Forest Road 272 Dispersed Camping

There are a lot of spaces and many that are big and open. This is definitely Big Rig friendly and easy to access. Good road in but definitely worth scouting before bringing a big rig in. Some areas further back have low tree branches on approach and the road gets rougher as you go back. The best part is each camp spot has a lot of distance between each other so generators are not a bother. We turned left when you hit the Day Use junction (porta potties) and camped at the second spot on the left - very level and big. My AT&T internet (in Pepwave router) was running about 37MB down and 15MB up. Verizon jetpack was much slower and practically unusable.

There is a $10 dump (self-pay with debit/cc) and free fresh water at the visitor center in Poncho Springs about 20 minutes to the south at the corner of 285 & 50.

Access from Highway 285 north of Poncha Springs and Salida, turn left on County Road 260 which connects with FR-272, 274, 274A. After leaving CR-260 pavement the roads are variable from fairly smooth dirt to significant washboarding, hard packed rutting and some potholes but all passable with caution. Access to hiking and biking trails is abundant depend on which road you take. I stayed on the 274 side due to free range cattle on 272. I was there following Labor Day Weekend and road my bike back several miles past my campsite and found most spots occupied with a variety of RV types including trailers of unknown length (guessing up to 25ft., no class A RV's). Checking AT&T signal along the way I had 1-3 bars the entire time. For the most part, from what I saw the campsites were very clean with rock fire rings (use with extreme caution only) and the area was exceptionally quiet except for the occasional car or truck going to or from their camp, and coyotes talking nightly at sunset.
Worst part: washboarding between camp and the highway. Best part: beautiful, well spaced, quiet, forest camping with easy hiking and biking access.

We happened to arrive shortly after a quick popup downpour. This made the first leg of the access road very muddy and required 4x4. Once we made it back into the wooded area, 4x4 was no longer required. There are certain points where, depending on your rig size, you will not be able to continue or turn around. To avoid this, you can drive ahead without a trailer, or have someone walk ahead.

There were many moments where my wife had to get out and check for ground clearance as well as a lookout for low branches. This made for some stressful moments. We did not pre-drive the land before heading down and made the mistake of going too far. We were lucky and found a place to turn around in a field.

The first handful of places to stay are very easily accessible. Do not let my above comment keep you from coming here. We went too far in hopes of having more privacy and see something different.

Arrived prior to the Memorial day weekend in hopes of finding a site. Sites full by Thursday.

Many options for large trailers and tents. Road is well maintained and has moderate traffic. Our 30 foot travel trailer was easy to pull. Note: don't pass the Brown's Creek trailhead if you are pulling a trailer, that is your last turn around. The trailhead fills quick so be wary.

Site we chose was fairly level. Most sites are well placed and private.

We had between 2 bars and 3 bars of 4G Verizon, depending on the wind.

Overall, it was a very beautiful and convenient place to disperse camp. We camped on a weekend in October and it wasn't crowded at all. They only reason I rated 4 instead of 5 stars was for noise. There was a lot of traffic driving the road throughout the night and we had someone in a diesel pickup truck park right off the road next to our campsite and run his truck loudly for hours in the middle of the night. Other than that, great place to camp. If you go you should definitely hike the Browns Creek trailhead to the waterfall, the aspens were in full color and it was gorgeous!