Best Tent Camping near Jelm, WY

Glen Echo is an exceptional one-stop Poudre Canyon camping experience.   While they do offer large and small cabins, long and short term RV spots, we tent camped for two nights on two different riverside sites - numbers 1 and 6 - and both were awesome!  Both spots offered amazing rushing water views, a nice mixture of sun and shade, picnic tables, and fire rings.  One of the spots - site 1 - had electric hook-up.  Aside from the great tent sites, they have on-site a general store/market, fuel, a liquor store and restaurant/cafe, which made life super convenient because it's located about mid-way through Poudre Canyon and there's not a lot out there.  Also, clean showers, which was a nice surprise.  Cannot recommend this chill camping destination enough!

I tent camped at Ranger Lakes. I was the only one tent camping among all the RV’s. I didn’t mind that the spaces were visible from each other since I was camping alone. The pads were very spacious and flat. The lakes are very pretty and are a short walk from the campground. The trails around the lakes were nice to walk around. I wish there were facilities since there really aren’t any within most of the campgrounds of State Forest State Park. But Ranger Lakes is just a short drive from Cameron Pass as well as several beautiful trails. I’d definitely stay here again.

Near freeway, relatively secluded. Good camp site, some areas RV friendly. Tent sites hard to come by at night

Second time staying here. Tent camping and a rooftop tent. We stayed on the north causeway. We had the peninsula spot which was the best spot in that area. Beautiful lake and wildlife. Wish I had fishing gear with me. The staff keep this park clean. Thank you to them! Will be back.

We were told by Google that this campground was permanently closed, but we went with The Dyrt's info, and it really panned out. We were the only ones there, it was a short walk down to the Platt (flys and lures only), and the tent site, fire-ring, and picnic table were in top notch condition. Would definitely stay here again.

State parks were full so we stopped over in Laramie. Originally planned on a tent site but once we saw how open the tent space was, we decided to grab a dog friendly cabin instead. It was cozy with air conditioning and a mini fridge. Kind of a weird location between a neighborhood and hotels.. but it did the trick. Nice community fire pit for us to relax next to in the evening. Staff were friendly and helpful and bathrooms were clean.

I showed up late was still able to get a reservation by the water. I was able to get firewood at the camp store, and they had a lot of other things for sale. camped right in the water, it was beautiful! If I had to say anything bad it would be that for a tent site there wasn’t any grassy area to put my tent, most every spot had a lot of gravel which was unfortunate. other than that it was great!

The dyrt has some old info on their overview page, there are no reservations - it is first come first serve, there is no water hookups, but there are several water spickets that are available when the water quality meets standards for drinking water - sometimes water is not available (check USDA Vadauwoo Camprround site for up to date info).

The sites are a combination of back-in, pull-offs, and walk into tent camping sites. All afford amazing views of the unique rock formations and easy access to hiking, climbing and repelling sites within the area.

Our family tent camped one night, but we wished we would have stayed longer. Sites and restrooms are well maintained by friendly staff. This campground can fill up very quickly (we learned the hard way) and when full, sites are close together. At less busy times, more secluded and more open sites are available. The trails , both hiking and biking, are rugged enough for a thrill, but can be tame enough for kiddos. We have visited this campground twice on our travels west, and are sure to visit again!

What a great campground. Very rustic with each site having its own fore ring and table. There were plenty of flat areas for trailers but I would argue that all sites are perfect for tent camping. It appears to be a great place for those who are into mountain biking as I felt I was the odd man out since nearly everyone had one and was riding.  I really enjoyed the peace and quiet and view of the stars!

I would most certainly visit this campground again. Close to the I-80 which makes it convenient.

Walk-in availability only and about 11 sites which worked out fine. Only about 9 were filled when we were there. The bugs here got pretty annoying pretty quickly so be prepared. You will need a bear bag or vault. There are vault toilets and bear proof trash cans available. Water is also available. The tent sites were decent. You can fish in a nearby stream and check out the Green Mountain Falls accessible by day hike. They are worth seeing!

This was just an overnight stop, we were placed upon a hill top in the open right next to a reservable picnic shelter.  The wind wind was brutal, but it was a pretty view.  The amenities at the park are quite good, the visitor center was very nice and the showers and bathrooms were clean and very well maintained.  Since we were only doing an overnight I cannot comment overall on the park.  We did see some very very nice tent sites and trailer sites.  Its a water sports kind of park but in early may the weather was rather cold and the wind as I said was brutal.

Open: All year 

Reservations: 877-444-6777 or recreation.gov 

Out of season FCFS 

Fees: Reservation on line $9.00 call enter $10.00 

water, pit toilets, picnic table, trash, bear box for tent sites, fire ring/w grill 

No sewer hookups The sites are on the small side and a bit cramped. The Cache La Poudre River runs along the back side of the campground and provides a beautiful backdrop along with the tumbling towering rock bluffs. The drive along the canyon is a delight. 

Directions: Drive 11 miles north of Fort Collins on US Highway 287. Turn left (west) onto Colorado Highway 14 (Poudre Canyon) and travel approximately 13 miles.  

LNT 

Better than when you found it 

tay safe and travel happy

October '22 $25/night, $7 3rd car fee We arrived at 5pm and got the last car spot on a Tuesday, the walk-in tent sites were totally open. The river is SO close to these spots and it's just gorgeous. It was a great sound barrier at night and was fun to explore since the water level is low this time of year. It was freezing at night but then we realized the inside layer of our comforter was all bunched at the bottom, once we fixed it we were totally fine inside our tent. Bathrooms were clean and the fire pits/bear boxes were clean and well maintained. No rust or nasty spots, & little to no trash in sight! Yay! Dumpster available to clean up after yourself, friendly interaction with the site manager whose spot is up at Ansel Watrous where the firewood is.

Curt Gowdy State Park, Cheyenne Wyoming 

Located between Laramie and Cheyenne, about 25 miles to each. We stayed at the Tumbleweed Campground. If you enjoy stargazing,  you'll be amazed. There are no campground lights to interfere and campers keep lights to a minimum. We had a cloudless clear sky to enjoy the heavens. One of the most awesome night skys I've seen. Would love to be here for meteor showers! 

This area has electric and water. The sites are gravel and mostly level. Each site is totally separate with great views of the reservoir. There's a nice picnic table and firepit. Vault toilets. Really nice tiled showers (takes quarters) and flush toilets are available 24/7 at the Visitor Center up the road. Boondock and tent campgrounds also available.  Staff super friendly. Camp store has the basics. Nice mountain bike and hiking trails. Popular intermediate hike to waterfall, 4 miles rounddtrip. Fishing, picnicking, kids play areas. 

The 26 campsites at the Crags Campground in State Forest State Park were very basic and accessed by a road that was steep and narrow. No RVs or trailers allowed or able to make it up the narrow one lane access road, which made it nice and quiet for tent camping. Fire grills and picnic tables provided, but no designated tent pads, no bear boxes, no electricity, and only a tough to use hand pump for water in the center of the campground. As of August 2018, there was an appallingly old and poorly maintained pit toilet for the campground use--with a brand new, nice looking pit toilet complete with handicapped parking--locked and roped off with construction netting. We were visited by a moose at dinner time two nights in a row as she had unfortunately become accustomed to eating from people's unsecured trash and had a special liking for hot dogs and potato chips. Beautiful place, with neat animals, but be aware how basic it really is.