McClure Campground

We gambled trying to find a first come, first serve campsite in the area over the Memorial Day weekend, and ended up at this quiet little gem on McClure pass.

We arrived after the dark – driving from Denver and stopping at FCFS spots on the way – and were pretty desperate to find something, so we just parked in the first empty spot we saw. I went to go pay, and gleefully discovered there wasn’t any fee! That’s a nice way to go to bed.

We woke up to find ourselves in a great spot in the middle of the aspens! There were tons of birds – VERY friendly hummingbirds, western tanagers, robins, and chickadees. Some deer even moseyed on through our site at one point. No hookups, but level pull through sites, and the pit toilets were decently clean and stocked. There was a little road noise from the pass traffic, but it wasn’t too bothersome.

We explored neighboring Marble and the Crystal Mill hike our first day here. But, we cut our trip short as torrential storms were blowing in on Sunday. Although it was a quick trip, this was a lovely quiet find in the woods.

Note: there was NO SERVICE here or the surrounding areas, so be prepared to unplug.

Right off​ the main road over the pass is the campground, it's paved with gravel sites and a couple of pull-throughs. There's a vault toilet and each site had a picnic table and fire ring. There's a hot spring down the road at redstone, which is free with a little hike. It's called Penny Springs and the directions of how to get to it are online. Also at the top of the pass there's a couple of trails to hike. At the campground there's a little creek which you can scramble down to if you want, from behind the vault toilet. As a bonus; two deer seem to live here and are always grazing nearby.

McClure is a nice enough place to stop off during extended travel, or for an easy weekend away if you're more local. It's nothing overly special, however, and not worth going out of your way for.

The campground itself has 10 sites nested deep in an aspen grove. Probably has nice color during the autumn. It's right next to CO 133, so there's a fair amount of road noise during the day, but it's quiet at night. Like many free public campgrounds, there is no water or trash service, and the only facilities are a pit toilet.

Be aware that the sites are not large; we watched a ~25' trailer go around the campground 3 times before barely managing to fit into a site. RVs larger than 25-30' are going to have a tough time here.