Mesa Verde National Park Boundary (BLM Land)

Closed road

This place is incredible! Probably really crowded during peak season, but we had no trouble finding a spot at 10:30pm. We woke up to gorgeous views! The National Park was five minutes away.

So close to Mesa Verde and free! This area is called Chutes and Ladders. Each spot has a little pull in and firepit. Lots of bees! But they didn't sting.

We were lucky and found a spot, there are probably 10-15 camp spots in there and only one was available. Guess that’s the one downside of some of these blm spots. Also keep in mind these are pretty small spots, large rvs might not be able to make it in. Great views of Mesa verde and the temp was super nice. Would definitely come back here again.

Arrived at 5pm on a Sunday night, most spots were taken and I think I snagged the last one which didn't have a great view. Areas with no site marking had posts that stated no motor vehicles. Some trash at my site. But if you get there early enough to snag the good spots the view looks incredible!

I started my trip to Mesa Verde NP not quite sure where I was going to camp for the night.  I entertained the idea of spending the night inside the park, at the sad, overpriced campground there.  Once I discovered they wanted north of 40 bucks for a tent site, I moseyed my way down the hill to this sick little dispersed campground.  You can't beat the price (free) and there were plenty of sites to choose from, even during Labor Day week.

I believe the BLM calls this site "Chutes & Ladders".  There are 15 or 16 sites available, and unlike a lot of other dispersed camping I've come across, this doesn't seem to be a place where people come to party.  It was quiet and there was a lot of space between sites.  Plenty of room for trailers if that's your thing.  Great place to spend the night!

The turn off (county road 34) is literally 1.5 miles from then turn into the park. The views of the mountains, and the park, from the campsites are amazing!

Great dispersed camping near Mesa Verde. Tons of marked sites along the road. The road gets a little rougher the further you go in. It’s about a 10min drive to Walmart. The only downside is the dust but that is to be expected.

This is a good free spot near Mesa Verde, but if it is closed check out the many BLM spots on road 316 off the highway, barely West of Target Tree Campground slightly East of Mancos.

This campsite was beautiful, easy to get to, and close to town. The temperature was low, but enough blankets and you’d be fine. The view of the rock formations was nice, and the distance to town and Mesa Verde is unrivaled.

We got here just after midnight on a Sunday night, the first 6 sites were taken but the seventh was available (I didn't check to see how many were beyond ours) the site had a nice flat spot for our tent and a nice fire ring. There is a rest area about a mile away which made it nice when we needed to go number 2. I would definitely camp here again.

4 min drive from park entrance! after visiting the park this was a awesome place to camp for the night! It was a bumpy drive in but not bad, lots of obvious dispersed sites where people have camped. Nice and open beautiful place to look at the stars I’m sure if there wasn’t a dust storm!! As soon as we started to cook dinner we had to very quickly!! hop in the van cause the dust just suddenly started blowing in! Even through that it was still so cool to watch and listen to all the I’m sure pounds of sands hit the side of our van and at some points we could barely see out the windows!! Good thing we didn’t set up our tent cause it would have blown away for sure! Long story short; be careful! So nice out there though

Great dispersed, free camping 5 minutes from mesa Verde, and 10 minutes from Cortez.

Area is closed for wildlife management. There are no dispersed camping sites available near Mesa Verde until June-ish

These dispersed campsites were recommended to us and they did not disappoint! Secluded dry camping spots with great views of the monuments.

Great camping spot! Super close to Mesa Verde National Park! And it's freeeee! The road to get the the sites is rutted out so you do need some clearance! We have a subaru impreza and it was fine! No amentinites.. Spots are numbered. We stayed in 4!

This is BLM Land outside of Mesa Verde National Park. Has quite a few different sites that are all free and have fairly easy access to. The one downside (for us) was that it had just rained and the sites and road are clay which we ended up sinking into and getting stuck in. Luckily a few other campers nearby got up to watch the show and see us dig to get out (eventually they all helped push us out). There's a little road noise from the highway but it didn't bother us.

Each site has a little rock ringed fire pit and a flat area for a tent that we saw.

So if you want a free spot for up to 14 nights and want to check out Mesa Verde (highly recommend it), this is a pretty nice little spot.