Idleglen Staging Area Dispersed Camping

I arrived about 40 minutes before sunset on a July Friday. All the designated semi-private sites were claimed by large groups (2-5 vehicles, multiple tents, various ORVs, etc) and looked like they were well-entrenched for a long stay. Those sites looked large enough for a few "toys." However, there aren't too many sites and I imagine this will be full for much of the year.

The roads themselves were ok for a few miles for sedan/low clearance/Prius, but then got too rutty and I had to turn around. The sites typically had steep entrances and looked inaccessible to sedans, with some being sketchy unless you have a high clearance jeep/truck. I would NOT attempt to access any of the designated sites with an RV!!

The roads go through burned forests and have not been completely cleared of potential deadfalls, so if you go too far, it could be dangerous.

Most sites do not have any views of the surrounding areas, but nice open sky views. If you walk to the main road, you can see down to the Indian Peaks, great for sunrise/sunsets.

Since everything else was full and/or inaccessible in my Prius, I ended up staying at "Idleglen Staging Area" parking lot up the road to the left. There were many RVs and vans parked there, about a dozen. There is a pit toilet here (nowhere else). Some folks set up chairs and a fire in the parking lot, some families with kids playing, all very respectful and quiet by nightfall. When I woke up I found a van had parked pretty close to me, which is just what kind of place this is. Not much privacy, but if you're self-contained, it's a nice close location to Grand Lake and RMNP west side.

Some people also camped at the pull-off at the entrance to the USFS road where the map is. If you're self-contained it could be ok (and slightly better views).

Cell service was good enough to send some photos and plan the next day with weather, maps, etc.

One of the families with a huge setup at one of the designated semi-private sites had a bunch of ORVs and the kids drove through a few times. That was the only negative of this site.

If your expectations are right, this is a nice option.

The Idleglen Staging Area is a great place for folks with any size rig who would like to access Grand Lake or Rocky Mountain National Park. There are lots of developed campgrounds nearby but they get very full in the summer and can be difficult to access for people with large rigs. The road up to the staging area is paved and turns to a nice dirt road. The parking lot itself has been torn up by irresponsible OHV users, so go slow.

OHVs do tend to tear through the area, so the further away from the main road you are, the better you'll be. The very southwest corner of the lot kept us away from most of the commotion and dust. This all settles down in the evening.

One can investigate further west on the national forest road (Stillwater Creek Dispersed Camping) or north (Co Hwy 455 Dispersed Camping) for more spots. While Stillwater Creek Dispersed Camping is more challenging, I've seen plenty of full sized rigs down in that area as well.

I have wanted to try this place out for a while. We were going to River Run RV resort for the fourth of July and decided to go up a day early and explore. I expected the fire last summer impacted it but it was really unfortunate to see how bad it was. It has been a rainy summer this year so the ground is muddy and covered in black ash. The creek was very sooty. We drove down past the creek and turned around because everything was full. Our 30' travel trailer and F-150 had no issue but we did get muddy.

We ended up staying in the parking lot. There were two class A RVs there already and plenty of room for us. This was 7pm on the Friday before the 4th. We camped there and left first thing in the morning. The OHV traffic picked up in the morning but we slept fine. The parking lot has vault toilets so there was more traffic there. A lot of roads are closed back further but people moved the barricades and had setup back there. The best sites right now were the first few on the road past the GPS coordinates on the listing. There was no real Verizon or T-Mobile service to speak of. I'd love to go back some day when the forrest recovers.

The GPS coordinates were right on. The turn off Rt 34 takes you through a small neighborhood and then onto the National Forest road. This road is dirt, but very wide and pretty level. There are several designated campsites along the early part of the road - we did not feel any were appropriate for our RV as the entries were steep and rutted. However, if you keep going you will come to the Idleglen Trailhead parking lot. This lot is very large and level. We pulled up to the far end and had a nice view of the surrounding forrest (badly fire damaged from last Fall's fire). The road continues past the parking lot but was still closed when we were there (opens in June). But we still used this road for biking and hiking - and it was a good place to see moose.

There was a lot of trash/glass in the parking lot when we arrived, but Dave always likes to leave a place cleaner than when we arrive and he picked up multiple bags of trash and by the time we left, it was quite clean. He also built a rugged fire pit on the edge of the parking lot. So, if you choose this place, go to the far side of the parking lot and use our fire pit!

Other great features:
There were very few people here (but probably gets busier later in summer). There are many more campsites down the closed road, but not as level as the parking lot!
There is a pit toilet.
Location is only about 7 miles from the beautiful town of Grand Lake and 10 miles to the National Park

Biggest negative - there is NO cell service! (Once you get to the town, there is great service)