THE Perfect Colorado Camping Road Trip
Are you ready for an amazing Colorado Camping Road Trip? We took this route, tent camped, and had a phenomenal time. You get to visit a National Park, see an incredible waterfall, check out the town of Ouray, and camp near scenic rivers. I’ll give you allll the details on this 5 night (4 nights if you need to shorten it) camping trip.
We tent camped, but you could do this entire itinerary with an RV as well.
This Colorado Camping Road Trip is also perfect for family camping / camping with toddlers!
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Colorado Camping Road Trip Jump To:
Colorado Camping Road Trip Route
It is around 14 hours of driving total (from Denver), but the drives are broken up into different days. The most you drive in one day is 4 hours. And a lot of the driving is very scenic.
I’ll admit that there are MANY amazing Colorado Camping Road Trip routes, so I can’t say this is necessarily the best one. There are just too many beautiful parks and campgrounds! But I will say that you will not be disappointed with this route. You get to see 4 different campgrounds, and they’re all really awesome.
Quick Colorado Camping Road Trip Summary
5 nights, 6 days, around 700 miles. You’ll spend the night at 4 different campgrounds. You can shorten it to 4 nights if you need to and skip Night #5’s campground.
- Day 1: Denver to Rifle Falls State Park – 4 hour drive
- Day 2: Drive to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, camp at East Portal – 2.5 hour drive
- Day 3: Drive to Ridgway State Park – 1 hour drive
- Day 4: Stay at Ridgway State Park again and spend the day in Ouray – 20 min drive
- Day 5: Drive to Bogan Flats Campground – 2 hour drive
- Day 6: Drive home to Denver – 4 hour drive
Colorado Camping Road Trip Advice
Get a States Park Pass ahead of time if you’re a Colorado resident. You can get it when you renew your license plate, and it’s only $39 for the year. If you’re from out of state, you’ll have to buy a pass for entry into Rifle Falls and Ridgway State Parks ($10 per day).
Buy a National Parks Pass ahead of time too if you think you’ll spend 3 or more days in National Parks in the next year. It’s $80 for the year. Otherwise, buy a day pass at Black Canyon of the Gunnison ($30).
Use AllTrails to find awesome nearby hikes.
Reserve your campsites ahead of time! I will provide links to the campground reservation sites. Many of the campgrounds we visited were completely full, so don’t risk just showing up.
Print/Save maps. Some areas do not have cell signal, so make sure you know where you’re going.
Eat at some restaurants along the way. It saves you from having to cook a camping meal, and sometimes eating out feels like a luxury while camping.
Always follow Leave No Trace rules. Respect nature and those around you.
Bring an Eno Hammock. Reading a book in a hammock with a beautiful view is the epitome of relaxation for me.
Colorado Campgrounds Book
I have to recommend an amazing book if you’re going to be doing any camping in Colorado. It’s called Colorado Campgrounds. The author goes through the campgrounds in the state, has them separated by geographical area, and rates the best ones in each section. He also gives info on each campground, including the best sites to pick.
It’s so great I even emailed the author to tell him how helpful it is. I just love when people make great resources to help others do cool things.
Cost of Campground Accommodations
My idea for this trip grew from trying to find somewhere to stay near Ouray, Colorado. I’d heard it was the Switzerland of the USA, and I wanted to experience it. But AirBnbs and hotels were SO expensive. I realized how much money we would save as a family if we camped instead. Camping is just so much cheaper… especially if you’re tent camping, which is what we did.
Our grand total spent on campground accommodations was $143 for FIVE nights. I couldn’t find somewhere near Ouray for that cheap for ONE night.
Why You Should Tent Camp
Yes, camping saves you money. But camping is also such a freaking wonderful experience.
It’s not perfect. You might get annoyed by some bugs. Or get tired of setting up a tent. Or wish you had some AC or heat. And man do I hate doing camp dishes.
BUT there are so many amazing things about camping. You’re in nature more. And nature is the best. You see sunrises and sunsets, you get to sleep next to a rushing river, sometimes you don’t have phone service so you’re more in tune to your surroundings, you might see some wildlife or wake to birds chirping, and fresh air is so good for us.
Also, isn’t it nice to escape reality sometimes? Tent camping feels drastically different from real life, and that can be a really good thing.
Colorado Camping Road Trip Itinerary
I’ll go through each day with drive times, options for stops and things to do, and info on each campground.
Day 1:
Drive from Denver to Rifle Falls State Park – 4 hour drive
If you want to break the 4 hour drive up, stop in Vail for food or to walk around.
Rifle Falls State Park: Insanely beautiful triple waterfall and cool caves.
- Reserve ahead of time
- $28 per night for a tent site
- 20 campsites: 13 drive-in RV/tent campsites and 7 walk-in tent campsites located along Rifle Creek
- Fire grates, pit toilets, picnic tables, bear lockers, water faucets
- Try the Coyote Trail: 1.5 miles, goes into caves, and offers great views of the falls
Day 2:
Drive from Rifle Falls State Park to Black Canyon of the Gunnison – 2.5 hour drive
Option: add in Colorado National Monument on the way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It will add 1 hour to your drive time.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison East Portal Campground: at the bottom of the canyon near the river. Super steep drive. SO cool. You will be visiting the South Rim for this itinerary.
If you are using an RV, try South Rim Campground instead.
- First come first served, but they almost never sell out
- $20 per tent site
- Vehicles exceeding 22 feet in length (including trailer) are not permitted on the East Portal Road because of the steep 16% grade and sharp, narrow curves
- Fire grates, pit toilets, picnic tables, bear lockers, water faucets
- The main attractions at the National Park are the overlooks:
- Tomichi Point
- Gunnison Point (from back of visitors center)
- Pulpit Rock Overlook
- Cross Fissures
- Chasm View
- Painted Wall
- Cedar Point
- Dragon Point
- Sunset View
- Warner Point (deepest view)
- Allow 1-2 hours for driving through the park. If you’re short on time, just stop at Gunnison Point (behind visitors center), Pulpit Rock, Chasm View, and Painted Wall View for the best overlooks.
Day 3:
Drive from East Portal Campground to Ridgway State Park – 1 hour drive
We stayed at Ridgway State Park to get close to Ouray, but when we got there we realized it is an epic destination in itself! There are tons of hiking trails, a swim beach, insanely beautiful mountain views, playgrounds, and more. And the town of Ridgway is super cute with good food.
You could definitely drive into Ouray on this day, but I recommend just spending the day at Ridgway State Park and in the town of Ridgway.
Ridgway State Park: Lots of things to do! Beautiful views.
- $28 per night for tent sites
- Reserve ahead of time
- 258 campsites for RVs, trailers, campers and motor homes, 25 walk-in tent sites
- Site #153 (walk-in tent site) is the best in the whole park. Seriously.
- Fire grates, picnic tables, water faucets, flush toilets, electrical outlets, playgrounds, and free, warm showers
- Stop at the visitors center, check out a hiking trail, visit the swim beach, and relax at your campsite
- In Ridgway: see if the farmers market is happening, walk their little downtown, there’s an awesome playground, and if you have kids with you and are striking out on good weather, their library has a great kids section
- Recommended Restaurants in Ridgway: Colorado Boy for pizza, Kate’s Place for brunch, and Kismet Cafe for delicious Mediterranean food.
One of my most popular posts: The Best Backpacking Trips in Colorado
Day 4:
Spend the night at Ridgway State Park again. Spend the day in Ouray – 20 min drive
This is the only day that you don’t have to change campgrounds. Enjoy. Make your way into Ouray to check out Switzerland of the USA. Wander downtown, swim in a hot spring, do some hiking, or spend time doing whatever adventure fills your cup.
We only spent one day in Ouray, so I’m going to link to other sites for what to do in this cool town.
We did visit the Ouray Hot Springs. It’s kinda pricey at $26 per person, but it’s a nice way to spend an afternoon. Walking up to Cascade Falls was also cool.
Day 5:
Drive to Bogan Flats Campground – 2 hour drive
A couple options here: Spend the morning in either Ridgway or Ouray and then head to Bogan Flats. Or get to Bogan Flats area early and do a hike or visit Penny Hot Springs.
Alternatively, you could just drive home this day and skip this campground if you wanted. It would leave you with a 6 hour drive in one day, but I understand that some people are short on time. We thought this campground was beautiful, but if you had to skip a campground on this itinerary – it’s this one.
Bogan Flats Campground: Pretty campground by the river. Scenic drive.
- Reserve ahead of time
- $39 per night for tent sites
- 37 sites – try to get one by the river!
- Picnic tables, fire grates, bear lockers, vault toilets
- Visit the quaint town of Redstone, 6 miles away
- Visit Penny Hot Springs – along the Crystal River on CO Highway 133 between mile markers 55 and 56, just past Redstone)
- Hike to the famous Crystal Mill trail if you have time. It’s 9 miles RT and beautiful. If we hadn’t had a toddler with us, I would have definitely done this hike.
Day 6:
Drive back to Denver – 4 hour drive
You could stop in Glenwood Springs, Vail, or Frisco on the drive back.
Family Colorado Camping
We did this as a family with our 3 year old and had the best time. The drives were short enough that she never got sick of car time – and we planned the long drives over nap times. All of these campgrounds were family-friendly… we never got bored and never felt like we overloaded our itinerary.
We used to be big adventurers – long hikes and backpacking trips. While those are limited now, we fully enjoyed being outdoors in this way. And seeing our toddler thriving in nature was so awesome.
For everything you need to know about camping with a toddler, I have a post on that. If you’re camping with a 1 year old, I have that too! And don’t forget your Camping with Toddlers Checklist for Packing.
Our toddler truly loved camping with us, so I hope you make family camping a thing for you too!
Colorado Camping Road Trip
I hope this helps you plan an epic Colorado Camping Road Trip. If you do this, please tell me about it in the comments! And let me know if there’s anything else I should include in this post 🙂
And comment with other Colorado Camping Road Trip ideas! We will definitely be planning more trips in the future.
Happy Camping!
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Comments? Ideas? Advice? Leave some!