Haviland Lake Campground

sites nestled among trees, lots of shade, far enough from the highway that you feel some solitude, electric only, potable water is available from modified spigot at entrance (next to bathrooms, across from campground host), no sewer (nearby dumps Needles $20 or Alpine Rose RV Park $15), hiking trails from the campground are easy/family friendly, lake is pretty and busy on weekends from local traffic at public ramp, camp host Mike was great, toilets but no showers, I would return to this park.

Overall I liked this rustic campground. It is hard to find a Forest Service campground with electric hookups, so that is a big plus. This campground is not too far from Durango which makes it very busy and hard to score a premium site. It’s all up hill drive from Durango. There is a narrow one lane road that crosses the water to get to the campground, but you can see the other side and avoid entry if someone is coming in the opposite direction. While there are lots of trees in the campground, not all sites have shade and mine did not. I was there July 24th and it was 89 degrees despite the elevation, so glad to have electric to run my AC. My site was not great, wide but not deep. Really the only thing good about my site was that there was a short path up a hill to the pit toilet. The toilets were clean but the system they use causes a draft directly on your buttocks while on the toilet! This was a first for me. There were no trash bins anywhere except at the entrance, so you need to haul everything out. I don’t recommend my site, but if you can score one of the premium sites with a view of the lake then those look wonderfully shady with greats views. Never saw the host despite my mid day arrival, basically just drive in and find your site. I was there for only one night though. The area is beautiful and the lake looked beautiful, although I did not have a chance to go out on the water this trip. It was quiet and peaceful here on a Monday night. I took one star off the rating due to lack of shade at my site and an over abundance of annoying mosquitos (bring netting and bug repellent). There is a nice easy path along the lake to stroll, picnic, fish and enjoy the view. It’s a good value for the price (considering how expensive this part of Colorado is) and senior pass discounts do apply. I paid $25.50 using my senior pass for 50% off. Only some sites have electric, otherwise this is a typical rustic forest service campground with pit toilets, no water and you haul out everything (trash bins at exit). I would stay here again if I could score one of the lake view sites.

We arrived with our 3 dogs in 30’ trailer & F250 on a Sunday, 3pm. Hosts were at the entrance to greet us & show us where to camp. We followed him in his golf cart to double site #8, **kinda high at $50** which was nice to have room to extend our dog fence for them to have their own space & relieves our worries of them escaping or worse. King Charles spaniels that have zero experience in the wild like this! (This is a 1st for us w camping in an RV, so we’ve been learning as we go since we left Dallas 4 days ago).
Bummed to learn they had no water hookups & all electric sites were taken. If you plan your visit early, make sure you can reserve their lakeside spots, as OMG y’all- pretty amazing!! Our site wasn’t superb, as the only view was another camper & trees. Could barely even see the top of a mountain, which is what we’ve traveled to CO for! Only stayed one night, so using it as a learning experience for the next stops!

The campground is wonderful as long as you’re prepared. There is no dump station so you’ll want to use their compost toilets which are breezy. It is quite a surprise! You cannot fill your RV water tanks so you have to carry water by hand. The road into the campground and over the dam is very narrow and has sharp turns. Class A’s and long RVs are going to have to proceed with caution to make a turns. The lake is gorgeous. You can hike from the campground. There’s horseback riding at the entrance. Everybody was fishing and kayaking. Only paddles and electric motors are allowed. no gas engines on the lake. It is quite an easy drive but fairly far from Durango if you need groceries

We have a 32’ camper and normally boondock. We were winging our trip so we did not have a reservation and they had a few first come first serve sites available. The lake was beautiful and perfect for fishing and paddle boarding. There is a nice hiking trail right off the main camping area. We had 2 bars of service on T-Mobile which allowed us to stream the Ave’s hockey game.

Beautiful campground! Lake is still filling from dam repairs last year, but we enjoyed paddling around.
No issues with our 30 ft airstream around the corners. Camp hosts were friendly and each site was cleaned immediately after people left. Bathrooms were very clean. Only drawback is no RV water, but it was easy to find water locally. We will be back!

Located at 8,100 feet on the eastern side of the San Juan Mountain range , this CG is unique in many ways. Twenty miles north of Durango CO, it is easily accessible via highway 550. Access sign on 550 clearly marks the entrance to the narrow and winding road which is hard surfaced and in good condition.

There are welcoming and informative camp hosts at the pay station entrance. The park itself is divided into four ‘loops.” We stayed at a “premium” site (#43) with a view of the lake; albeit mostly drained due to ongoing drought. There was electricity at this and many other sites in the CG. However, there is no water for RV filling or a dump. The site had a table, fire pit and trail access to the lake bed. We did get a “senior” discount of 50% on the $43 fee.

We spent one of the few remaining days of the CG season which ended on September 30. It was also shoulder season for fall color as the Aspen were just beginning to put on their annual show.

For those of us who live at 23 ft above sea level (LA), hiking (slow walking pace!) at this elevation was a challenge but the looping dirt roads within the CG were a temptation not to be resisted.

All in all, a pleasant experience and one to be repeated.

Only big rig accessible of you are really confident. We had site 42 with a 38’ 5th wheel and 2’ rack off the back. Very challenging to back into the spot. I would pick another spot if I ever go back. Camp hosts were non existent. We showed up and they had an off duty sign. Common courtesy would be to add some helpful suggestions on which loop to take with a large rig and dually. Just ignored us. I thought this was full hookup, so be advised they don’t have water the sites. Good hiking in the area and lake will be beautiful once filled again.

We’ve always heard great things about Haviland Lake in the past, but unfortunately the lake has been almost entirely drained. Don’t get me wrong, it was still pretty, but not what it would’ve been. Other people have complained of mosquitoes and while we noticed some, they didn’t deter us from being outside and I wouldn’t let them stop you.

Our campsite said it would fit a 40 footer. We have a 40 foot bumper to bumper fifth wheel and we did not have a 1/2 inch to spare. The angles were difficult and it’s not for the faint of heart... and that’s with exceptional skills.

In the general, the whole campground is tight. There might be other sites that would work for a big rig but we will not be going back to that site again, and probably not any of the other ones either. It was too nailbiting and perhaps too early to offer my husband a beer.

Verizon has 1 bar and only good for text. ATT was marginally better and could sometimes get calls and some data.

Otherwise, it was absolutely beautiful... even with no water. If you’re reading this review next year, I can’t imagine that the link will fill up all that fast given that it’s almost entirely empty. Haviland is fed off of the lake to the north and that link is also drained and will need to get filled first.