Colorado Campground

This campground truly is one of the cleanest and well-maintained campgrounds I have ever been to. The bathrooms were cleaned once or twice a day(didn't smell!) and the sites were very well maintained. We loved that there was a short little walk to Manitou Lake from the sites(sites in the 40 loop area) and it was absolutely gorgeous. Summers in Colorado come with afternoon rain so be prepared! Bring plenty of tarps and arrive early so you're not setting up in the rain. Tree coverage is pretty good at the sites here but I will say the nearby Spring Meadow campground is a bit denser in terms of trees and provides more shade and protection from the elements(slightly smaller sites though!). The campground is located next to a farm which was quite the surprise. You could hear the cows in the middle of the night so you might want to bring earplugs if you're a light sleeper. My niece loved the cows and overall, it was definitely a great place for kids.Plus, Woodland Park is less than 15 minutes away which was nice if you happen to forget anything.Would definitely come back for the bathrooms alone. Huge shout out to the camp hosts for maintaining the grounds so well. 4 stars only because we had to battle with a lot of ant hills on our sites and the cows kept me up the first night (all things that come with being outdoors)Some sites that I wrote down were 15, 19, the one across from 24. The 40 loop sites are big but high traffic because of the trail to the lake. We stayed at site 24 and it was large enough for three pop up tents, one 15 person tent, one 4 person tent, one 6 person tent, AND a badminton net.

Colorado Campground is a very FAMILY FRIENDLY place to camp. Despite its generic name (don't Google "Colorado Campground" and expect to get specific results), this place is one of the better campsites I've seen. It's within a 1.5 hour drive of Denver, too! High Points: The Short Drive. Like I said, this is a family friendly place, and you don't want to stuff your wee bairn into a car for four hours just to get out of the city and See All The Nature. Kids and long car trips do not mix. The Trees! Beetle kill hasn't hit this part of the state yet, and most of the sites here are graced with at least partial shade. Lodgepole Pines (I think) cover the entire campground. It's awesome. The Little Fishing Lake. A short trail walk off site will land you on the shores of Manitou Lake. Apparently it's stocked with trout. If you didn't bring live bait, you can drive about 7 miles back down the hill to the Loaf n' Jug in Woodland Park. "D'ya want 18 babies or 12 Night Crawlers?"Bike Trails. You can ride a smooth paved one all the way back down to Woodland Park and beyond, if you so choose. There are also several singletracks leading out of the campsite as well. Not-Really-Low, But Things-You-Should-Know Points:Generators Are Allowed. Some of those suckers are noisy, too. It's kind of hard to Enjoy All The Nature when somebody's stupid genny is running full tilt a mere couple yards away. Annoying. No Cooking Grates on the Fire Pits. There's a metal fire ring at every site, but instead of the usual grate you can flip over the top, there's a big metal slab. So, if you're planning to grill right over your campfire, you'd do well to bring one from home. Yes, you can fry on it... like a skillet (and we were able to even boil a big pot of water on that slab), but if you're wanting open-air, open-fire grilling, you're out of luck.Kids, Kids, and more Kids. We brought the shawties, so this was just fine by us! But if you're looking to rage an all-night kegger, you might want to pick another campground. I'm all for raging all-night keggers when the time is right, but this isn't the place for it. I'd say at least 80% of the campsites here were occupied by families with small children.No Swimming. The aforementioned little lake is for fishing and non-motorized boating only. No body contact allowed...And Remember When I Said That Lake Was Stocked With Trout..?? We didn't catch any. Neither did anybody else (we asked). HOWEVER, if you like crawdads, you can catch yourself a bountiful meal. We pulled a crawfish on every catch. Bring your own Old Bay Seasoning.That about covers it! $20/night will get you a nice little break amid All The Nature. OH, one more thing. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESERVE A CAMPSITE HERE ON RESERVEAMERICA.COM. If you go there, it will tell you that you that this is a walkup-only campground--- no reservations allowed. This isn't true. The Camp Host explained to us that ReserveAmerica sucks, and we should never use it, as all the National Park campgrounds have 80% reservable sites, with the remaining 20% left for first-come-first-serve walkups. Lesson learned. Go to Recreation.gov instead.