[Little Sue]

Hi all

I'm heading over to Colorado and Utah in early September, and hiring a small rv for a 3 week tour round Fruita, Red Canyon / Gooseberry Mesa, Durango, and Salida areas.

Coming from the UK I'm a bit lacking in knowledge about where we can camp. Does anyone have any advice, especially about 'dispersed' camping? Is this free? Can we camp at trailheads or do we have to go to specific places? Are there any good places in the areas where we're heading to, that are accessible with a hired rv?

Also, we're heading for Fruita on the 1st September - is this Labor weekend, and will everywhere be very busy?

Sorry for sounding like such a muppet Hope you can help

Cheers

Sue

 

[bear]

Sue, I'm not a local but have *some* related knowledge, hopefully someone else will pipe in.

First, it'll be pretty warm in the "low" altitudes that weekend, so be prepared. Ride early, hydrate well, be conservative, be smart.

Second, yes that's Labor Day weekend and I'd expect a rise in attendance because of that, no clue how much though. Whether people have Friday the 31st or Monday the 3rd as their "holiday" day will vary. I do know it'll include me and a friend who are driving up from Texas so maybe we'll see you out there. We're only going to be in the Fruita/G.J. area for 2, maybe 3 rides, er, days though as we're spending the bulk of our time exploring the CO higher altitudes.

Third, pretty much in the USA you will need to camp at "designated" spots - this being the various campgrounds that are either privately or publicly held. In general, camping just anywhere is not okay. There will be places you can camp at that are riding-distance to various trails, so it is not like you will need to drive to the ride. This is probably particularly true of Durango and Salida (if I have my information correct). Camp sites will vary in fee from free-to-expensive depending upon location and facilities. There should be lots of options even with your hired RV to get decent locations. In the low-altitudes I would put a premium on camping spots either near rivers or that include shower facilities, or both.

If you do google searches for "colorado camping" or "colorado RV park" and related stuff lots of information comes up.

But, I hope that some locals chime in.

They're probably all out on the trails right now though.

I wish I was.

:^(

 

[dadat40]

I would say all of those towns will have private camping areas but for laborday weekend you will for sure need reservations. You may find some national forest camping off the main hwy but some of them will require reservations as well. try searching the u.s. forest service.http://www.fs.fed.us/ and then you will be able to aquire maps and info for the areas that you will be in.

 

[rcharrette]

Free Camping

Colorado has plenty of free camping in the National Forest. It really depends how close to town you want to be though. Fruita however has really clamped down on the camping situation out on 18RD. Still free but you must use designated sites. If this area is full then my next choice would be out by Rabbit Valley (kinda far out though).
In Durango you can get out by the ski area and Hermosa Creek trail. Plenty of free camping there.
Have fun!