Woods Lake Campground

Fantastic national forest campground. Mountain views all around. Woods Lake itself was a short hike away. Enjoyed fishing there with beautiful views. The campground is over 9400 feet in elevation. I did some huffing & puffing while walking around there. Our campsite, #4, was narrow & deep; no problem for a camper van. It has a table, metal fire ring/grill, lantern poll and a tent pad set back deeper in the woods. Surrounded by aspens. Camped there in early June. Vault toilets were not yet open, but clean portable chem toilets were provided. Potable water stations were not yet turned on. Helpful camp host was on duty. Firewood was available at $10/bundle. Our site, as well as others, were private & reasonably separated from others. No shower and hookups. Deer everywhere. Saw sign of mountain lions & bears on the nearby hiking trails. This is one of the prettiest national forest campgrounds that I ever camped in.

Van campers perspective: Turned off Hwy 145 onto Fall Creek Road because the roads name sounds cool and promising for a camping area down the road. Fortunately we ran into Wood Lake and found the campground host to be welcoming and helpful. We found a site amongst the aspen and enjoyed the light wind blowing thru. The sites had adequate spacing allowing for privacy (7 out of 10). A water canal on the upper area feeds the lake, a walk along the canal is beautiful with views of snow capped mountains. Unfortunately the roads were quite dusty making for some gritty situations, drive slow and respect fellow campers during dusty conditions. The campgrounds are at 9400’ providing aspiring views.

The campground was pretty crowded, but you wouldn’t have known it by the noise. Even though just about every site was occupied, it was still peaceful to camp. We found site 12 open and it was a nice roomy site with a long drive leading down to our picnic table, and beyond that there was a tent pad. The tent pad was very hard, we were unable to stake our tent in to the surface so we had to stake out beyond the pad. That ended up being ok because it rained the whole time and our tent stayed nice and dry inside.  It appeared that a good portion of the campground was being used for hunting base camp but some were there recreationally. The campground is not right on the lake, it’s a short walk over but from some sections you can see the lake. We did venture over to the lake and it was a pretty large lake, very scenic, mountains in view, people in kayaks and I imagine paddle boards as well, none this day though. We were excited to go and find a geocache on site and we weren’t disappointed. We also found a lovely caterpillar right by the geocache.

Another perk to coming out, mountain biking. Well, for us it was a cross between road and mountain, we stuck to the roads but they were dirt and washboard and had some pretty big rocks. But it was a wild 10 miles from Woods lake down to HWY 145 that goes up to Telluride. I took my 9 year old along the first run and he was terrified, although he handled it quite well. I enjoyed it so much, I did it again the next day. Except I continued from there through Placerville and all the way to within one mile of Norwood Hill. About 23 miles or so and it was a blast. Once you get to about the 8th or so mile, it turns to black top and it is paved the whole rest of the way. The 8 or so miles up to Woods lake is gravel/dirt/rock. There were plenty of trails that one could take as well and if you head towards Telluride, even more options. Even with the wet weather, it was a lot of fun!

Overall, the campground was comfortable, quiet, even at near full capacity. The restrooms were very clean, well stocked and had lights that came on at night! Bonus for no peeing in the dark. Time of year was a bit chilly, we stayed in September. But we also have a summer seasoned tent. The campground had an abundance of trash receptacles, all bear proof and they also had fresh water hydrants. It’s somewhat remote so having water available was a treat! Plenty of shade and the picnic table was nice. Would definitely visit Woods Lake again!