Cottonwood Campground

Snagged site 4. Fit our 25’ TT snugly. Kids on ATVs with no mufflers cruising CG. Great tent sites across creek. Really no turn-around. Can do so at top of CG, but then can’t turn back-around after returning through CG. It is possible to continue to the top of the Mesa for excellent boon-docking but signage is poor as is Google maps. I provided a snapshot of the route to Wild Horse Point - lots of free sites there. Hiking not so hot. Mainly an ATV area.

So, we didn’t actually stay in the campground. We drove through and boondocked further up.

Really nice campground, lots of space between sites, we could have gotten our 30ft 5th-wheel into most of them. Some tent sites you park and walk across a bridge to set up the tent. So cool!

We kept on going. The campground road connects back onto the main road at the end (instead of looping around.) Five miles up took us to the top. Gorgeous views and not another camper around. It was really windy the night we stayed so didn't build a fire. Lots of mosquitoes in the morning after the wind died down. Wished we could have stayed longer!

The road up to the top was 14% grade at one point, and maybe one or too slightly rough spots. Mostly smooth, well-maintained road all the way up.

If you love forest camping, you'll love this place. The bubbling creek is so peaceful to be around. It's small enough that you can find places to cross over. So much fun. The campground is very spread out. The hike back to the registration station from my site (17) took almost 10 minutes! But there are vault toilets spread throughout, and they are immaculate.

The drive in was about 20 minutes of gravel. The views from the road are awesome. It is washboarded in some spots. It shook things loose in my RV that had never come loose before. But it was worth it.

ok this place is awesome!! Such a surprise!

Visited: August 22, 2020
RV size: 38ft (and we travel with another 5th wheel that is 40ft)

Super secluded place, waayyyyyy off the beaten path! You would never know this is here. It's in the mountains, with greenery and trees and streams... Which to us looked perfect for Bears. We didn't spot one but just saying.

RVs over 30ft: be warned, this is NOT exactly a large recreational vehicle friendly campground. Did we do it with a 38ft travel trailer? Yes, but it wasn't fun. It was a little easier with the 5th wheel because they have a better turn radius than we do. BUT you still have to drive further into the campground (past the cattle gaurd) till it reaches a "Y" in the road where you can turn around to get back out the campground. As far as we could see it was one way in, one way out.

We were both able to fit in spots 2 & 3 (bathroom right next to it) which is as soon as you come down the hill on the right side. We just pulled one in front of the other, pulling in as tight as we could to the edge and even had room for our slides to be out.

I would say spots 10 & 11 are the best spots and could even fit over 30ft RVs, but these were taken when we were there.

There's about 18 sites and almost 1/2 were taken. We did speak to a ranger there who said he would check on us later which he did and he was also super helpful. So that made us feel safe. He also told us that at the top of the mountain is where a lot of RVers our size like to go and park because there's plenty of space and the view is cool. Just keep going straight (keep left of the "Cottonwood" sign) up to the top.

We would definitely stay here again but maybe at the top instead of in the campground just because of our trailer size.

See notes for more info.