My customary intro

[Elbear1]

36 year old guy from kentucky. Been part time since around 2009 and living off my piece of land in S. KY in my 80's chevy hightop for a year. Ive recently hit the road west though. 

Never been west of st. Louis and rolling i to colorado is a bit shocking. I figured the weed would make the place chill. NOPE. people drive 95 everywhere. I literally came 3ft from being rearended backing into a spot all the way out in gunnison on a middle of nowhere unpaved county road for crying out loud. Car had to be doing 50mph.

Then I would have sworn going to a place with 2x the land area and half the people would be isolated. Ive hit 10 different locations and every one is elbow to *******. Up in twin lakes overlook there might be a hundred + vehicles. Is this normal? If so im about to go back east for some privacy.

Anywho thanks for having me and i look forward to picking your brains. Mmmm

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome El Bear or should I say El Oso to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

don't give up on the west you're just going to the wrong spots.

highdesertranger

 

[user 423]

Then I would have sworn going to a place with 2x the land area and half the people would be isolated. Ive hit 10 different locations and every one is elbow to *******. Up in twin lakes overlook there might be a hundred + vehicles. Is this normal?

Colorado is a very popular tourist destination in summer and does have 6 million+ of it's own residents. With the economy healthy and since gas isn't sky high, lots of folks are doing the vacation thing.  The closer you are to larger cities, the worse the crowds will be....especially on weekends.

There are more remote,less busy places but it can get expensive driving all over to find them.  I would spend some time looking at the US Forest Service campground listings for whatever nat'l forest you're near.  They list the CG features and locations and also should indicate usage....Light,Medium,Heavy.  That info isn't always accurate though. Here's a link to the Pike-San Isabel:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/psicc/recreation/camping-cabins/?recid=12403&actid=29

There is also a lot of dispersed camping available in the national forests. Check around on that NF site there.

There are tons of camping areas, so it takes quite a bit of sifting through the possibilities.

Check the forum here for links to other boondocking/ free campsites.

 

[Elbear1]

Thats what i figured when i went to pike/front range/co springs and it was nearly impossible to find an empty spot. So I kept going west. It maybe got a little better. So I went south. Same thing every place I scout is full. Salida walmart was a shanty town of campers. Most plates are actually colorado. Very few out of state even mid-week.

I primarily use UC public CG, freecampsites, campendium in that order. I will try using usfs more. I do now but its much easier using UC public.

 

[MrNoodly]

In comparison, when I was a Twin Lakes Overlook at the end of June, 2016, there was one other rig. So I guess it depends on a bit of luck.

After a few years I got a feeling for which places were always crowded, or what times to avoid certain places. For example, I made a loop through Idaho and Montana last year in late August/early September. I was practically alone.

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

plenty of unspoiled camping in colorado. best advise i can give you on find them is to pick up a book on colorado camping places. then dont waste your time going to any of those spots...

are you still in the salida area?
do you need to be in a "campground" or are you able to boonedock?

 

[ckelly78z]

Mid July is absolute peak tourist season for the cool mountains. I remember hitting the pikes region/Colorado Springs as a child 40 years ago and loved every minute of it. I can't imagine the traffic/congestion, and pushiness now...everyone needs to get the most out of their vacation because of a short allowed time.

Most schools have no kid's sports practice for the first 2 weeks of July, so everyone takes that to explore, and you saw it at it's worst.

 

[Elbear1]

plenty of unspoiled camping in colorado. best advise i can give you on find them is to pick up a book on colorado camping places. then dont waste your time going to any of those spots...

are you still in the salida area?
do you need to be in a "campground" or are you able to boonedock?

Great advise and I am realizing that. If its on freecampsites just forget it.

Boonedocking only. Im in gunnison area now. My spots i had researched in salida were all full so i kept going west and got caught in monarch pass....my poor old van...lol

I hope youre all correct. Ive heard the sierras are empty so maybe everyone just happened to come here. Because the crowds are ominous. The crowds in twin lakes were just a little thinner than an average RV park...literally

Out here with lame internet and canyon scrub land its better. Lots of locals up and down the road but only one tent camper nearby. I guess everyone wants strong net and a body of water and so do I....

 

[Qxxx]

... Ive heard the sierras are empty so maybe everyone just happened to come here.

Guess again. There are 40M people in CA, and 10M whatever around LA. They stream into the Sierra in the summer, to the higher elevations to get away from the heat. Most high country campgrounds are largely reservation anymore because of the massive crowds. Places like Yosemite may require reservations months in advance.

I think half the people move to CO because of the mountains, so there is where you'll find them in the summer. Similar with the OR cascades, AZ north of Phoenix, on and on. If you look hard, you can find FS campsites along the less beaten highways.

Summer time is high season. C'est la vie.

 

[Stargazer]

ElBear1,

CO is very popular, especially any place that is a "destination" -- places with fun tourist things to do, like Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, and Gunnison is popular for rafting (it's a college town, btw).

You aren't far from several good, quiet boondocking places: Uncompahgre NF and Grand Mesa NF. I've done both of them. There's nothing touristy at either. In Montrose there are NF offices where you can get info/maps.

Basically, if you've heard of a place (Vail, Aspen, Silverton, Durango, Ouray, etc), it'll be crowded until late August when school starts.

 

[bullfrog]

If you can deal with the heat the Colorado river and surrounding BLM areas are a little less crowded but internet and cell phone coverage are limited to Bullfrog lodge at the north end of Lake Powell at Glen Canyon Recreational Area. The Henry Mountain BLM area is twenty dirt road miles away (about an hour or two) with higher elevations and slightly cooler but more bugs.

 

[maki2]

Then I would have sworn going to a place with 2x the land area and half the people would be isolated. Ive hit 10 different locations and every one is elbow to *******. Up in twin lakes overlook there might be a hundred + vehicles. Is this normal? If so im about to go back east for some privacy.

Colorado is a state with a lot of active outdoor types who love to get out and about. But you are also looking at a situation where the last few years there were a lot of large devastating wildfires all over the Western USA which made it next to impossible to get away from the smoke. So all across the west this summer people are taking advantage of at last being able to actually get out there and do the camping they have missed out on for the last few years. A situation of missing it in the past and fearing getting shut out again next, week, next month or in future years means more people than normal are out there this year. It has been famine for a few years, this year they are feasting while they can. Overlay that situation with the baby boomer bloom of retirees starting to peak and you have way more people than in years past. And of course the legal pot thing is attracting lots of new visitors to the state for a Rocky Mountain High.

 

[annapearl]

Come to Wyoming! Avoid Northwest Wyoming (Jackson Hole and Yellowstone) to find places with less population and more pristine camping. I particularly love Southwestern Wyoming. The Uintas and the mountains near the Ham's Fork river are amazing!