Best of Colorado State Parks #1

This year we decided to return to some of our favorite Colorado State Parks that we’ve stayed in over the years.  Reservations are nearly impossible to get at some of these more urban parks, but fortunately on exactly the 6 month reservation window, we were able to snag some great sites.  Thanks P&D for the online help!

Our first stop is Cheyenne Mountain, just outside of Colorado Springs.  In our list of “best”, this State Park certainly ranks in the top-10.  Beautiful views over Colorado Springs, excellent facilities, well maintained sites and miles and miles of hiking trails. And, it’s literally about a mile to entrance of the NORAD Installation deep within Cheyenne Mountain made famous by movies such as StarGate and War Games.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

NORAD from War Games

From Cheyenne Mountain we’re off to Mueller State Park.  Not as close to Colorado Springs, but still very busy – this park is located in the western shadow of Pikes Peak, between Divide and Cripple Creek. Campsites are Mueller are uniquely placed along the top of 4 mountain ridges.  With over 35 miles of trails in the park, there’s plenty of places to find beautiful scenery and wildlife.

Mueller State Park, site #35

Mueller State Park, site #40

Mueller State Park, site #41

After a great stay in Mueller, we’re off to Chatfield State Park outside of Denver.  Not necessarily one of our favorites, but this park provides easy access to all things that Denver offers.  Tonight it’s a Brother’s Osborn concert at Fiddlers Green.

Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre, Greenwood Village, CO

From Chatfield we’re headed home for a weekend, then up to Lake Pueblo State Park, then to Cheyenne for the 127^th annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, carnival and concerts.  More from Cheyenne…

On to Northern Colorado

After departing 2 nights early from La Veta due to the Spring Fire, we spent those nights at the KOA in Colorado City.  This is a nice park, with lots of amenities-  pool, hot tub, snack bar, mini golf, a nice community pavilion, a dog park and more.  During check in we were told that since we were 30 minutes early we’d have to pay an early check-in fee of $10.  We opted to just stay parked in their driveway for 30 minutes.  However, we were blocking traffic for other check-ins and they waived the fee and showed us to our site.  Of course all of the “great staff” reviews for this KOA drift away when you’re asked to pay $10 extra – for a site that is already available!  Seems like poor way to start off a client relationship.

Colorado City / South Pueblo KOA

The sites in our row were tight.  The neighbors sewer port was nearly under our street-side slide.  It appeared that some of these narrow sites had been created by adding a second power and water connection to existing utilities and doubling up in a back-to-back configuration.  But, there are some nice sites – our recommendation – pick carefully.  And, the facilities are in good shape and the WiFi adequate for email and web browsing. Overall, not a bad experience, but it started off a bit rocky!

Colorado City / South Pueblo KOA

From Colorado City/Pueblo we spent two nights at Chatfield State Park before moving to Boyd Lake State Park near Loveland for the July 4^th weekend. Sites at both State Parks are spacious with full hookups at Chatfield and electric with shared water at Boyd Lake.  Both are urban parks, with Chatfield just south of Denver and Boyd Lake just east of Loveland.  As expected, all facilities were packed for the mid-week holiday.

Boyd Lake, Site #7 (in backward)

After leaving Boyd we spent a week in site #143 at Riverview RV Park on the west side of Loveland, just at the entrance to the Big Thompson canyon. Set in a large grove of cottonwood trees and on the edge of the Big Thompson river, the park offers some beautiful back-in sites at the river’s edge.  Other parts of the park offer an interesting mix of overnight RV, long term RVs, rental cabins and a few tiny homes.  This is one of the only parks in Colorado that welcomes tiny homes.  Even with a lot of deferred maintenance, this park is quiet, provides the necessary amenities including streamable WiFi.  Some of the best river sites include: 24, 35, 155, 160 – pick your site carefully!

Riverview RV, Loveland, CO, Site #35

Riverview RV, Loveland, CO

Riverview RV, Loveland, CO, Site #143

Riverview RV, Loveland, CO

Riverview RV, Loveland, CO

Boyd Lake, Site #7 (in backward)

From Loveland we made the relatively short trip up to Ft. Collins returning to the Lakeside KOA for 5 nights.  Just as on our last visit, we’re parked in a back-in site on the east side of the park. Spacious, quiet and clean!  This KOA has undoubtedly one of the largest and nicest laundry rooms we’ve ever used.  And, all the amenities that you’d expect of a KOA Holiday, mini golf, bumper boats, paddle boats, an inflatable slide and bouncy pillow and more.  On the downside, we noted several sites that need trees trimmed.  Our picnic table was warped and peeling red paint.  The WiFi, provided by TengoInternet, is unusable.  But our T-Mobile Hot Spot worked fine.

Ft. Collins, Lakeside KOA

Ft. Collins, Lakeside KOA

Next up, our favorite RV park in Cheyenne, AB Camping for Frontier Days. More from there…