Alta Lakes Designated Dispersed Campsites

You need a jeep/subaru/truck to get up here for sure, but not off-road skills. Very popular, hard to get a site, very beautiful...but kinda over-used/trashed lately.

You can kayak/SUP at the little lake even if you can't get a spot for the night.

I wish they'd improve the road and add a few more sites, or just have a big parking lot for folks that don't need lots of space.

Quite a few campsite options (got there on a Sunday afternoon), but make sure to only camp in designated areas (marked by poles). We went up past the ghost town/mining town and got a gorgeous campsite seemingly on the edge of the tree line. We had absolutely stunning views. However, we were there in early June and got hit by a little snowstorm that night. Drove up in a Subaru Crosstrek which worked great, but definitely needed that clearance and AWD. Take it slow and you'll be fine!

We made it to the campground in a 2wd suv. There were definitely moments we thought we wouldn’t make it, but we did by taking our time and being patient. Once we got to the campsite, the first 4 sites were already occupied. There is a bump in the road after site #5 that had snow and a pick up truck had gotten stuck when we got there. Thankfully a couple in a Xterra helped them get out and then they had to give them a push to get them over the bump. Pretty nice if them to do that. We got the last site before that bump. Our 2wd suv (ford explorer) would NOT have made it over the snowy bump. FYI, you can only camp at the numbered/designated sites. We got here at 7:30pm on a Wednesday night and still found a site. The weather is beautiful up here. The moon and stars are so bright. When we got here, it was in the 50s, but it’s supposed to go down to the 30s tonight. In June! That’s so unbelievable to me, but I love it! Make sure to bundle up! Well worth the drive!!!

Gorgeous views, amazing hikes are all around. We have a 26’ RV and debated the accessibility of the road based on reviews. I grabbed onto one review that didn’t sound too bad and decided to go with it. 😂 To be clear, the 3 miles up to the lakes are absolutely RV accessible. The campground itself, is not. Tons of dispersed camping below the mining town though. The road in is not remotely a four-wheel-drive trail. Slightly rutted in a couple of spots. The only issue is a couple of narrow areas that not even two small cars could pass each other. I scouted ahead and warned cars that an RV was coming. Plenty of pull offs and we had no issues. I will say that we arrived on a Saturday late afternoon and there were a lot of people coming down. We left at 7 AM on a Friday and only had to contend with a couple of cars. You can absolutely make this drive in an RV if you are comfortable behind the wheel.

Finding few campgrounds open around Telluride, I headed to Alta Lakes which was already crowded on a Monday. Note - camping is ONLY allowed in numbered spots, though there are an abundance of other sites w fire pits Ranger Pete explained the plans to restore the area surrounding the upper lakes to the unscarred alpine meadows they’re meant to be.

The lakes are beautiful, nearby Alta town site was interesting and a short hike away. Only downside to Alta Lakes is the teeth rattling drive to get there. My Subaru made it but I’d prefer a Jeep or 4x4! Highly recommend- will be back!

Death was defied as we, in our big ol' Ford E-350 extended meandered up the dirt road to Alta Lakes.

Luckily, everyone else had a 4Runner or Jeep, and so could simply climb around us.

The lake camping area was pretty packed so we scooted back down, just a little below the old abandoned mining shacks, to a seemingly man made perfect outcropping of land and rock that overlooked a little meadow, big mountain views all around. See Figure 42 for reference.

This just in! Remember how I said the road was a little, as the local millennial say, gnar gnar? Well some guy did manage to drag a rather large trailer behind his big boy dualies pickup, only to camp alongside the road in a wide spot. I suppose if you could brave the climb, our spot would be perfect for a short RV or something like a T@B.

Occasional visits from the 1 bar of LTE fairy would occur, but nothing to write home about (or post on Instagram with).