My spouse and I were traveling from the Great Sand Dunes to Pagosa Springs and opted to spend a night in the wilderness here, drawn in by the stunning images we had seen. We were not let down! We had the chance to take our 4Runner for some off-road adventures on the intricate network of trails in this region. It was pleasantly uncrowded in the early part of May 2023. We would certainly consider returning for another camping experience. You can find the entrance at the coordinates 37.62956ºN, 106.25170ºW. There's a complimentary waste disposal station about 12 minutes away in Del Norte, at coordinates 37.68408ºN, 106.35221ºW, as well as an RV park called Woods and River RV Park. They kindly allowed us to refill our water supply, as the municipal park's dump station had its water supply shut off for the winter period (May 2023). We have a Weboost with Verizon and are receiving 5LTE at this location. There's a visible cell tower here, so I would expect most, if not all, mobile networks to have at least 2 bars, if not 5.

We got here about 4:30 and stayed overnight. We loved it. You are completely by yourself so the kids can scream as loud as they want and your dogs can stretch their legs. There are bullet shells all over the place, livestock poop, and I stepped over a few used condoms but we didn't encounter any hostile locals or anything. I assume this is just where the good ole boys go to blow off some steam. There are no facilities of any kind but the site we used was pretty close to level and both Del Norte and Monte Vista are less than a half hour drive once you get to the road. This would be too far from most attractions to use as a basecamp but it was a great overnight spot.

Nice place to set up. We rode our ATVs around. There are also bike and hiking trails. The road coming in is in great shape with some minor washboard. The spots are spread out so you shouldn’t have any neighbors.

You feel like you’re a million miles from anyone with the best Verizon WiFi ever. I was here on a Saturday night and even then only a couple people passed by my campsite. Bring your own firewood. I couldn’t find any scraps to burn.

IF you read my headline, you already know that we encountered a ton of snakes here. No less than TEN rattlesnakes in about a week. Other than that, I would have given it 5 stars. I'd only camp here again during a time when the snakes aren't out. Pretty scenic, VERY quiet, not much traffic, and like everyone else said, smoking Verizon. My ATT was a little testy at times. There are giant holes all over the place. As in if you ran one over you're gonna feel it. (Large mounds around holes, some quite large) We saw maybe two furry critters come out of them, strangely, because there are SO many of them. Guess the rattlesnakes have killed them all off? We saw two go into the holes when retreating. Left earlier than planned because many of us have dogs and we just didn't want to stay any longer with all the dangerous snake bite possibilities. There really aren't many spots. All the ones I saw are easy to get to with a huge RV. Road is pretty good. No trees to maneuver. Scout before you go, bc at some point, you may not be able to turn around easily. Monte Vista (small town) has a grocery store, DQ, Pizza Hut, etc. but the grocery left some to be desired. When I wanted a good selection of veggies, I went to Alamosa. Lots of mountains surrounding the area. Just maybe don't come during snake mating season, which I hear is now. (and I believe) Yikes. It's like a snake pit. Watch your pups and your ankles in June!

The spots were kind of hard to find. Not many fire rings but I found a spot without many plants and camped through Labor Day. People would occasionally drive past but mostly there wasn’t a soul in sight. Hiked and mountain biked a lot. Heard coyotes at nights. Didn’t see any snakes. No shade- it got hot during the day!

-Wonderful cell service -Gorgeous landscape great for running and biking -Secluded and quiet -Closet to two small towns for grocery and sports bar to watch game -Pin is off, look for Spanish Trail to turn

We stayed here in late September 2023 for 2 nights as we worked our way south through Colorado while avoiding I-25. This is right off the main highway we were traveling and offered a great place to observe some distance mountains, with 4 bars of cell service and few neighbors. It's an open area without many trees so when it is windy it's windy. I'd recommend checking the wind conditions so you park into it not sideways against it to minimize the annoyance of it. Several great hiking and mountain bike trails right out your camper in this area and amazing night skies. The only negative we had was that our spot had two previously used fire rings near it so we assumed it was a group camping area at one time and offered us a lot of space to spread out since no other campers were anywhere near us. What we did not realize was that the local mountain biking club used this area as a parking lot to go on rides every afternoon we were there from 430 to 730 pm. Public lands are public lands and this inconvenience would not keep us from staying here again but we would select a different site. Our site was on the right side of the road as you go in just past the power lines on the other side of the hill. The road in was washboard but slow and steady got us in just fine.

Great dispersed camping with many sites on the access roads. Suggest you use the GPS in this review as the coordinates provided in the heading take you several miles away from the correct turn out. Also suggest reading the great review by Sue GG (at the bottom of this list of reviews) for some sites and distances from the access road. Some of the access roads can be a bit rough. We drive a 27ft Class A and had minor issues. Del Norte is about 10 minutes away, with diners, grocery stores, gas, and a free RV dump site with potable water in the City Park - GPS: 37.684087, -106.352198. Lastly, mobile reception based around seeing the local cell tower is good, but some sites don't have line of sight and the AT@T signal can be a bit patchy.

I spent 7 days dry camping here August 4th -10th. I'd say it was a pleasant stay. There were a few other campers, but not many. This is also a day use area for locals, so you'll see people come and go, especially on the weekend. There are plenty of hiking, bike, and OTV trails in the area. I had great cellular service here. Something to note as well. The City of Del Norte (near by) has a FREE dump station with potable water for RVers. Also, in Monte Vista the Maverick Station has a dump station I believe is free. I say that because at Maverick's on other locations, they have free RV dumping. But also In Monte Vista, the Coop has a fee based dump station. The one in Del Norte is very easy to access, and quite handy. This area is beautiful, and I had a peaceful stay. I was there visiting family who live near. I'm sure I'll return.

Easy access off 160. Lots of room and fantastic cell phone coverage.

Over nighted while passing through. Found great wide spot at the first road split complete with small fire spits that we didn't use. Good input from other reviews that helped to find turn off driving west. If headed north up the San Luis valley to Saguache, easy to cross over highway 160 and use N CR 5W to access West CR 5N to get back to 285 north of Monte Vista. Nice view of the valley and Sangre de Cristo range. There is a posting of interesting history at the end of the road down the left fork at this junction along with wagon tracks worn in the rock as testimony to the past.

Just off Hwy 160, this is a beautiful remote area with great cell service. Only a few turnouts along the road but may be more further in. I just stopped for the night but will return for a longer stay.

The large camping areas are in wide open and fairly gusty areas. They are also within line of sight to a cell phone tower. There are a few smaller sites on the trails that go into the canyons and foothills. The trails eventually become too rocky and require a Jeep. Not the most scenic area, but you can get away from the highway.

Camped with the cell tower in site from my campsite. Was able to easily connect to work. Campsites are spaced far apart and usually you won't see your neighbor. Close to many locations in the San Luis Valley to off road and hike. Occasionally locals would do target shooting in a close by campsite, but not for long.

Not as windy as Sacred White Shell Mountain. A lot of locals coming and going. Quiet at night. I stayed at the second clearing that still have phone signal. The third clearing had no phone signal. Good for solar charging.

We couldn't find availability for any of the campgrounds in Alamosa so decided to boondock and found Campendium.com online and saw Old Spanish Trails. We pulled in at 9pm and set up for the night in the first site. No one here. Just us. Woke up next morning to an absolutely beautiful view of snow capped mountains, peace and quiet. The puppies were able to stretch their legs and sniff all they wanted since no one around us. No rattlesnakes, no menacing wildlife, just us and the pups enjoying the views. Thank you so much Campendium.com for having this site. Appreciate it so much.

After our research on Campendium, still hit some bumps, so here are specifics I felt was lacking. The turn for OLD SPANISH TRAIL (OST) is between milemarker 208 & 209 off of 160, almost directly across from access to County Hwy 5 W labeled with a blue cty sign. If you are traveling westbound, there is not a left turn lane for this. We missed it in the dark despite seeing the OST signage. Let me start with we came here mid-March 2021 & it was dry weather, not muddy at all. After you turn off 160, there is a parking lot almost immediately on your R for the OST trailhead. The 1st boondocking site is 0.7 from the parking lot, on the L. The 2nd site is 0.9 from parking lot, on the R. It has an electric pole by the entrance to the site. The road gets slightly rougher but quite doable with our 30' travel trailer. This road splits at 1.4 & a large site is right there on R. We stayed R at the split & another large site on L just past this, still 1.4 or 1.5. Entrance to L site was a bit rutty but we were ok & stayed there. Another site is just down the road on L at 1.5, but has a bit of a slope. So now we have encountered 5 sites. The next day we decided to explore the left fork of the split. At 0.6 FROM THIS FIRST ROAD SPLIT is a site on R which is sloped a bit. Continuing on finds a 2nd road split. The R fork is more ATV trail & goes nowhere really except possible private land. The L fork from 2nd split goes to a 3RD ROAD SPLIT and another NICE, FLAT site which is technically 0.9 from the first road split. Once again R fork is rough & goes nowhere. Confused yet? Stick with it, more to come. Continue on L fork & it becomes US Forest Road 270 according to a post sign. On this section there is cool scenery & you are tucked away..so neat! One more good site at 1.4 from 1st road split & a sloped site at 1.9. As others say, cell tower is right there with 4 solid bars.

Overall there was not much traffic, just a few vehicles with mountains bikes coming in. Only say a few other vans or rvs staying the night but they didn't seem to stay too long. We stayed at the first turn off on the left and had a great view if the surrounding mountains.

We had a great experience here! Apple Maps tried to take us to CR 44 which was the landfill road and it’s closed, that is the wrong one! Follow the mile markers from a previous review. There are multiple sites for big rv’s and a cool trail off to the left. It poured rain on us, but it was quite a lovey view and quiet.

Site was amazing and quiet. Was very enjoyable for 1st time dry docking. Teenagers loved it as did the toddler. Road in was very well maintained. We were actually surprised by amount of traffic in/out. NOTE: disregard post on Alamosa rv park, accidentally posted to wrong site.