River Backpack Area — Colorado Bend State Park

Stayed in the River Backcountry Camping Area. No more than a mile from the parking lot it was a nice secluded area. The trail there is almost perfectly flat you could definitely bicycle in and out. It’s nice to be right on the river and out of the hustle and bustle of a main camping area. Saw mountain lion prints every morning in the mud on the trail, which made me slightly anxious when hiking. Did have some issues with raccoons pawing through our stuff at night, but we had all of our food hanging in a storage bag from a tree. The trails are nice in the park lots of good views. They aren’t very well marked and the maps aren’t good but it wasn’t ever all the strenuous. Gorman Falls in October when we went was definitely not worth the hike, just a trickle of water down the cliff face. Definitely would go back to the park and bring the mountain bikes.

If you like to hike in the back country this is an excellent park. It is secluded and once you go through the gates expect to travel around 67 miles to reach the campsites. I lost all phone service about 23 mi.es before reaching the gates with Verizon. They have I drive up sites, walk in sites, and hike in. We stayed at a walk in. Prepare for 200~300 yard hike with your gear from the parkin g lot. The campsites although with a beautiful backdrop were in an open field area with little shade. Felt more like festival camping. Wou.d have loved to see more secluded, wooded campsites with more privacy. You are constantly looking into your neighbors site and they into yours..The hiking here is superb with many nice swim holes to take a dip in throughout the spring with multip.e waterfalls if you continue through and behind the first spring pool. Be sure to take the 3 mile hike to Gorman falls as well for a 70 ft beauty. We seen lots of wildlife in this park. Beware although rare to see Mt. Lions do roam the terrain... Great park to visit just not the camping we expected. Although the hike,swim, and falls made up for it.. Overall recommended but do your research. This site is remote so be sure to bring everything you will need.. cash or checks only for firewood btw..

The drive on the way was very beautiful and scenic, we read good reviews about the river primitive camp sites so me and a friend went together, it was a short hike from the car to the camp sites, about a mile an half. The trail along the way was not visible, the weeds had over grown the trail so our legs were getting cut up for such a short hike. Once we get there we found an "alright " camp site near the river, we set up camp and cooked. Across from the river was a house that was occupied. Later on that night around 12am we could hear loud banging across the river and a woman yelling so loud, it sounded as if she was on our side. We went to sleep but again around 3am, we heard loud banging coming from the house across as if someone was hitting a door or wall, then what happened next scared us that we got no sleep at all, we heard loud screaming "help! Help! Help!" We stayed up the whole night, plus the way the camp site was made, no wind could get to us, the trees and brush were so thick, we slept in this humid area just listening to the wind wishing we stayed at another park instead. The morning we took off, went down the timer trail to dog canyon, still the trail was so un maintained, weeds growing over the trail and just covered in cuts. The only good thing about the park was seeing the dog canyon and gorman falls. I won't be staying here again that's for sure, we were in such a rush to leave we forgot to report to the Rangers about the screaming.