Madden Peak Road Dispersed Camping
San Juan National Forest
Write a Review FR-316 Hesperus, CO 81326 970-247-4874 Official WebsiteGPS: 37.3476, -108.2016
Overview of Madden Peak Road Dispersed Camping
Accessibility is not guaranteed, always scout ahead before driving down dirt roads. Learn more: Boondocking 101.
Last Price Paid: $0
Reported by camper-800233 on 7/3/2024
Longest RV Reported: 42 feet (Toy Hauler Fifth Wheel)
Reported by Blake & Chelsea on 9/26/2019
Pad Type dirt
Open Seasonally Late April - Dec.
Elevation 8,103 ft / 2,469 m
Max Stay 14
Tent Camping Yes
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Q&A - Ask the Community about Madden Peak Road Dispersed Camping
To ask questions of the owner or manager please contact the campground directly. 970-247-4874
LeahM asked on 1/11/2021
Hello! Based on reviews, it sounds like the road and conditions are suitable for a minivan pulling a small pop-up cam...
DirtTrailJunkies asked on 8/3/2021
We were at Madden Peak Road recently and had no internet. According to some of the reviews, people worked in this are...
Reviews of Madden Peak Road Dispersed Camping 93 people have reviewed this location.
“Private and spacious. Great views. Easy access. ”
Reviewed 4/24/2018
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 2 |
We definitely recommend this spot. Super easy to get our 30’ travel trailer in and out. Our space had views of distant snow capped peaks and a huge yard for the kids to play. Great location on the San Juan Skyway (Highway 160) between Durango and Mesa Verde. Very light traffic on the dirt road leading to our spot. CAUTION: don’t ta... more
We definitely recommend this spot. Super easy to get our 30’ travel trailer in and out. Our space had views of distant snow capped peaks and a huge yard for the kids to play. Great location on the San Juan Skyway (Highway 160) between Durango and Mesa Verde. Very light traffic on the dirt road leading to our spot.
CAUTION: don’t take a big rig much beyond the second set of power lines. going up the mountain becomes very difficult and there no turn around. However there are some very nice overlooks if you do drive up there, and plenty of car/tent campsites.
Tyler would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Excellent forrest camping!”
Reviewed 11/17/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 3 |
Site Number: | 8800ft |
We love to boon dock in the National Forrests. The views are always great, the privacy is perfect, and we tend to find new things to see and do. The San Juan National Forrest was no exception. Forrest Road 316, also known as Madden Peak Road, is a great road with some nice camping spots. If you are a big rig, you will want to get a... more
We love to boon dock in the National Forrests. The views are always great, the privacy is perfect, and we tend to find new things to see and do. The San Juan National Forrest was no exception.
Forrest Road 316, also known as Madden Peak Road, is a great road with some nice camping spots. If you are a big rig, you will want to get a spot towards the bottom of the mountain. I suggest finding a spot before you pass the second set of power lines. After that point, you will start your trek up the mountain, and large spots become almost non-existent.
On this trip, our side by side was in the shop, so we didn't have the ability to "scout" out a place before going up the mountain. THANKFULLY, just as we started to panic that we made a very bad decision, we found a spot, around 8800 feet, that was just big enough for us to get into. We had to completely disassemble the fire pit, and move it to another spot in camp, so we could actually turn our rig around, in order to get out later. :)
The forrest is peaceful, the road is well maintained, and traffic was minimal - just a few hunters passing by. The road is between Mancos and Hesperus, only a 15 minute drive to Mesa Verde National Park. Access is easy, sites are somewhat level - what you would expect for forrest boon docking. The road sits between three different mountains, with towers for excellent cell service.
We will definitely visit this place again!
BigRedOneDoug would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Quiet with awesome cell service”
Reviewed 10/15/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 6 |
RV Length: | 22' (Class B) |
This was such a great spot, I stayed for 6 nights! Plenty of flat spots (great for me, because when I leave I often have to find a new spot when I return - #vanlife). I had direct line of sight to the multiple cell towers from all three sites I stayed in = great reception! I was camping near friends who had Verizon and T-Mobile -... more
This was such a great spot, I stayed for 6 nights!
Plenty of flat spots (great for me, because when I leave I often have to find a new spot when I return - #vanlife).
I had direct line of sight to the multiple cell towers from all three sites I stayed in = great reception! I was camping near friends who had Verizon and T-Mobile - both with great service. I have AT&T and Sprint and only Sprint was lacking.
This is close to Mancos, which is a cute little town with a great natural food store just on the left at the light at Hwy 160. Also close to Mesa Verde (yes, buy a Ranger-guided tour!). It is about 20 miles west of Durango - not so far that you can't enjoy this awesome little city and it's great food (three natural food stores, Nature's Oasis being the better of the three, but all good), amazing Rec Center (only $6 for a day pass that includes classes, swimming, and most important, showers), and wonderful biking.
TheGalavan would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“That thar is oak. It'll burn til daybreak so bring yer agua and stay vigilant.”
Reviewed 9/21/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 5 |
The overlook spot, you see, well it's overlooking the road. Not terrible or anything, but headlights and the rush of evening traffic may kill your nature buzz if you didn't bring a set of earplugs and wear your sunglasses at night. I actually preferred one of the first spots, surrounded in Gamble oak and plenty of it, dead, in abund... more
The overlook spot, you see, well it's overlooking the road. Not terrible or anything, but headlights and the rush of evening traffic may kill your nature buzz if you didn't bring a set of earplugs and wear your sunglasses at night.
I actually preferred one of the first spots, surrounded in Gamble oak and plenty of it, dead, in abundance for fire building. Plenty of locals come up here in pickup trucks to chainsaw their winter's worth of free wood, and they don't seem to like it if campers are in their way. I don't like chainsaws, so I figured we were even.
Excellent cell service. Watch pulling out to get back on the highway, people drive faster than a spitball on a torpedo up here, and it's big mountain pass territory.
A toilet paper monster apparently lives here, the type that both leaves behind and then magically picks up piles of TP everywhere.
Nathan @ Wand'rly would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Great, quiet spot!”
Reviewed 8/21/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 3 |
RV Length: | 40' (Fifth Wheel) |
This is a very easy place to camp with a big rig (we have a 40ft fifth wheel) or tent. The first mile of gravel road is excellent. The next mile is rougher but definitely drivable with our rig. We happened to find a great spot open in the first mile. We did drive on down the road later and there were a few more large sites. There ... more
This is a very easy place to camp with a big rig (we have a 40ft fifth wheel) or tent. The first mile of gravel road is excellent. The next mile is rougher but definitely drivable with our rig. We happened to find a great spot open in the first mile. We did drive on down the road later and there were a few more large sites. There were a few other people staying in the area but it was not full by any means. It was quiet. Centrally located between Mesa Verde NP and Durango. Great stay!
Rich Travels would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“It was cool”
Reviewed 7/9/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 1 |
It was good. It wasn't perfect by all means. However, since it is camping I don't go into it with high expectations. A couple downsides: there was cow shit all over the place, and also at night there's a bobcat like sounding animal that roars through the night. Therefore, if you're tent camping you, feel vulnerable AF but I woke up the... more
It was good. It wasn't perfect by all means. However, since it is camping I don't go into it with high expectations. A couple downsides: there was cow shit all over the place, and also at night there's a bobcat like sounding animal that roars through the night. Therefore, if you're tent camping you, feel vulnerable AF but I woke up the next day in one piece so overall I give it a 4/5. If I wasn't for the shit everywhere and the creepy roars at night it would've been perfect. Otherwise, it was good... almost very good.
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Home sweet home”
Reviewed 7/7/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 10 |
RV Length: | 26' |
This place just felt like home. Stayed 10 days, didn't want to leave. Perfect weather, great sun for solar, blazing fast Verizon... Not too many bugs. Lots of cows, they visited my site every day. Easy access to the wonderful town of Mancos and 25 minutes from everything Durango has to offer. You can hear a little highway noise and th... more
This place just felt like home. Stayed 10 days, didn't want to leave. Perfect weather, great sun for solar, blazing fast Verizon... Not too many bugs. Lots of cows, they visited my site every day. Easy access to the wonderful town of Mancos and 25 minutes from everything Durango has to offer. You can hear a little highway noise and the occasional atv or truck goes by. i loved it here, can't wait to come back.
Teo would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Closed - Open Seasonally”
Reviewed 4/18/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 0 |
RV Length: | 32' |
We arrived here on 4/17/17 and found the gate locked with a sign reading that the area was closed to motor vehicles from Nov. 15 thru May 31. This was disappointing because the weather was beautiful and some of the nice sites start less than a mile past the gate. There is one sort-of site as soon as you pass the National Forest bou... more
We arrived here on 4/17/17 and found the gate locked with a sign reading that the area was closed to motor vehicles from Nov. 15 thru May 31.
This was disappointing because the weather was beautiful and some of the nice sites start less than a mile past the gate. There is one sort-of site as soon as you pass the National Forest boundary but it is pretty close to neighboring houses. Then there was a large pull out area right before the gate that would have been large enough for a few rigs, but it seemed to be used as parking for mountain bikers going up the road so we decided to leave.
NomadicNeighbors would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Easy-access for any size rig.”
Reviewed 11/4/2016
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 14 |
RV Length: | 30' |
I used to camp host at Mancos State Park nearby and learned all about dispersed camping in the National Forests for free from them. When the state park campground got full, we had to turn everyone to the National Forest to camp for the night. I had never explored this road but had passed by it many times to Durango. Our camping stay wa... more
I used to camp host at Mancos State Park nearby and learned all about dispersed camping in the National Forests for free from them. When the state park campground got full, we had to turn everyone to the National Forest to camp for the night. I had never explored this road but had passed by it many times to Durango. Our camping stay was in the middle of October, but the weather was perfect in the 70's and evening temps in the 40's and dipping into the 30's. The gravel road is well maintained and safe for all RVs to drive on. We passed by multiple sites that were excellent for boondocking - easy to pull into, big flat areas where there's enough room to turn around and situate yourself to whatever view you please. All the sites are pretty level but it's still on a mountain so there may be a slope in some sites - we had trouble leveling our rig until we decided to turn it perpendicular and then we were good. We liked looking up at the peaks. Others talk about the highway noise but we didn't even notice it from inside our rig. At night, traffic is so sparse that it dies down for sure.
For food and gas, Mancos is a quick 6 miles with a grocery store, pizza (sold by the slice), bakery, nice modern library, laundromat, liquor store, and even a recreational dispensary in town. It's also a 30 minute drive to Durango. Tip: The Giant gas station on the left side just before you reach town has a FREE dump station (located on side of car wash between vacuum & air refill station), water spigot, and propane refill. We hooked up our rig after 7 days to drive it to the Giant station to dump and refill everything, then straight back to our site for one more week.
Our stay was serene, peaceful, beautiful, and memorable.
saraistrippin would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Easy to get to, clean and quiet. Great cell.”
Reviewed 5/4/2016
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
RV Length: | 40' (Fifth Wheel) |
We took a spot not too far from the entrance, maybe 3/4 of a mile. Several nice spots, fairly level, lots of fire rings, easy turn around, even with our 40' 5er. No utilities, pack in, pack out. Felt very safe. No problems about soft soil in rain and light snow. Great Verizon, 4 bars LTE and ATT. Faint road noise from nearby Rt 1... more
We took a spot not too far from the entrance, maybe 3/4 of a mile. Several nice spots, fairly level, lots of fire rings, easy turn around, even with our 40' 5er. No utilities, pack in, pack out. Felt very safe. No problems about soft soil in rain and light snow. Great Verizon, 4 bars LTE and ATT. Faint road noise from nearby Rt 160 and an occasional vehicle driving by on dirt road. Certainly more quiet than a campground and if you wanted more privacy you could probably drive further back or down other roads.
DebbieM would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
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Amenities
Hookups
- dry camping
- Dispersed Camping
Site Amenities
- fire ring
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