Best Equestrian Camping near Encampment, WY

We camped here July 25th-29th, 2018 with our 5 children (4-13) in our pop up camper. 

First thing to know is this is a remote area of CO at 9,000+ ft. elevation. It is also an area that has been affected by wildfire (2016). It is still absolutely gorgeous!

Worst part—> You will have to travel down a gravel/dirt road for ~30 miles to get to the lake and campground. Sections of it are TERRIBLY washboarded. Plan for over an hour to navigate through. You will be rewarded at the end! 

There is zero cell service (we have Sprint and Verizon), no electric/water/sewer hook ups or bathhouses. There are pit toilets throughout the campground that appeared to be very well maintained and cleaned often. There are also numerous water spigots throughout with potable water. 

The sites are all HUGE, almost all are pull through and many offer beautiful lake views with trails directly from your campsite to the water. We were in site 14. It did not have a water view, but was still amazing. All sites are gravel and appear to be fairly level. Most have pine trees, boulders and other natural landscaping that adds to the beauty of the campground. Very nice metal fire pits and sturdy, large picnic tables (though many are slightly bowed) were present at each site we saw. Bear proof dumpsters were easily accessible. 

We had hundreds of chipmunks visit us each day to clean up the kids’ crumbs. We also saw antelope and deer on the drive in and several moose, elk and a coyote off the highway heading to RMNP. 

There are two trailheads in the campground, lots of areas to fish, a boat dock and horse corral. 

This was our very first run at dry camping. We were 10 hours from home with 5 kids! We may be crazy, but lots of memories were made and we are calling this trip a big success! 

This campground was only $10/night and a true hidden gem in the Rockies. (Those roads though...ugh!)

Beautiful area of Wyoming. The campground is clean and remote, but busy. There was a lot of beetle kill removal work going on when I was there, but I think that has slowed down some.  Nice trails close by and the lake is lovely.

This was a great campground four or five years ago. It has since been decommissioned. There is no potable water and no toilets. The current human trash using this area can't be bothered to take a dump more than 5 feet from the campfire. They do, however, use a lot of toilet paper and leave it festooned all over. There is literally human excrement EVERYWHERE.

Its a great place but a long drive to civilization. Thank goodness

This is a nice group site with plenty of staggered sites, and a large pavilion. Half of the sites have a fire ring and cement picnic table. also there is potable water next to the pavilion and restrooms next to the parking circle. good for a few small RVs or pop ups. The Continental Divide trail is directly across the seedhouse road from here. The site can accommodate about 30 people.

Wonderful gem of a camping area, be aware, snow may persist into July and only altitude acclimatized individuals should sleep here. It is over 10,000 feet, 3100m. Nice views of ponds and mountains from several sites, may or may not have water.

Small site with incredible scenery and stargazing. As if the views weren’t enough, all of the campsites (to my knowledge) are very close to the water. We enjoyed kayaking around the lake and hiking nearby on the CDT. There are vault toilets but not much else...perfect!

Better for campers/cans as there isn’t much privacy for tent campers. Not enough trees for bathrooms so you may want to bring a hide-able set up. SO many mosquitoes and biting ants but the sunsets are gorgeous and make it worth it. Sites aren’t really marked/but are right next to the reservoir. No fires/water pumps.

Amazing views but lacks tree coverage. Tons of ants but I nothin bit me. Smells like sage and fresh air. Quiet as can be. Relatively flat land.

simple, and easy place to get to… flat awesome sunset

We showed up at night and it was very quiet, no problem finding a spot to camp. However, during the day the gnats, bugs, and ants were everywhere. Literally crawled up our boots and bodies. Great place to over night, but terrible place to hang out during the day unless you have a bug net.

We went up in Mid-sept with our dogs to photograph fall color change and were not disappointed. There is a short trail around the reservoir and we even got pictures of a couple beavers. The campground itself is decent and I've never seen it crowded. Road is impassable in winter.

We just returned from a quick overnight at Freeman Res Campground and enjoyed it more than any other camping this Summer. The campsites are well separated, and screened by trees for good privacy. Despite a mostly full campground after dark it was very quiet, no generators, no barking dogs, and no big parties. There is a mixture of pull through, back in, and some tent sites for all camping types. Multiple trailheads start at the campground or close by it. The reservoir is for non-motorized watercraft only, not all campsites can see the reservoir but one loop of sites can. We will go back and hope to enjoy multiple seasons from this campground.

This is a nicely placed campground up buff pass round outside of steamboat springs. It's the first camping you will come to on buff pass. It sits directly across for spring creek hiking trail and plenty of other hiking trail around. Also mountain biking serves as an option for the majority of the trails. Small directional loop serves all sites, In a moderate/heavily wooded area. Can remember how many site there are, but i think it was around 15-20? Fairly busy campground on the weekends. Pretty light traffic during the week. Alternatively is to drive up biff pass road( recommended higher clearance vehicle) to summit lake CG.