The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas [Paperback]

Outdoor Books & Maps (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas is packed with information about more than 500 campgrounds in Colorado's national forests, national parks, state parks, and other public lands. The guide includes driving directions, regulations and restrictions, fee information, detailed maps, web sites, and more. If you are planning a family vacation, or just looking to get away from it all, this book is for you.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Outdoor Books & Maps; 11th edition (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930657233
• ISBN-13: 978-0930657239
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #878,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice compilation of Federal, State and local campground dat, July 5, 2000

By 

lee hopkins (parker, co USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas (Paperback)

Colorado is abundant with campsites on public land. The challenge is that these campsites are managed by a variety of state, local and national governmental bodies with different rules and information sources. This book provides an excellent consolidation of information on some 500 campsites located across National and State Parks, Forest Service land and within local municipalities.

The authors have broken up the state into 13 regions and there is a section of the book dedicated to each region. From this point forward the content appears to be largely an aggregation of public information on each campsite: Name, Location, Fee (Y/N), Number of units, Max length, Elevation, Toilets (Y/N), Water (Y/N) and Managing Agency - with contact info. (This contact info alone makes the book very valuable.) They also note activities: e.g. hiking, fishing and dates the sites are open for use. Some campgrounds, mostly state and national parks, are accompanied with more written descriptions and maps, which appear to have been transposed directly from a agency brochures.

While I found this book useful I was hoping to discover more editorial content. There is a nice one-page discussion on the opportunities that the relatively unknown State Wildlife Areas offer (by Don Schuchardt), mysteriously stuck on page 55 (of 160). Beyond that, everything else appears to be republished government documents. A simple, "lots of trees" or "nice views" would have been an excellent addition to the facts offered. Given that this appears to be a largely compilation of public data I would still like to see more details offered. For example, the maps offer far more detail of campgrounds than those in the book. Also a listing of the last known fee schedule would offer some insight beyond the current "fee - Yes".

Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to expand his or her Colorado camping experiences. It's not an RV guide but geared to those looking to branch out beyond the KOAs and into more of what Colorado has to offer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate reference for Colorado campers, September 14, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas (Paperback)

Now in fully updated and enhanced seventh edition, The Complete Colorado Campground Guide is a solid, fact-filled, "user friendly" guide to Colorado's national parks, state parks, campgrounds, and forest service. Packed from cover to cover with maps, directions, traveling, camping, and fee information, and more, The Complete Colorado Campground Guide is a first-rate reference for Colorado campers looking for the place best suited to their vacation plans and activities.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Useful guide, June 5, 2010

By 

J. Steiner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas (Paperback)

We have used a prior edition of this book for years and have found it to be an accurate, complete compilation of public campgrounds in Colorado. There is no other single source (that I have found anyway) that makes it as easy to find forest service, BLM, and Corps of Engineers campgrounds.

This year we are planning a trip to Montana and I have to contact every Forest Service (and in some cases every district office) to get even a simple list of campgrounds. And those lists do not always include enough information. I am trying to find a book like this for Montana - it would save me hours of phone calls, internet searches, and frustration.

These campgrounds include few amenities but offer rustic scenery and access to hiking trails, nature, and the peace and quiet we look for when we go camping. This guide is not going to be helpful if you are looking for full service campgrounds. But if you are trying to find a campsite in an out of the way place, this book is very useful.