This area is near where I assume MDC stores their equipment, so the area is a bit busy but they have picnic tables and fire rings at the camping sites and they were well maintained (grass mowed, good gravel roads etc.). Not a lot of options for shade but a few :)

Love this little area for camping! It’s well maintained, quiet, easy to access, has lots of grass for the dogs to play and we always see wildlife. People often leave trash so be sure to leave no trace so it stays nice for all to enjoy <3

Area had car camping sites with covered shelters and picnic tables right by the water and some more primitive sites further from the water. Access is easy peasy.

Each site at this CA features a small gravel lot with a fire ring. The areas that have grass were mowed (June 2022). Road was inaccessible in some places near the creek but there were plenty of easy to access spots!

Pros: -Easy to get to, road well maintained -Grass was mowed (6/3/2022) -Grassy area for dogs to play

Cons: -Very little shade -Lots of bugs and ticks (6/3/2022) -Near gun range, noisy -Lots of farmers coming/going on same roads (noise, smells etc.)

We camped at Firey Fork in the autumn of 2021. It was during deer hunting season and we only had one neighbor that looked to be there for quite a while hunting. We could see them with our eyeballs but they were perfect neighbors and we didn’t hear a peep other than their generator for a bit. The area was mowed, had a rock fire place, concrete picnic tables (which were handy), a vault toilet, shade, grass for dogs to play frisbee, parking right beside your spot, trails, access to the river, good hammock trees, flat-level surface!

We attempted to post up at Dupree on the river for our inaugural spring camping trip, but was not able to enter the CA the usual way from St. Joseph off Highway 36. Our first attempt at entering was via the North on Airport Road (then 26th Road north 0.75 mile, and DuPree Road east 0.75 mile), but that led us to a locked gate with a sign that said something about a levee. So we exited back out Airport Road and headed SW and attempted to enter via Vermont rd. We found where they were digging the levee and were not able to pass through this route either (gates, sign, mud, federal prosecution from entering levee area) - but we saw this cool train bridge !! Short story long, we didn’t camp at Dupree but will try again next year :)

We scoped out this spot as a potential site to post up for Memorial Day Weekend 2022 in our square-drop camper. Sadly, we moved on to another location but wanted to review for anyone else that is interested. Here are our thoughts camping in this specific MO conservation area: 

This area has a small (~1/8 of an acre maybe) gravel pullout off the dirt road where the iconic brown fish and wildlife area guidelines and regulation signage are posted per ushe in Missouri. 

As far as we could tell, this gravel area was IT, as far as a camping site - so there wasn't much to it. Buuut it did have tree coverage for shade! IF there was anything behind the gravel area, we didn't see it, but a google sat. image looks like there might be a smaller road that goes on into the trees from the gravel lot, but at the end of May it was fully grown over and we didn't feel safe exploring it to see if there was any potential back there (its tick and snake season here right now.. maybe we'll check back in the Fall and update if we find more camping spots!)

I'd recommend this site for someone passing through just looking for a free, quiet spot to boondock for the night safely because the gravel parking lot is all you get (as far as land goes). The surrounding area of the conservation plot looked to have some trails and some creek features but no prime camping spots. Getting here was easy (Jeep Wrangler + square back pull behind) and the roads leading to the CA were well maintained and not muddy even after a ton of rain earlier in the week.

From Buena Vista, take HWY 285 S for ~ 7 miles to CR 162. Turn W on CR 162, and go for ~ 8 miles. This is bear country so be prepared! This campground has a fee, is small.. < 20 sites, and is FCFS but only during the off-season, you DEFINITELY need a reservation (from recreaction.gov) during peak season! FREE dispersed camping is just 5 miles south on FR 295 and tons of true dispersed sites are in the Browns Creek area south of CR162 off of CR 270 and CR 272.

This campground is on NPS land, so there is a fee ($16 in season+ water/$8 off season no water) that can be paid at the nearby ranger's station on the honor system. All 13 sites are in a single loop at the end of the road on the North Rim and are all first come first served. Pinyon and juniper offer shade and some visual privacy, however sites are all close so there is little audible privacy. Pets are OK if leashed. There are nice sized BearSaver boxes at each site, plus a fire ring and large picnic table. Vault toilets and potable water are both in the center of the camping loop, where you can also find other tables and lots of shade. Chasm trail begins near the end of the loop and there are great views of the canyon a short distance from all sites. Beware: drought year, so lots of yellow jackets - they swarm vehicles in search of water! Also, water is a limited resource brought in by truck to this canyon, don't be wasteful :)

Stayed here for a night after visiting the North Rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison!!! Great area > 1 hour down Stevens Gulch rd… got to see some enchanting aspen forests, trout jumping, and the milky way…. plus lots of folks heading out to hunt some critters and oh, cows everywhere hehe :)

This is for "Soap Creek Corral/ Coal Mesa Horse Camp" dispersed camping not the actual Soap Creek Campground. There were spots at the formal campground but they were small, unconcealed, and within close proximity to all other sites. However, there were true dispersed spots near the horse corrals where lots of horse trailers and off roaders park to ride the trails.

Off of HWY 50, we turned on to HWY 92 and then took FR 721 to FR 721 E where we turned and went right down to the proper campground before looping back out. We went out the same way in (FR 721) but split off onto the side road to find the horse corral area. Bear country. Pros/Cons: no mobile service, primitive, right next to a creek, lots of OHVs, milky way visible, mountain views, shade, creek sounds at night.

We came down from Boulder to find a great little spot off of 274A! Off of HWY 285 between Poncha Springs and Buena Vista, we took County Road 270W for ~ 1.5 miles to a 4-way intersection and continued …. the road changes to FR 272 and we stayed on for another few miles until FR 274 split to the right. Our site was off 274A and had great views.

All in all its a decent* place near Boulder to camp for free and is mostly easy to get to. There are 15 spots that, when we arrived on pre-Labor day Friday afternoon, were almost all taken, no surprise. We saw 1 spot available - site 12 I believe - that we could have taken but decided to kept going further to see what our other, more secluded options might be … The sites of the actual campground were far enough apart for visual privacy, but close enough not to offer audible privacy. We noticed~ 4 or 5 of the 15 spots had tents but no other sign of use like they might be abandoned ?!? (we wondered if these were 'placeholder' tents to guarantee someones spot if they leave and come back weeks/months later… edit: external article postulates that due to GG's proximity to Boulder, it has become inundated with abandoned drug camps littered by hypodermic needles. yikes). We ended up getting a dispersed site outside the confines of the campground, and as others have noted - the road isn't as well maintained beyond the campground borders and not super conducive for low clearance vehicles. Lots of off road vehicles use the trails in/near Gordon Gulch but were still respectful of our space. We only stayed one night, but the view in the morning of the sunrise was gorgeous. Our spot was East of the intersection of 233.1 and 228.1B roads. There were several other folks camping dispersed through the woods… few were loud (one had a chainsaw) but most were very respectful and quiet. Bear country. Bring your own firewood.