Rating: Location: Goodland, Kansas Site Quality: Gravel roads and pads throughout the park. Pull thru and back in spots. Each site has a picnic table. Type: Commercial Access: Easy access from business route 24 about 1/2 mile off Interstate 70 on the East side of Goodland. Staff: Friendly and helpful. Amenities: Laundry facilities along with showers and restrooms. Store on site. Pool along with a playground for kids. Cellular/WiFi: AT&T and Verizon 4 bars and decent speeds (>15Mbps on both). WiFi was available but we did not use it as it is an open system. What we liked: Quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Felt safe. Our site (#2) was spacious enough for the rig and truck although our truck stuck out into the exit road. This was not a big problem as we were at the end of the road and no one else would be going by there. we were also adjacent to a cabin so we had a bit of extra space on our door side. What we didn’t like: Somewhat difficult to maneuver exiting our site. …
Rating: Location: Littleton, Colorado Site Quality: Paved roads and pads throughout the park. Pull thru and back in spots. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Type: State Park Access: Must use entrance off Titan as the main entrance has a 13′ height restriction due to the entrance station. Staff: Friendly and helpful. Amenities: Laundry facilities along with showers and restrooms. Trails throughout the park and a swim beach (although it was closed for renovation during our stay). Playgrounds for kids. Cellular/WiFi: AT&T and Verizon 3 bars and decent speeds (>5Mb on both although AT&T was better than Verizon). WiFi was available but we did not use it as it is an open system. What we liked: Quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Felt safe and secure. Most sites in the D loop were plenty big for a 41′ RV and the truck. What we didn’t like: In addition to camping fees, you also have to pay $8 per day for an entrance fee. For more than about a week, an annual pass is cheaper at $70. This seems common for other states as well. Most sites offer little shade although some do have relief from either morning or afternoon sun. …
Rating: Location: Woodland Park, Colorado Site Quality: Gravel roads throughout the park with gravel pull thru and back in spots. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring. Type: Commercial Access: Off highway 67 with good access for big rigs. Staff: Friendly and helpful. Amenities: Laundry facilities along with showers and restrooms. Cellular/WIFI: AT&T and Verizon 3 bars and decent speeds (>25Mb on both). WIFI was available but we did not use it. What we liked: Quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Felt safe and secure. Site was plenty big for a 41′ RV and the truck. Woodland Park while touristy is still less so than many of the towns going down the mountain towards Colorado Springs. We love the area. What we didn’t like: While we had a great site, I could see that some of the others might have been a bit too close together for our preferences. Others backed up to a commercial facility while ours backed up to a neighborhood. Although not really a problem, backing up to woods would be better. We were also under pine trees which were beautiful but pine sap dropped on the truck and trailer. Pine sap can be difficult to remove!
2021 Update: We stayed for 3 weeks in June to July 2021 in the same site as our original stay, site 175. We still really like this park and consider it one of our favorite places but after looking at the rest of the sites in the park, site 175 is really the best for us. Many of the other 50A sites were either very crowded or difficult to get into with a big rig. Site 175 is slightly larger than even the ones beside it and is pie shaped giving more outside room and there are no sites behind it just a dirt pathway and then some buffer before houses. While here this time, we also looked at several parks just south of Woodland Park and decided those just weren’t up to our standards. They were very crowded and difficult to navigate with a big rig. Rocky Top Motel and Campground might be OK if site 175 is not available. We also looked at Mueller State Park which has a few sites that might accommodate us. The park itself has a few areas that would be difficult with a big rig but probably doable but the biggest issue is that it is at least 1000′ higher than Woodland Park. We had many nights where we didn’t sleep well at 8500′ because of the thin air and even day time exertion could be difficult at times. Even after 3 weeks at that altitude we still hadn’t acclimated fully. It’s probably best to work our way up to this elevation gradually like we did in 2018 rather than going from Texas to Colorado in 2 days. …
Rating: Location: Cañon City, Colorado (About 10 miles west of town) Site Quality: Gravel roads throughout the park with gravel pull thru and back in spots. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring. The roads and RV sites were not quite as well maintained as other places we have stayed but they weren’t horrible either. Type: Commercial Access: Off highway 50 with good access for big rigs. Staff: Friendly and helpful. Amenities: Laundry facilities along with showers and restrooms. We did not use or even go in any of these. At least one recent review said that the showers were not clean. Cellular/WiFi: AT&T and Verizon 4 bars and decent speeds (~37Mb on Verizon jetpack). WiFi was available but we did not use it. What we liked: Quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Felt safe. Site was plenty big for a 41′ RV and the truck. Good view of mountains in all directions. Close to Royal Gorge and Cañon City. What we didn’t like: Not much shade in most spots. The sites, particularly the pull through ones, tend to be close together although not right on top of each other. Water pressure was pretty low and we had persistent problems with power (L2 voltage too low). To be fair, we did not talk to them about the power issue as it mostly affected us on the weekend but I did notice at least one other complaint in prior reviews of the park. …
The Silver Thread Scenic Byway starts at South Fork and ends at Lake City in Colorado. We made a day trip to explore this area with special interest in the Blue Creek Lodge, Creede and Lake City. My family had visited Blue Creek Lodge about 60 years ago before I was born. Although the original main lodge burned in the 70’s and was rebuilt a lot of the property looks similar to what it did then – although the trees have gotten a lot bigger. The byway included some georgous scenery that unfortunately pictures just don’t do a good job of capturing. After following the entire route up to Lake City, we returned to Creed for an early dinner and then we went part way around the Bachelor Loop a tour through the historic silver mining district and ghost towns above Creede. While much of the loop can be driven with 2 wheel drive vehicles, we were glad to have 4 wheel in several areas and we didn’t even get up to some of the more remote areas. The scenery along the loop was georgous as was the byway.
Pagosa Springs is a town in southwest of South Fork known for its hot springs. It is surrounded by the rugged San Juan Mountains and vast areas of national forest. The San Juan River, with its abundant trout, runs through town. We took a quick day trip here mostly to enjoy the scenery along the drive down. While there, we did go through the Pagosa Springs History Museum where you can see how the pioneers lived in the area from the 1890s to the early 1900s.
While we were in South Fork we were lucky enough to be in town for theor annual Logger Days Festival. For over 130 years logging was a major industry in the area until it declined and finally died in 2001. The festival keeps the skills and traditions alive and includes both men and women competing and showing off their skills.
When people think of sand dunes in America, most people think of White Sands in New Mexico. However, the tallest dunes in North Amarica are found in Colorado in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. These dunes reach up to 750 feet high. Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley over geologic time periods. After lakes within the valley receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos mountains, eventually forming the dunefield over an estimated tens of thousands of years. Sand surface temperatures may reach up to 150 °F in summer. Lucky for us, when we vsited in July it was a fairly cool morning so the temperatures while warm were not too bad.
