Gates of Lodore Campground — Dinosaur National Monument

Really cool spot on the river. The river running into the mountains look like something out of the Lord of the rings. The river itself had beautiful colors! Mosquitoes were bad, but we’re manageable.

Very nice campground, easy drive in on well maintained dirt road. I believe it has 19 sites, we were the only ones there. Most people seem to just use the area for launching their boats and not staying. Very clean and nice campsites. The sites on the east side offer much more shade than the river side. Offers Pit toilets and potable water. We enjoyed our stay here and will come back.

We came to this campground on a holiday weekend expecting it to be busy and packed since it was the first day opened. What we found was a completely empty campground, a beautiful beach, and lots of wildlife. 

The campsites themselves were beautiful, and the ones on the East side of the campground were perfect for a large tent or for small groups to get a little bit of privacy. The sites on the Westside were better for RVers and had river access. 

I'm guessing that because it was an empty campground because it isn't rafting season and because there are ample amounts of free camping nearby for the large groups and weekenders that come out from around the area. It was only $10 per night with no camp host. 

The bugs are probably also pretty bad during the Summer but we only experienced a couple of bites. We spent most of our time on the beach and fishing. It was a great location to play around with the pups and in the water.

The nature hike to the Gates of Lodore view point was nice and easy but not wheelchair accessible. Most of the sites and the bathroom can be handicap accessible. The bathrooms were super clean (keep it mind it was day 1 of the open season). 

We got a nice surprise each day and a herd of young deer wandered through our site. They didn't seem too worried about our dogs either.  

There are lots of sites nearby to visit like Vermillion Falls, Gates of Lodore School, Irish Canyon, Wild Horse area, and Browns park.