Alvarado Campground

About 3 hours south of Denver. Solid trails nearby, sites are large and spread out enough, and bathrooms are close and clean

This was a gorgeous place to stay. The sites were widely spaced on the lower level. There were plenty of sites. Make sure you check your vehicle length because some of the spots were pretty small. It was just a quick trip into Westcliffe to pick up any forgotten supplies. Cell service was good here. No water or electrical hookups.

Beautiful camping sites. They’re small though. Our 12 person tent (18’x10’) did not fit on site. We ended up placing it in the parking spot and parked next to the tent so it worked out. We stayed July 1st-5th and it rained every day we were there. Very windy as well… make sure you stake everything down and add some weight to it too.

Quite National Forest camp ground that is a pay per night. Site has a nice creek and offers lots of hiking. Vault toilets and several water fountains. No electricity. Lots of wildlife in the area.

We arrived around 830am on a July Saturday morning and found a handful of spots available to select from. We were a party of five with one large tent, one medium size tent and 2 vehicles. Luckily spot 43 at the top of the loop was available and able to accommodate our group. It was located close to water and a pit toilet as well. The host was attentive and cleaned and stocked the toilet. The campground was beautiful and had access to several wonderful trails. The night sky was amazing after the rain passed through and the clouds cleared. There was a group at a lower loop that was playing really loud music until well after quiet time. I do wish the host had put an end to that. Firewood was available for purchase at the host, but we were allowed to gather our own as well. All in all, a wonderful location and we were glad to find a spot and would love to return.

I absolutely love this area of Colorado. It's breathtaking no matter which direction you look. Decent campground that was a bit too big for my taste. I agree with another reviewer: choose your site wisely! Dirty vault toilets. Water spigots that were almost all dripping (some almost running). I believe it should be posted at time of reservation if there are STEPS involved to set up camp. This site had maybe 10 steps, some in desperate need of repair. As a senior solo camper, this was challenging.  This site was not my choice but the only one available for my time-frame (right next door to the camp host and on the main/incoming road). When we were there, no availability of firewood from camp host, but a load did arrive while we were there. Really noisy campground (plenty of barking dogs), PLUS,a helicopter was doing a training mission two of the days we were there and flew directly over the campground, low-level, 3-5 times each day. 

No bear boxes. (there was a hiker/bear interaction on the Venable trail on June 17th.)

Positives were wildlife, scenery, wildflowers, awesome hiking both directions out of the campground, nice fellow campers (those we met).

In hindsight, I would have been really upset if I'd paid full price.

I love/hate this campground after staying here several times. First, the good: it’s beautiful here. Generally a quiet campground, and in my experience rarely full. Trails right out of the campground travel through gorgeous terrain.

Now the bad / weird: We’ve seen folks try to squat on reserved sites (only to be kicked out by the arriving reservation), sites with atv trailers parked on them with nobody there. Some sites (looking at you, 34) don’t have a good place to put a tent. On our last visit, meadow voles spent the night climbing up and down our tent poles while some played a radio loudly and late into the night— not fun!

Lower sites are larger, more open, and more recently updated. Sites further uphill are in a mixed state of dilapidation.

This is the second summer here. Lovely except no camp host. The toilets are all in need of tending. Already end of June. And full. People are coming up here putting tickets on first come first serve without occupying the space. That should not be allowed nor should putting a fake tent down. Another trailer didn't leave when the date said and no one around. I was told the trailer had been there for days. I think the forest service should get rid of all private companies who run our parks. Refund the forest service. Recreation.gov is out of Canada for Pete's sake.

Great campground at 9000’ with trees all around and wonderful view of the valley below. Hosts were great. We easily got our 40’ coach into a very level site. Definitely will be back!

Nice and mostly empty.

We stayed at Alvarado for one night on 5/15/2021. We had sites 34 and 35 right across the road from each other. Steve the host was really friendly and stopped by to say hello a couple of times. There are several hiking trails nearby. The vault toilets were right by us and we didn’t have any issues with smell, and they were the cleanest vault toilets I’ve ever seen. The water was closed when we were there because they were waiting on test results before they could open, they did end up opening the water on Sunday so I’m assuming it’s good to go for the season now. Town is really close by (maybe 15 min) so we just went into town and filled up water jugs. Site 34 was a bit close to the campsite next to us. We ended up going to sleep when our neighbors did just because we thought even low voices would be a disturbance to them in their tents. Other than the close proximity, the sites were great and nicely maintained. The sites higher than 35 seem to be spaced a bit further apart so would probably go to the upper sites next time. Great campsite, would return again!

Nice picnic tables and permanent fire pits/grates (which means you can typically use even during stage one fire bans) at every site. A lot of dumpsters and water spots, as well as toilets.

I really can’t say enough praise about how beautiful this campground is! A real nice scattering on trees everywhere to break the daytime sun and allows for good shade. The sites are nicely laid out with picnic table, fire ring and grills, and high post hooks. The vaults are clean and well managed. The site host was super friendly with a nice dog. But its the spectacular views are what will take your breath away. Honestly, I don’t think there is a bad site to be had here. Trail access is great too. Plenty to see and do!

The campground was nice, but we took our atv and the trails are very narrow, and when encountering another atv, theres really no where to get around. There were also lots of people walking and hiking the trails, making it very dangerous on an atv.

Lota of sites available, some nicely secluded, some not so secluded. Very clean bathrooms.