Camping in the Sangre de Cristo area

[JGomez31]

My wife and I are planning a trip to the southern Sangre de Cristo area and can't find a lot of resources. We are going to spend one night near Westcliffe and drive Hermit Pass. The next day we are planning on taking Medano Pass over to the Sand Dunes to do some hiking. We are worried about the limited number of sites on the west side of the pass. If all of the sites are taken, anyone have any camping suggestions? I know there isn't much around the base of Mt. Blanca (and what's there is ridiculously rocky.)

Anyone know of anything in the area? If there is nothing on Medano, we are afraid we will end up in a parking lot in Alamosa!!!

[Tom]

I take it you are looking for a campground with at least basic facilities. If not, I believe you can camp above the sand dunes on Medano pass road almost anywhere.

[JGomez31]

No facilities needed. We were just worried because the Sand Dunes website showed that camping is only approved on Medano Pass at 12 sites. If there are little pull-offs, we'll find a spot to eat and sleep!

[otisdog]

If all else fails there's a pay site not far outside the entrance to the Sand Dunes.
Jim

[Stay The Trail Ambassadors]

Just got back from Medano. There are limited sites along the pass once you cross into the Dunes on the west side.
I would only consider 5 to be "good" sites a decent way off the road with shade. The rest will have you setting up a tent 10 ft from the trail. We camped on a Sunday night and only saw 3 other camp sites with folks set up.

There is a small section of USFS land that has some dispersed sites. Much of the road leading up to that point is bordered by private land with barbed wire fencing.

If you are looking at camping on a Saturday night, you have a good reason of being fearful. Honestly, I wouldn't pay a dime to camp in the lower "Dune-side" camp sites. They are also only a few feet from the parking lot, little shade, and crammed together.

If your ideal location would be on Medano, you can drive down looking for empty sites and turn back up the pass in a worse case scenario and head for the Forest Service areas. Trail isn't tough either direction if you have all-terrains and some clearance. It also wouldn't take long to back track from where the sites are.

Only other suggestion would be to grab something very early in the day if you are looking at a weekend trip. Half the fun is the adventure, right?

[JGomez31]

Are there any small sites on the east side of the pass if we backtrack that far? Isn't the east side forest service land?

[Stay The Trail Ambassadors]

There are some dispersed sites on the east FS side. The area's MVUM doesn't show these areas as "approved" for dispersed camping, but there are some sites that look like they get heavy use so I wouldn't expect any issues.

[Backcountryislife]

we've also camped over by penitente canyon. Great climbing, but also a cool place to take a hike, there's rock art on the walls, and pretty unique rock... cool spot.

[Patrolman]

I have spent quite a bit of time in that area. The camp sites along Medano are nice. If you want to get away from things a bit, I have camped at Mountain Home Reservoir before.

Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife Area | Colorado | Public Lands Information Center | Recreation Search (http://publiclands.org/explore/site.php?id=6068)

It is a quiet place with TONS of space to spread out. Drive right onto the beach. Might be a couple other people there, but generally not many people go there. It has minimal shade and is off the beaten path but nice if you want quiet and fishing.

[Rick]

that site you posted says camping unavailable,is that true or just not updated?

[JGomez31]

It appears that there are no restrictions for camping:

http://wildlife.state.co.us/LandWater/StateWildlifeAreas/Pages/swa.aspx

[Patrolman]

I just noticed the site indicates no camping is available. There is plenty of space to camp and Mountain Home Reservoir. It has been a few years since I have been there, but I can't imagine anything has changed. People just drive out onto the beach and set up camp. There isn't anything really designated since it is just wide open. A couple times I was the only person there. Most I ever saw was 3 or 4 other groups.