My wife and I are avid outdoors enthusiasts. Weather permitting, we dine on the patio, drive with the top down and love to go camping.
Over the years, we’ve slept in tarp tents, tube tents, pup tents, dome tents, canvas tents, backpack tents, cabin tents and no tents. We’ve shivered in the cold, gotten soaked in the rain and eaten food dusted by the wind.
For us, roughing it was what camping was all about. With noses held high, we swore we’d never stoop to the comfort of camping in a recreational vehicle.
But like Anakin Skywalker, we finally succumbed to the Dark Side. We bought an RV.
Now, ours is not one of those 40-foot motor mansions with marble countertops and 40-inch flat-screen TVs. No, we bought a small A-frame pop-up trailer with less interior space than a decent walk-in closet. But it keeps us warm, dry and out of the wind.
We still backpack, but the trailer has changed the way we car camp. In the past, we’d motor to the edge of nowhere to escape humanity. Now, we spend the bulk of our camping nights in Colorado state parks.
Of the state’s 42 scattered parks, 33 feature campgrounds that offer a touch of nature in a civilized setting complete with picnic tables, water spigots and restrooms. Many boast electrical hookups and coin-operated showers. Unlike most commercial RV parks, sites are generally well spaced so we don’t feel like we’re bunking fender-to-fender in a Walmart parking lot. And it’s not just camping for RVs. Most state park campgrounds provide pads or grassy flats for tent campers.
So far, we’ve popped our top at 10 state park campgrounds. Here’s what we’ve found:
Cherry Creek State Park. Located off Interstate 225 in Aurora, Cherry Creek offers a quiet, shady escape from the surrounding city chaos.
Chatfield State Park. While motorized boating is popular here, the campground sits far enough away from the reservoir and C-470 to provide a quiet, close-in getaway.
Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Sitting at 9,100 feet up its namesake canyon, Golden Gate offers a cool, summer mountain retreat that’s a mere 30 miles from Denver.
St. Vrain State Park. The park’s ponds feature abundant bird life, but its location, adjacent to Interstate 25, makes camping here a droning endeavor.
State Forest State Park. Located near Cameron Pass, Colorado’s largest state park offers camping in a moose-friendly setting that’s home to around 600 of Bullwinkle’s brethren.
Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Sites here allow us to view the nighttime lights of Colorado Springs and hear the sound of morning reveille from Fort Carson below.
Mueller State Park. Located near Divide, Mueller offers cool, forested sites with abundant wildlife and a multitude of hiking options.
Eleven Mile State Park. Great for anglers, the park’s 348 campsites lie scattered around a sprawling reservoir stocked with fish.
Lake Pueblo State Park. The park attracts multitudes of boaters, and on summer weekend evenings, we found the campground can become party central.
James M. Robb — Colorado River State Park. The five-part park offers scenic but noisy sites at two riverside campgrounds, one off Interstate 70 near Palisade and the other near I-70 in Fruita.
Camping reservations (800-678-2267, coloradostateparks.reserveamerica.com) are suggested for most state parks, and for summer weekends, reservations must be made well in advance. In addition to the camping fee ($10-$26/night), a daily ($7-$9/day) or annual state parks pass ($70) is required.
Dan Leeth is a travel writer/ photographer; more at LookingForTheWorld.com.
