10miles and 30 minutes later we found our spot."
LegendCAMPGROUND REVIEW: COLORADO CAMPGROUND PIKE NATIONAL FOREST
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/colorado-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70684
Colorado Campground is one of several campgrounds less than 10 miles north of the city of Woodland Park off Route 67 in the Pike National Forest.
Situated at 7800 feet elevation, even summer nights get cool. Nearby 5 acre Manitou Lake is a trail walk away. You can toss your canoe or kayak in, but unless you are simply trout fishing, it’s tiny size doesn’t offer much variation.
Numerous foot trails lead into the National Forest, offering wonderfully quiet hikes and exploration.
There are 81 sites available, but some are adjacent to highway 67, so periodic road noise will be heard. The ponderosa pines assist in muffling highway noise.
Neighboring sites are visible across the entire campground, but they are situated in such a way that you are not directly on top of each other.
The back loop sites are larger and set deeper (Site 19, 20,21, 22, 23) which are my choice. Sites can be secured on www.recreation.gov. There are double sites which garner double fees. At the time of this review, sites are $23.00 nightly (a bit pricey for no showers or modern facilities). When there during the week, not including the host and groundskeeper, only four sites were filled. Most sites were reserved for weekends and upcoming Labor Day holiday.
No RV/Campers over 36 ft permitted. Parking pads are gravel, a few are pull-through. Sites are non-electric with no hookups…no showers Water spigots, metal trash containers and pit latrines are spaced out through the campground. Each site has one stationary picnic table and a fire pit. Most sites appeared fairly level. No specific tent pad locations.
With the towering ponderosa pines, there is ample shade.
Plenty of trails permit mountain biking as well as the paved centennial bike path that runs along highway 67 from Woodland Park 15 miles north…that you can walk, in-line, cycle and even ebike.
You have plenty of local activities to keep you busy, including the Red Rocks a couple miles south…or drive east on Rt 24 to Pikes Peak, or further into Manitou Springs for the Incline, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Garden of the gods and more!
Just six miles south into Woodland Park offers every food or shopping option.
All in all, a nice, clean campground in a great location.
GuideThis campground used to be free when I first found it years ago while visiting the Royal Gorge. Since the city has invested money into fixing up the campsites with fire rings, tent pads, and what seems to be pretty good county road maintenance, it’s definitely understandable why they charge a fee.
No water is available. There are vault toilets.
There are NO bear boxes.
Rules worth nothing (according to the sign upon entering camp):
There’s lots of hiking and mountain bike trails near the campground, which brought lots of mellow mtb riders in during my stay.
Because of the rules/amenities, i felt the price was a little steep as others have mentioned. However it is clean, close enough to Cañon city that you can go to town if needed, but far enough away to “unplug” from the world in a beautiful location. Overall I’d recommend visiting this campsite! I’ll happily return.
ScoutThe reservoir and surrounding areas are beautiful, but we don't plan to return to this campground. The roads in are so rough and created so much vibration that it was actually damaging to our A-Liner camper (with an off-road package). The speed limit is 55 and we weren't able to go much faster than 10 mph without the vibration becoming unbearable. The campsites are totally exposed with no tree cover, but it was too windy to set up our shade tent. The winds were so strong that we slept poorly; a neighbor in a tent said the wind ripped off two of his rain fly straps overnight. We chose Site 612 because the sites in that loop looked more private and spacious, but we failed to note that there was no bathroom on that side of the campground, with the nearest facilities being a short drive away. We left after the first night.
TravelerSome friends and I camped here in early October. It got a bit chilly at night, two layers, smartwool socks, a Carhart beanie, sleeping pad plus a medium temp sleeping bag kept me semi warm in our tent. The hikes we went on were beautiful and the restrooms were clean and close to our site. Because it was a last minute reservation we ended up in the RV section of the campsite so it was a little nosier than neccessary. We saw the park ranger ride through about every half hour to hour during our weekend stay. I would defintely stay there again!
GuideGreat campground right on Colorado Trail section 6. Family friendly with vault toilets, potable water, and very nice campground hosts. Currently under a fire ban due to the dry conditions but don’t let that discourage you! The campground is right off the highway so there is some traffic noise and a few of the spots are close together but overall a great campground, easy location, and perfect for backpacking!
LegendThis campground is set a couple miles down road 550 after all the free recreation area campsites.
The sites are pretty close together but there are well maintained pit toilets as well as a dumpster on site for trash. The surrounding area is filled with hiking and biking trails, including the Colorado Trail.
The campground is over 7k feet of elevation and a lot of trails intersect so make sure you keep track of where you are and what trail you are hiking on for the day. Not many are loops on their own.
There are a couple pit toilets places throughout the campground. Clean fire rings and picnic tables at all the sites.
Keep your eyes out for ticks and mosquitos. We found a couple of ticks on the dogs after they ran through the tall grass and the creek.
Across the road is a creek that is great for water hangouts and light fishing. We were here in May and the weather was about 70 during the day and 35-40 at night with plenty of shade and wind protection. It has sites for RV’s, tent, or van stay.
GuideLone Duck Campground was a good home base for us during our visit to Colorado Springs. The campground is several miles down from Woodland Park and about the same down to Manitou and the Springs. We were out and about during the days, but Lone Duck was nice to return to each afternoon.
Reservations were easy to do online. They had the site ready for us when we arrived.
Site 45 was great for our pop up. If we had our 30’ trailer, we wouldn’t have had room for our truck. The site is right next to a lovely stream that really drowned out any road noise. We slept great with the white noise the stream produced. Our site had a picnic table and fire pit (with grill grate). We had water and 30/20 amp electric.
The bathrooms/showers were in the main office. The men’s restroom had a couple of stalls and three showers. They were sufficient for me. The women’s restroom was small and cramped according to my wife. It appears the floors and walls had been coated with a garage floor or bed-liner material. It wasn’t the most appealing but again was sufficient. We did use the laundry room and all machines worked fine.
There is a store, small dining area, and arcade in the main office along with the restrooms and laundry room. Wifi was hit or miss from the campsites. It was better inside the office. The check in staff was aware of the wifi and mentioned they were working on it. (We weren’t here for the internet so again, not an issue for us).
The kids did swim in the pool. The water was warm and they seemed to enjoy playing with other kiddos there. There is a small playground next to the pool and fishing pond. Kids played there frequently until quiet hours.
There are a few small cabins on the grounds and separate sections of the park for tents. There are houses just across the stream from our site but we never heard from or noticed any of the neighbors.
There is quite a bit of greenery throughout the campground. I thought the place could use a mowing or weed eating, but maybe it’s normal to have local grasses/plants left alone to grow.
As others have mentioned it is a bit tricky getting in and out. If you leave toward Woodland Park, you’ll have to cross a couple of lanes and make u-turn. Same thing of your coming to the campground from Manitou. You’ll make a u-turn.
Overall, we liked the place and would stay again.
LegendRANGER REVIEW: The New Gregory Endo 15 Mtn Bike Hydration Pack at Painted Rocks Campground, Woodland Park, Colorado.
CAMPGROUND REVIEW: Painted Rocks Campground
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/painted-rocks/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70685
Painted Rocks Campground is located roughly six miles from Woodland Park off Route 67 on County Road 78 at 7800 feet elevation. Painted Rocks is considered rustic, in that it only offers centralized water and pit latrines (no electric, modern restrooms nor showers).
Painted Rocks Campground has two small grassy meadow loops…an upper (to the right) and a lower (to the left) as you enter the small campground proper. Each loop has one water spigot, one trash dumpster and one male/female pit latrine.
The upper loop to the right has eleven (11) sites and the lower loop to the left has seven (7) sites. Each site has one picnic table (buried and unmovable), and one metal fire pit. All sites have gravel/dirt parking spurs of varying length. The upper loop appeared to have shorter parking spurs and some were tent only. Site 9 has a 30’+ parking and very spacious for multiple tents. Most sites have Ponderosa pines, but some more than others. Site 9 had great hammocking trees. Picnic tables are large and in good shape. Pit latrines were very clean and stocked.
BrIef campground vIdeo revIew: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjNdSZg868
All sites are visible, line of site but are spread out enough to feel spacious and not “on top of each other.” County road 78 is not heavily traveled but you can both see and hear vehicles traveling by. It should also be noted that County road 78 is also dirt, so vehicles kick up dust…depending on wind direction…roadside sites will be coated with a fine layer.
There is a host immediately to your left upon entering the campground…who also sells firewood. A ban was in effect upon my visit. When the host is “off duty” you can self register or register online (recreation.gov). Cost is $23 nightly.
Note that the sole Campground sign on route 67 is small, thin and easily missed. Coming from Woodland Park you’ll pass Red Rocks Group Campground (more on that later), South Meadows Campground on your left and Colorado Campground on your right. The second left after Colorado Campground is County road 78.
There is not much offered at the campground itself other than relaxation. What is close by is the draw. Within a half hour drive: On a grand scale, you have two hiking routes up Pikes Peak (Barr trail and the Crags), drive up or take the Cog Railway. The Manitou Incline. Red Rock Canyon open space, Cheyenne Canyon, Garden of the Gods and a myriad of incredible hiking trails. Nearby is the Centennial Bike Trail offering 15 miles of out and back to Woodland Park and innumerable offroad traIls…and my favorite, Red Rocks Trail only a few miles away. All things outdoors are nearby: paddling, biking, hiking, scrambling, climbing, off-roading..
Check online or call before planning your stay as Painted Rocks Campground is only open during summer months…this year only til September 3rd. Mid-week (July 9-10) saw only four campsites filled, but weekends are ordinarily filled.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Pricey for no campground amenities, but what is close at hand makes up for it! I'll go again.
PRODUCT REVIEW: Gregory Endo 15 Mountainbike Hydration Pack
4.5 out of 5 Stars!
https://www.gregorypacks.com/hydration/endo-15-3d-hydro/91650XXXX.html
PROS
CONS
What a great Hydration Pack! I’m going to suggest it’s a perfect all-arounder for its capacity, comfort and secure fit. As a Review Ranger for TheDyrt.com, I received this pack for testing and evaluation.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UBVsAd69qhc&t=10s
At 15 liters, I fit an abundance of necessity and unnecessary items for a day hike or ride.
Gregory’s main objective was to make a superior mountain biking hydration pack…and they have. But the Endo 15 offers much more versatility. While I haven’t climbed with it yet, it’s sleek design and clutter free frontage prevents snagging or getting in one’s way. I’ve put over a couple hundred trail miles since receiving this pack…and I’m appreciating it more each mile.
Once you don the Endo 15 and adjust the straps, it molds to your back with no movement. Whether cranking out the miles in the saddle or hoofin’ on foot, the Gregory stays put! No side swaying and little upward bouncing. So no worries of losing concentration on the technicals due to annoying pack shifting.
The Gregory Endo 15 materials are as durable and robust as its larger kin.
Feature-rich:
Changes I’d like to see:
Final Thoughts: I endeavored to put Gregory’s Endo 15 through its paces over several hundred miles…while hiking, scrambling, cycling on road and trail, and motorcycling. I am extremely impressed with how breathable, yet form fitting the Endo is to the body…and how much I can bring along. It’s my everyday favorite and I highly recommend it. Thankfully, No Endo's were performed during testing.
LegendWe stayed at this campground in order to help out with the Xterra Race that was taking place the next day. We reserved two walk in sites (30 and 34) and it was easy to find them. The walk in sites are between 20-40 feet form the parking lot and on a slight (and rocky) hill. There was plenty of privacy by way of shrubs so it felt secluded even though the sites are right next to each other.
You can only set up tents on the tent pads in the sites so that was a little challenging being that we needed to sleep 10 and could only fit 1 tent per site. But we were able to make it work. Also, the ground is very compact, so stakes were hard to get into the ground and we had to tie off our guy-lines to the bushes to keep them in place during the night.
Keep in mind that you are on a military base area so you will hear TAPS periodically throughout the day and night. Campground is open year-round
It has:
51 Full Hook-Up sites
10 Basic Tent sites
Coin operated showers and laundry (Seasonal; These amenities are for active campers only.)
Overall the sites were great. Bear food lockers and water at each site. The firepits were large and well ventilated. The bathrooms were super clean and accommodating. Lots of trails and ranger led events happening to keep you (and your kids and dogs) entertained.
Woodland Park, Colorado, offers a variety of tent camping options that allow you to immerse yourself in nature while enjoying stunning mountain views and abundant wildlife.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Woodland Park, CO?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Woodland Park, CO is Lone Duck Campground and Cabins with a 4.2-star rating from 34 reviews.
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