Cherry Creek Road Dispersed Camping

lots of options in the area but this is pretty convenient! decent amount of others camping especially right off the road. a lot more space if you continue up the hill but road gets a bit more tough. pretty easy access with a 4x4 vehicle. Solid location right off the highway and pretty close to town. seemed like 1 or 2 more permanent rvs parked. saw a forest service ranger/worker each day come through and check sites. firewood everywhere but fire ban in place i think. pretty solid amount of cell service especially higher on the hill.

Dirt road right off the highway, we passed it a few times before spotting it. The initial hill to get to campsites is rocky and steep, but worth it. Our Subaru forester took it like a champ. There's 3 "level". There's about 6 sites at the first level, easy access for RVs and campers that were there. The 2nd and third level are better suited for those with cars. We followed tire marks up to the 3rd level, after scouting of course, and found 4 more spots. Beautiful views and private. Some firepit rings, plenty of rocks to make your own. If you can, get to the 3rd level.

We stayed here 4 nights. Our longest boondocking yet!
The uphill before and after the cattle guard is rough. I don’t think we would of made it if it was muddy. We started on 2WD but we were struggling. (Chevy 2500 + 31’ TT). Switched to 4x4 for the bigger hill and it was fine. We have pretty good ground clearance and plenty of horse power. I do have some off road experience as well.
But we saw many cars and small SUVs make it (Honda element, older beat up Chevy cobalt, etc.)
After that initial hill about 300’ long, there is a football size dirt lot. Pick your spot, the whole things tilts south, we used 2 blocks on the low side.
The road keeps going but we would definitely not make it with our trailer. Maybe a 10’ trailer max?
The road is a bit noisy but we didn’t mind it.
Quite a bit of people camping around us. About 4 or 5 other cars/suvs/vans would show up every night to sleep and the leave. Some of them always the same peopl, some new. Everybody was quite and to themselves so we didn’t care.
Takes about 30 minutes to Durango, it’s nice because you enter Durango and hit historic downtown.
Durango Joes Cafe has great internet. 23mbps download and 15mbps upload. Current password as of today: lovecoffe5
We are really liking Durango, we will spend 4th of July at the other free site just east of town, Durfield Dispersed Camping.
VERIZON: sometimes 2 bars of LTE at best. Then 1x, then 2 bars of 3G. Not great.

This spot is between Durango and Mancos with easy access to both. I have a 35' 5th wheel and there is a short bumpy climb to the gravel lot if you will. 4x4 would most like needed on a big rig like mine due to weight.

For others, any car can make it. Just take your time and pick your line:)

Pros:
Price
Location
Great Single track motorcycle riding out your back door.
Mancos- Great town be sure to check out the local bakery and library if you need free wifi. If you happen to show up after hours the Wifi is Guest and the password is Guest123 and you can reach it outside with some other teens on any given night.

Cons:
Dusty open gravel area. There is more camping up the road if not in a big rig with privacy.
You can hear 160 but it puts me to sleep.
Wifi. Crazy.. sometimes 4 G with Verizon and then nothing. Dont count on it... Go to the Mancos LIbrary, very very nice.

We decided to camp here because of its proximity to Durango. However, big rigs beware!

The path in is rocky and steep. We towed a 16' trailer with a Ford Ranger, so it's not impossible.. we also saw someone easily tow a large horse trailer in. But I wouldn't recommend it for Class As or low clearance Class Cs. Four wheel drive is recommended.

The camping area was semi-private and had a good forest vibe. We received 4G LTE with AT&T and T-Mobile.

The drive to Durango isn't too bad (15 miles), we did it almost every day.

A ranger did swing by to take note of us and make sure no one overstayed the limit. We don't like official visitors, but we do appreciate stay limits being enforced.