Customer Reviews

The Complete Colorado Campground Guide & Atlas

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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.

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.

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.