East Fork Campground

This campground was very easy to find and I am not sure why previous reviewer‘s found it difficult. It is right off of exit 154 and about a mile up an easy dirt road. There is a camp host, clean pit toilets, fire rings, and picnic tables. Firewood is available for eight dollars a bundle. There is no potable water here. The only problem was the lack of cell service. If you walk out of the park and towards the dirt road, you may be lucky enough to pick up enough service to make a call or send a text, but nothing more. I am a single female, traveling by myself and I felt very safe at this campground!

Traveling west from Sacred White Shell Mountain to East Fork on Hwy 160 over the Wolf Pass was breathtaking and amazing. I cannot imagine a better test for the Tacoma and Ollie which both passed with flying colors. Uphill I pretty much kept the Tacoma in third gear but the nine mile downhill with hairpin curves necessitated a downshift to second gear to save wear and tear on the brakes.

East Fork Campground was one of the most comfortable and scenic national park campgrounds we have ever been in. Our site # D21, Loop A was in my opinion the best of the rest. We were camping on an outside loop away from the main circle. All the other sites around us are well-spaced. The San Juan River flowed swiftly below the ridge of our site and the sound was meditative and music to our ears. We paid $15 per night.

We altered plans to come to East Fork specifically to use one of the many hot springs in nearby Pagosa Springs. For these two days we experimented with the free Hippy Dip spring downtown and were not disappointed. An easy twenty minute drive into town from camp provided a good dip as well as some chow at a nearby Cajun restaurant. Three weeks ago the Hippy Dip was closed due to high water but the dip was fine when were there. There were no naked old hippies as generally reported. Basically nice people, with families, enjoying the free run-off from the three local hot springs resorts. A dip into the cold and rushing San Juan River tops it all off.

The camp host, Ken, was friendly, smart, interesting, and kept a clean campground. The pit toilets were as close to immaculate as one can expect. The sites themselves were also very well-maintained. There is absolutely no AT&T cell service at this park. Ken switched from AT&T but told us that no phone service works great out there and reported that Verizon is in and out and unreliable. We accepted this and took the opportunity to have two nights of campfires, more reading, and added guitar practice. Plus relaxation and a break from our country’s ridiculous politics. There are two large pitcher pumps for water, no dump station, and garbage dumpsters placed appropriately throughout the campground. Almost all the sites are shady so our solar panels provided enough juice for lights, water pump, and making coffee, but nowhere enough power for using the microwave for our everyday 4PM popcorn night.

Great campground and Ken, the host, is a great person and very friendly, he kept the campground in great shape! The location relative to Pagosa Springs is nice. The campground has some decent hiking near by and is near the starting point for some off roading, so the access road to the entrance of the camp ground can be a little rough in spots.

The only downside had nothing to do with the camp ground, but a large group (70ish) coming in the day we left (Monday, Memorial Day 2018). We were approached our first night and asked very rudely by their "leader" when we were leaving so they could get their area set up, apparently this is an annual thing. From talking with other campers in the loop we were in he approached them in a likewise manner.

Really nice camp ground, the sites are a little close together, but there are enough trees to make you feel separated enough. SITE 22 IS NOT A PULL-THROUGH. It is a back-in and sloped, bring a lot of level blocks if you have a travel trailer. Our TT is 32 and fit ok, backing in was a little challenging and once leveled front to back, the trailer tongue was about 4ft off the ground, I used 3 - 6X6 blocks plus half the extension of our scissor jacks to get level, it was kinda hairy, but was solid.