The campsite is right off highway 80. We didn’t think the noise was very bothersome at all. Most campsites pretty spread apart, with a few closer together. We had campsite #15 and it was of the more private campsites in the place. Site #16 is more of a walk in site, but is in my opinion, the coolest in the place. Site #16 is hard to find, you have to keep going back between sites 17 and 15 to find it. Cost is $10/night. Potable water pump (although water is a little discolored) and toilets. The bathrooms were overrun with flies. You cannot get firewood here so bring it with you. There’s an overflow parking area at the pay booth. All sites looked like they had room for at least 2 cars, and some (like sites #15-17) had room for more. We got there at 9:00 AM on Friday and there were tons of spots. There were still spots open at 4:00 PM too. As a lot of people mentioned, it’s pretty windy so you need to pay attention to fire bans and red flag warnings.

We stayed here on Saturday and got site 191. I would have done research and requested specific numbers looking back, as I think Yellowstone would have tried to get us the right sites. We had a campervan and pop up tent. We stayed here on a Saturday. Our site was huge and had a bear box, fire grate, and picnic table, but had ZERO shade and no trees we could use for hammocks. We were right next to the trail that leads you to the riverside which was nice. You do get a little foot traffic but I didn’t see any sites that really offered a lot of privacy as is typical in national parks.

We were close to the bathrooms which was nice, but not right next to them.

Avoid sites right next to the bathrooms. I think it was 160 or 162 that was absolutely TERRIBLE and had bright light and noise all night from the bathrooms being right next to them. I thought the site next to us #190 looked nice and they had shade.

There are dump sites and water fill ups near the entrance which is convenient. We had a 19 ft van and the pop up canopy, so we were stuck in the RV loop.

Note that third picture is of the river you can walk to from the trail right by our site!

We stayed in two different sites here. I171 and our second one was K242. I would have done research and requested specific numbers looking back, as I think Yellowstone would have tried to get us the right sites. We had a campervan and pop up tent. We stayed here on a Friday and a Sunday. We thought it seemed like all sites had a lot of shade.

I171 was a better site. We were less close to neighbors and had a bear box. The site was huge and clean. We had some people using generators outside of appropriate hours.

K242 did not have a bear box and we were really tight next to neighbors including a huge family who left a bunch of food and stuff out when they weren’t at the site. We got eaten ALIVE by mosquitos at this site (not a single bite at the other Canyon site, no idea why). It was so bad we put of the fire and spent the evening inside the van.

Besides the idiots you will encounter anywhere, staff was really nice and the facilities were well maintained. We did think we would get showers at the campsite because we booked really far in advance and they are currently closed (June 2021). Luckily we have an outdoor shower on the van, but this would have been a big deal if not.

There is a dump site and water fill up as you exit which is really convenient.

Pro Tip: If you are going with a van or small RV and say you are not using a tent, they’ll likely put you in a really small, tight campsite in the inner ring. Instead, select the right vehicle length and say you are bringing a tent. We brought a pop-up canopy because we weren’t sure if our site would have shade and booked a tent/19 foot spot. We were given a bigger spot because of this I think.

Also note every day we checked in after 1PM there we’re walk in people who got sites which I have NO IDEA how. The sign outside the campground said “full.” I wouldn’t bank on this, but I was surprised.

Pictures from I171.

We stayed at Colter Bay Campground in the tent only section site 134 F. We had a campervan and a tent and had plenty of space. As with many national parks, neighbors are a little close but not terrible. We liked our site location and would come back again. We were across from the bathrooms and the water and had a huge bear box with a picnic table and fire grate. We had some cell service, but not great as expected. Firewood is sold nearby in the general store. Tent only sites were great because there weren’t any generators. All facilities clean and nicely maintained. Definitely would come back.

We stayed at sites #27 and #28 over Memorial Day weekend, 2021 which are on the outer loop. Both sites had tons of space for tents, large picnic tables, large bear boxes, and grated fire rings.

There was one site kind of close to us, but they never showed up so we had a lot of privacy. Site 28 I believe is the one that is further back and more private.

Parking was kind of confusing for the tent sites. There were 7 designated spots in a small lot for 4-5 sites that could each have two cars. While there are other places cars can park on the side, the host told us you could get ticketed by park rangers. We didn’t have any issues, as the lot got full and one person had to park there, but we still were unclear of where our allowed two cars could go. There is a huge OHV lot not far you could probably park in overnight. I think the sign said no camping, but not sure about overnight parking. When we arrived at 11AM we saw that there were still 5-6 first come sites available for the weekend (although rain was forecasted and probably had an impact).

I was the only one with cell service (1 bar with T-Mobile). The host was really nice and came by to say hi. They sell firewood at the host site. Usually there is water, but they had a temporary outage when we went.

The road getting to the campgrounds is pretty bumpy, but lots of RVs and cars made it fine.

If we went again, we would probably get an RV site so we knew we’d have enough car space. Less than an hour from Denver and nicely maintained, would return again.

We didn’t have any issues with noise like some reviews state. We were up until about 2:30 AM each night and couldn’t hear any other sites still up (although they probably kept things quiet after hours like we did).

We stayed at a campsite here on 5/14/2021. We felt that we weren’t too close too neighbors and could stay up as late as we wanted without worrying we were keeping people awake nearby. Our campsite had trash, bb bullets, and tons of broken glass everywhere from some idiots who didn’t clean up after themselves. While it was a beautiful site, we had some concerns about the dog and our tires with the nails and glass. The reservoir is really beautiful, but again there was broken glass EVERYWHERE to the point that we couldn’t wade in the water or hang near the edge without shoes. If the glass problem (which seemed to be prevalent everywhere) was resolved we would definitely return.

There were stone fire pits (so these can’t be used when there are stage 1 fire bans), vault toilets, and while there was a stone patio table, no chairs so wouldn’t call it a “picnic table.”

We stayed at Alvarado for one night on 5/15/2021. We had sites 34 and 35 right across the road from each other. Steve the host was really friendly and stopped by to say hello a couple of times. There are several hiking trails nearby. The vault toilets were right by us and we didn’t have any issues with smell, and they were the cleanest vault toilets I’ve ever seen. The water was closed when we were there because they were waiting on test results before they could open, they did end up opening the water on Sunday so I’m assuming it’s good to go for the season now. Town is really close by (maybe 15 min) so we just went into town and filled up water jugs. Site 34 was a bit close to the campsite next to us. We ended up going to sleep when our neighbors did just because we thought even low voices would be a disturbance to them in their tents. Other than the close proximity, the sites were great and nicely maintained. The sites higher than 35 seem to be spaced a bit further apart so would probably go to the upper sites next time. Great campsite, would return again!

Nice picnic tables and permanent fire pits/grates (which means you can typically use even during stage one fire bans) at every site. A lot of dumpsters and water spots, as well as toilets.

We got an amazing site here, best we’ve had in Colorado! Note that there aren’t a ton of good sites, so if you don’t show up early you might be out of luck. I think we got there Friday before noon and got one of the last decent sites. I still have not seen stars as pretty as I saw here. The reservoir is about 10 minutes driving down the dirt road (highly recommend a sunrise visit). Hiking nearby too. All first come sites with no fire grates or tables. Very secluded sites.

I mean, look at these pictures of the reservoir.

We found Dumont after a ranger at Lake Granby suggested we head to Rabbit Ears Pass after everything near Lake Granby was full. We got there about 11AM on a beautiful Friday and there were several spots still available. We had enough privacy at spot #15. We tend to stay up later than the families and I would say the entire area was very quite by 10PM when we dialed things down. Most spots pretty secluded, some are little closer together. The lake is like a .25 mile walk and very scenic. Bathrooms are relatively clean. Fire rings at all sites so you can have a fire during some stages of fire bans. Bring bug spray! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes… through my leggings.