Nick and Sydney were very welcoming and responsive when we were looking for a place to camp the night of. They greeted us in the morning and also brought us fresh eggs. They’ve set up fire rings and picnic tables throughout their grass field and there are some shady sites with tree coverage near the back of the property. Thanks for the stay!!
We came from the north end of the pass along the 559 and found several unmarked, established campsites along the road before reaching the actual pass. They seemed a little bit more sheltered and shady, but no bear storage. Both the ascent and descent through the pass had some washed out, rocky moguls, and light stream crossings on the way out to the dunes
Well groomed dirt/gravel roads and many pullout/sites to choose from. Sites are pretty spread out and we only saw one other person out here. A local recommended we not go in the hot springs due to lots of biting bugs though
Driving for a few miles along a fairly compact but slightly washed out dirt road will drop you off right at a vista above the CO river. 2WD is probably fine but low clearance vehicles will likely struggle on the occasional deep rut. There are many, many sites, both along the river and further inland. Each site has a groomed, level tent site, picnic table, and fire pit. Dry toilets nearby are well maintained. Surprised we had the entire campground to ourselves.
A nice big meadow with no designated sites. Lots of places to pick from but only a couple trees providing shade. Access road is well maintained and low clearance friendly
The GPS coordinates appear to be a bit further north from the accessible camping and it seems like a solar farm was built there recently. We kept driving south on the 196 for a few miles and took some washed out roads in closer to the mountains to find some campsites. Probably don’t need 4WD but low clearance vehicles might have trouble. Not the flatest pullouts but workable and you’ll have the area to yourselves. Lots of biting bugs and moths. Not much shade to be found.
If you keep driving on the forest service road past the Skull Hollow campground there are many designated spots to car camp along the road. The road is dirt but 2WD/low clearance is fine. The campground has public, dry toilets near the entrance of the road. Some sites are shaded by juniper trees.