Hayden Creek Road Dispersed Campsites

Stayed: 10/16/2021
Cost: FREE
Site: 38.332778, -105.809964
Vehicle: Buick Verano
Equipment: Tent
AT&T and T-Mobile: No service

Beautiful site along Hayden Creek. Multiple dispersed sites are along Hayden Creek Rd before reaching Hayden Creek Campground. There’s a General Store and Liquor Store in Cotopaxi right on Highway 50. Plenty of room for a decent size setup with existing fire rings. Easy dirt road access. It got very cold in October, but has beautiful views of the mountains!

#DareToEverywhere

Stayed in this boondocking area for one night on our way from Canon City to Salida, CO. The gravel road up is pretty badly wash-boarded, so be prepared to just go slow for a few miles. There are not a lot of sites to park, especially for maybe rigs over 30'. There are about 6 sites along the Hayden Creek road, but these mostly would work for tents or small trailers. We were fortunate and found to last site before the campground was open and easily accommodated our 24' rig (can handle I think up to 30'). Also, when you see the signs for Rainbow trailhead, veer to the left and you will find 3 or 4 more sites there, and if you go up to the Rainbow trailhead, there is space for several more campers up there. In general a nice quiet boondocking area, with some nice mtn views.

Plenty of dispersed spots on the road that leads to the campground. The one we stayed out looks like a dirt circle from the road, but opened up to a lovely site on the creek (tent camped this time around and this site was suited for that, RVs would be stuck in the barren dirt circle without the sites and sounds of the creek). It was a large spot, so unfortunately had a pretty close neighbor one night and an ATVer revving up super early another morning, but the creek views made up for that. The road was pretty busy with day adventurers. Had a fairly large bear crossing the road one day. Road heading in is nice. Sadly, lots of left over trash.

Okay, we are not staying at the camp ground. We have driven through it and chosen to boondock less then 1/2 mile down the road for more privacy. This campground is has a sign that reads it is currently (most likely for the winter month) free. There is no trash pick-up and the water pump is in operable. There are vault restrooms. The sites are pretty small, but nicely arranged around a loop. It is kind of the end of a valley and there are nice large pine trees all around ...Rainbow trail is close, but sadly in one direction most of the area has burned a few years ago. The other direction however is fine. There absolutly no cell coverage in the area. It is only about 5 miles from Hwy 50... the picture was taken about 1 mile before getting to the campground..