Kelly Dahl Campground

Was in the area looking for dispersed camping, but it was all busy. When I got here, I drove the campground. Found 5-6 open spots (This was a Monday night.) Picked spot number 2 because it had good cell signal. :) Wasn't able to stream video, but music worked and web browsing worked. T-Mobile was best, Verzion showed a signal but it didn't work well.

Since this was just an over night, I didn't do much exploring around the area.

We stayed here in July of 22

The sites are large with picnic table, fire ring, bear box and gravel pads. There are CLEAN vault toilets, dumpsters, potable water and a playground in the campground. The lower loop is first come while the upper is reservation only.

This is about 45 minutes from Rocky Mountain National Park. We went twice while we were staying here.
The elevation made it a comfortable stay without hookups in July.
We have a video of our stay.

With so many dispersed camping options in the area, we were surprised at not finding a spot mid-week even in season. Luckily, sites 1-20 at Kelly Dahl are set aside for FCFS and we were able to slide into a spot for a long weekend. Water is plentiful throughout the campground, toilets are spotless, host was friendly. It was busy the whole time we were there, but what we would expect with proximity to Denver/Boulder area. More tents than hard side campers, and lots of friends/families coming together - it was nice to see! Mix of shade and sun, interior roads wide and well maintained. Our Verizon service ranged from nothing to one bar of 1X to one bar of 4G - enough to sort of check the weather. We heard very little road noise since there's a ridge that separates the campground. Easy access to Nederland and lots of hiking close by.

this campground is lovely, so clean and quiet. many of the sites have pines for shade and hanging hammocks on. they clean the bathrooms 3x a day which is really great. they use deodorizers that are way too strong and my clothes smelled of them for quite a while after. but it’s ok because it’s clean.

the cell service comes and goes. but most of the time it was 2 or 3 bars for att.

This was a good option after not finding much availability at other campgrounds. They have a first come first serve loop that is not listed on the website. AT&T was come and go. Sometimes we could get 10-15mpbs down and other times it was barley 1-2mpbs. Not all sites are level and no hookups, but our daughter enjoyed the playground and it was quick to get into town.

We spent 5 nights here in the middle of July to escape the heat at lower elevations. The CG was very quiet, offers some hiking on former forest service roads, and was quite scenic overall. Didn't have any cell service at our campsite, so we drove toward Nederland when we needed it. Access was easy, a short 4 miles south of Nederland, which is a pretty little town with bars, groceries, and restaurants when desired.