Paonia State Park Campground

We reserved this site on a busy weekend thinking it would fill up. We went in September and the lake was completely dried up and had no access from the campground as you might think if you looked on a map. The sites were huddled under these scrappy bushes that were swarmed with mosquitos. It had seemed no one had been at this campground in ages, the bathroom was in bad shape. Nearby was some wine tasting and a cute town of Paonia. I'd skip this whole area though and go right up Kebler Pass for much better camping. 

Terrible campsite with no water nearby

The campground is about 15 miles from the town of Paonia.  We stayed three nights and only had one other camper in the campground.  The ranch above us was moving cattle higher for the summer. As we were leaving the campground, we realized several of the cows had walked through our campsite to drink from the reservoir.  When we returned to camp we were surprised to see everything undisturbed in our camp, but we still had 2 cows there in the bushes.  My husbandtold the park rangers and they told the ranchers.  It was quite fun to see the cowboy riding into our camp to rustle the 2 cows out and up the road.  Campground was very quiet at night. We were camped off McClure pass so it was fun to visit the redstone castle, the town of marble and overlook the roaring fork valley.  

Quiet, cows, and cowboys

Had a great stay in Spruce Campground. The sites and restroom were clean and well-maintained. There is no drinking water so bring your own. The sites are a little on the small side so I wouldn’t recommend large campers but it was perfect for tent camping. The tent pads are very large and a nice bonus. The views were spectacular!