Lakeview Campground

Rifle Gap State Park is located approximately 10 miles north of I-70 in a canyon surrounded by lush green mountains. The camping fee ($41 per night) does not include the vehicle park entrance fee of $10 per day or holding a annual Colorado State Parks Pass - $80. If you are Active Duty Military or a Veteran the daily vehicle fee is waived for the month of August. Lakeview Campground is the upper camping site. It has concrete pads with full hookup. There is also a gravel area with a covered picnic table plus a fire pit. We were in Space 14 and enjoyed an unobstructed view of the reservoir. Cell service is spotty as our AT&T iPhones has no or limited service but our Verizon Service on our Winegard had 2-3 bars of service. On our visit the reservoir appears to be at capacity with water exiting the spillway at the dam. The campground bathrooms are clean with coin operated showers (Bill change machine is inside the bathroom). We usually look for State, County and Local Campgrounds when we travel. The scenery, amenities and access make Rifle Gap State Park one of the best campgrounds we've ever stayed.

I travelled here with a 35’ 5th wheel, long bed pickup and parked in the site #15 on the Lakeview Loop, a FHU, PT site for $41/night. Roads and site were asphalt. The site was level with a concrete pad under the trailer. There was plenty of room to navigate and pull into the crescent shaped site. There was a large picnic area with a covered table and nicely raked surface. You could tell the campground hosts worked hard to keep everything nice. There was a lovely view of the lake out my dining room window. No cell at the site and weak 1 bar LTE at the visitor’s center. No wifi and I didn’t check for OTA channels. The bathhouse was very nice – bright and clean. Pay showers - $0.25/minute. Sites 18 and 20 had a little better view and sites 6 and 8 on the Cottonwood loop got a bit of shade (but are E only sites.) The dump station was also very nice and easy entrance/exit. Water sports seem to be the focus here. If I was going to come back to this area, I would probably try to stay at Rifle Falls SP down the road further as I am a hiker, not a boater. That's just a personal preference and should not detract from the campground which is nice.

This SP is relatively easy to access from US13 and the Lakeview loop we stayed in had FHs. Site was level and easy to back into.
PROs:
* We had purchased the yearly Colorado State Park pass before we left Arizona so we didn't have to pay the $9 a day SP entry fee;
* Lots of room between the sites, site was level, had a shade, bench and firepit;
* Many trash dumpsters available in the loop;
* If needed, large shower that looked to be pay to use but super clean;
* The 'lake' or reservoir level was very, very low, we only saw one boat out for fishing;
* This SP is close to Rifle Falls State Park and Harvey Gap State Park;
* Town of Rifle has everything anyone needs (grocery markets, laundrymats, restaurants, banks). The town is approximately 7 miles from this SP, slow drive so about 15 minutes;
* AWESOME views from any site in this park.

CONS:
* Absolutely no Verizon or AT&T coverage OR over the air TV available;
* Not able to utilize the lake (swimming) due to extreme low water level.

The location is easy to access from I-70 via Rifle or Google maps sends you through New Castle if you're coming from the east. The New Castle route is a little concerning at night but fine during the day. It's very dark out here! We arrived at 9:30 pm on Labor Day weekend and had no issues getting into our site. We were in Lakeview site 11. The sites are well spaced and everyone was generally courteous but the whole place was packed this weekend.

The reservoir water level is unbelievably low. The situation was the same over at the Harvey Gap state park as well just down the road. We never bothered to go to the water and instead opted to hike at Harvey Gap to the waterfall which was dry or Rifle Falls which was incredible. If you have the time continue north up the 235 for more fun. If you have kids, the Fish Hatchery is cool and you can feed the fish for free. Beyond that is Rifle Mountain which is a very great rock climbing location or picnic location.

The town of Rifle was good. You should visit Colorado Sweetdough donuts and get donuts or their great breakfast burritos. We went to the town pool and my kids had a great time on the rock walls and diving board.

At the state park it seemed no one had cell service. I managed to get 30-40 Mbps down and 2-5 Mbps up on T-Mobile using a Nighthawk M1 LTE router and a directional antenna pointing north-west. It seemed others with T-Mobile on their phones weren't able to get service. Our phones are with Visible (Verizon) and they had no service.

The noise was minimal except a camper who was playing very quiet music but far too late. A number of people left their RV porch lights on which kills the dark sky. You could see an incredible number of stars at night which was fantastic. The bathrooms were clean flush toilets with showers. The water spigot at the site had great flow if you wanted to fill tanks before leaving. Always sanitize the hose bib before using it, I saw plenty of people flushing black tanks on Monday morning before leaving.

360 Photo of Lakeview Site 11
https://goo.gl/maps/kFuGiFZoQQ8HZf2QA

Rifle Falls down the street
https://goo.gl/maps/JEkyB3k9BkTiLohYA

We loved this park. The sites were super clean, manicured, well appointed. We were in Lakeview loop which is full hookups, all paved. The sites have a concrete pad perfectly level for rigs. Covered picnic tables. Some of the other loops have dirt roads. Lake was clean, friendly staff. Down side, there was a $9 per day use fee on top of the campsite fee which we didn’t think we would have to pay since we had a campsite. It was confusing on the self pay stand. So we went ahead and paid but not sure we needed to. Just wish we had know how nice it was as we would have planned to stay longer. There is also ATV access to BLM off one of the basic loops. Allows boating, fishing, skiing swimming.

The lake is beautiful and the place is well maintained. But, it’s mostly a parking lot. Not many trees or shade unless you’re under the awning. I felt like I was on top of everyone. In fairness, I usually boondock so I’m not used to these types of campsites. It’s probably good if you’re used to campgrounds with hookups and big RVs and amenities.

This is one of the top two or three state parks we have ever stayed in! Large, paved, level sites with covered picnic tables and a huge patio area with gravel (which the camp hosts meticulously clean and rake after every guest). We did not use the bath houses, but everything appears new and clean. Our only complaints were that there was no laundry facilities and they charge an additional $9/day for your toad (yikes!) unless you have a park pass. There was little to no Verizon/AT&T cell service. My booster made the AT&T hotspot usable for internet browsing, but not for streaming.

We were in the Lakeview section which is FHU. The sites are well spaced and tiered so you get great views and a fair amount of privacy.