Difficult Campground

We loved this campground! Classic NFS with narrow roadway and thick vegetation and fairly small sites; large RVs will be limited as to which sites will work. Most of the sites are quite private. It is right at the tail end of the East of Aspen trail, which goes all the way into town. This is a walking trail not suitable for bikes. But for serious cyclists this is a great base for riding the pass.

There is *no* cell service here - and it is at least a mile before you will pick up anything when driving into town. The valley is odd in that cell service is mostly just in each town and disappears quite quickly when you head down or up the road. The camp hosts both had StarLink dishes. No dump station, but you can fill RV water at one specific location. As a matter of fact, there are no public dump stations at all in the valley that we found, except one at Ruedi Reservoir which is a long ways off.

Dry camping but you can use a generator during the day. Many of the sites are difficult to get into, especially if you have a larger RV or trailer. Site 35 is close to the river. Camp hosts were friendly and helpful. Each site came with a fire ring, bear box, and picnic table. All of it seemed fairly new. Due to the elevation, our 2300 watt generator was not able to power the AC but it could handle everything else. Lots of chipmunks and birds to watch!

Omg! This forestry campground was gorgeous. Little hard to get to and difficult to maneuver around, but I guess that’s where they got the name! Would not recommend if you’re not confident of your driving and backing abilities as there are tight turns and lots of obstacles to work around. With our parks pass we paid $15 per night, without it, the price was $30 per night. Came in without reservations, but was able to squeeze our 40ft rig into the only site left in the park! Lucky us! The park hosts were awesome! Sites were private, lots of aspen trees, and a trail down to the water! No hookups! No cell service! Was able to use our generators to charge our batteries but temperature was nice in July so we didn’t need A/C! Would definitely stay here again!

Our campsite was almost completely enclosed by Aspen trees. Very private - couldn’t see neighbors but raining cotton from the cottonwood trees. I guess this only happens the first two weeks of June. Most sites were similar but sites on the outer perimeter had more of a view. Only downside was zero reception for Verizon or ATT. We rode bikes into Aspen - about 3 1/2 miles- only a couple places with a hill that was a little difficult with the high altitude. There’s a spot to load paddle boards (and park) into the river about a 1/4 mile down. I think there’s a sign that says wildwood school. Something like that. We didn’t do it but looked really fun. There’s a place maybe a mile or so down river where people could get off and load their boards into their vehicle. Takes some coordination as far as drop off and pick up. Saw a moose fawn in the river near the campground. If you want to hike the maroon bells, you take a free bus from downtown (all the buses in Aspen were free) to the shuttle that takes you to the trailhead. You have to get tickets online ($16 per person! ) for the shuttle and they told me they were sold out for the entire summer but I found afternoon tickets. You can show up early (check in with your email receipt, and pick up your printed ticket at the lobby) and get on an earlier shuttle if there’s availability (which there was.) No cars allowed on the road 8-5pm. Great hike to crater lake. Little strenuous uphill but only 1 1/2 miles. Camp hosts are really nice. Toilets clean.