Fourmile Creek Dispersed Camping

38.8852343, -106.1375954)
Drove down 371 to 375. Just past the 375 is the rock tunnel- I believe it said 11.5 ft clearance….so make that right up 375 and there are lots of big rig and camper spots.
Most are fences to mark the spot. The road is pretty good. A few bumps and dips, just take is slow. We discovered many spots off the 375 (375c looked promising).
This is an OHV area, while it was pretty quiet in mid May, I’m sure summers get loud…
We loved the view, the wind, and the Biking/hiking trails.
32Ft 5th wheel

Be warned! I Had a bad experience with what I now suspect were poachers at 38°53'12.0"N 106°08'03.4"W I did my research on this area and it seemed like a nice place to hang out for a few days, so after going to the GPS coordinates in the main Campendium review for this site and finding it occupied (nice site BTW) I turned around and found the site further back towards Lenhardy cutoff was unoccupied. The site was badly washed out but I was able to back into a levelish spot close to the road. My first mistake was I unhooked and leveled my trailer. I was there early an saw many people on dirt bikes and UTVs who all seemed as described in other reviews. As it got dark I saw an older blue Saturn with four people in the car and the windows down drive by yelling "don't camp there", and I figured it was just kids and maybe it was. Maybe also those people are part of a poaching ring. After this happened I started to wonder about why I noticed two tents setup well outside the defined camp area behind the rock formation but no sign of anyone there. I now wish I would have walked back and took a closer look. About 11pm an older red pickup truck with a red fiberglass cap with Nebraska license plates pulled in and circled in front of my rig then parked directly next to it toward the rear. After turning on my trailer loading lights in the rear (bright LED floods) I jump out of my trailer and put my truck between me and them and noticed at least two men unloading lots of gear totally unphased by my lights or the noise I was making moving around. I swear it looked like they had weapons but I was not about to engage them and become part of a crime scene. I kept an eye on them until they walked towards the tents carrying the gear then I hooked up and left. I had a similar incident in Bayfield last year but at a trail head so I thought maybe some people are just jerks and maybe I camped too close to the trail head, still it's unnerving when you are alone in the woods with people inexplicably carrying weapons that close to your rig (e.g. not open carry or obviously hunting within legal seasons). After randomly talking to someone today who happened to work in Colorado state wildlife enforcement they indicated what happened in four mile rec area is most likely poaching and that things could have turned deadly if I had not left. Parking that close to my rig that late was a warning to leave. This is all speculation on my part but if I ever scout a place again and see tents setup next to the area or an obvious sign of encampment which is not normal camping I will not staying there. I will also place my rig in a defensive position to both leave quickly or use as a barrier if it comes to that. Hopefully I'm just the lucky guy who had a bad experience here in a completely isolated incident but I also want to warn the community that this could be a very bad location to camp as it may be inhabited by poachers who may already be breaking about a dozen laws, what would be a few more by harming you or damaging your property.

This area was great, had lots of boondocking sites and was only 15 minutes to Buena Vista. We were there over Memorial Day weekend which was busy, but it cleared out after Monday. Great cell service, roads were a bit bumpy coming in but nothing our 24 ft class C couldn't handle. Our friends even got their 38 ft class A in fine. The views of the surrounding 14ers are gorgeous. The only downside was the ATV traffic up and down the road, even in the middle of the night. It got better once the weekend was over though. Oh, and the bones and hides all over the place from hunters was kind of gross too. Clean up your mess people!

I scoped out the system road 308 a couple weeks before we camped it, since I needed to be down in Buena Vista for work. I drove 285 to the Windmill Drive entrance to the Fourmile Rec Area at Road 308. I scoped on a Wednesday in early June. There are 6-7 spots on this road that I saw. There was ONE camper on this whole road that day.

When we arrived to camp, the first spot on the right, set in a small Aspen grove was already taken. I kept driving, on the dirt road that is uneven enough to need to crawl through parts, past one spot that is hidden back in the trees, to what I'll call the third, "Straight in" spot. The actual spot was 100 yards from the dirt road, so even when off-raoders came through, they didn't bother us at all. The campsite was huge, with pletny of trees to hang the hammock from and for the boys to play.

The 4th spot on the right, up at the top of a hill was AMAZING. Views for MILES both directions. Huge, open area. Incredible. I wanted to stay here forever.

Cell service all around the area we were at had great service.

We drove down Mushroom Gulch (I'll post another review there) quite a few times, so have much to say about it.

We also drove further down 285 and went up System road 305, across part of 376 (Lenhardy Cutoff) and back down 315 to scope out these spots. I'll post another review on the Lenhardy Cutoff specifically. Some of these spots were amazing, up on the ridges of the mountains, with incredible views. It was also quite windy up there. AND, there were TONS of ATV/ORV campers there. So it is perfect for campers with toys, but if you didn't have toys, it might be loud and annoying to be up there.

There are many dispersed sites available in the Fourmile Recreation Area, near the Arkansas River and Buffalo Peaks Wilderness area. To get to these sites, from Buena Vista (BV), take FR 371 (Colorado Ave). Just before reaching the RR tunnels, there is a right hand turn for FR 375. This is also the way to access Lehardy Cutoff and Turtle Rock. The sights are along along 375 and throughout the Fourmile Recreation Area.

This area offers many sites, with different types of views. I chose a site where my trailer was parked a little closer to the road than I preferred but the site went way back, providing phenomenal views of the Collegiate Peaks. My site was enormous, ad technically, I guess tenters could have opted to take some of the spots within the sight, but no one did. If you tent camp, this would be an awesome location as there are a number of established fire rings with great views.

Things I liked: easy access to BV for services and amenities, proximity to the Arkansas River (371 goes from BV to Granite, along the Arkansas), large sites, beautiful scenery, OK cellular service.

I did not have any TV reception, but did get 4G. As with all of my sites in the Collegiate Peaks region, data from cell phone service seemed to die during the late afternoons, even with a booster. All but once I was able to continue working. On that one occasion I drove down and parked at the Elephant Rock campground to complete my work. I averaged about 2 bars of 4G on Verizon, without the booster.

The sites can be quite windy. If I would have known this, I might have positioned my trailer differently within the site so that my awning did not take such a beating. I had plenty of sun for solar.

There is a tremendous amount of OHV activity in the area. It is really an OHV area first and foremost, so I did not mind. It was much busier on weekends. I grabbed the site on a Monday, during the late afternoon.

I am rating the noise at 5, because after dark it was silent and if you know this is an OHV area, OHV noise should be expected. I did have the pleasure of listening to a coyote pack howl a few times, but other than that, it was a quiet area in the evenings.

Potable water is available at the Love's, Visitor Center, and Public Works office in BV and I dumped for $7 at the Poncha Springs Visitors Center. There is a Walmart in Salida, about 30 minutes, away. The City Market in town is OK, but not great. There are also Family Dollar and Hometown Shopko stores in town.