Mesa Campground

We needed a last minute reservation and Mesa was available. The manager met us with bottles of ice cold water. What a treat! Sites are small; have to park truck at right angles to trailer. Some shade. Lots of cottonwood seeds floating by in July! The laundry room had 7 washers but 2 didn't work. Cost is $1.25 for most washers. Five dryers but 1 didn't work. Dryers cost a quarter for each 11 minutes or so. Laundry room was very clean and has books to borrow. The office has quarters if you need them. You enter restroom/shower with a code. Restrooms were average. Lots of hot water and great water pressure but floor needs a little repair. Very clean. Lots of flowers and green grassy area by each site. That was nice to see in a very dry area. Wi-Fi was very hit or miss.

Good location. Nice staff. Lots a tad narrow. Fairly quiet, not much highway noise even though just off 50.

Data. Another story
Camp WiFi. Had to take phone outside to pick it up. 1 meg down, sub 1 meg up. All my comment data sucked at uploading- ALL under 1 meg except one at 1.5. Download adequate to stream, but not enough upload to zoom-call. And I had Mofi4500 and WeBoost

Tested
Cricket
ATT prepaid
Visible
Verizon
T-Mobile 5G hotspot (ran 4G mode)
Would have stayed longer if I had better data upload speeds

Pros:
- Lots of trees and birds with adorable, rentable teepees on site
- Large, clean laundry room and friendly staff with minimal pargo patrol
- Large fenced in dog run that is half mowed & half wild with a fresh stream to play in.

Cons:
- Campground's water pipes freeze nightly and don't thaw until nearly 11am in late September
- Highway noise as campground is directly next to a busy roadway with tons of trucks
- Lots of long term campers and storage lot for RVs & boats.

Mesa Campground is convenient to Hwy 50. Water, electricity, and sewer were all good. Pads are gravel and fairly level. The staff is friendly and accommodating. The sites are pretty typical for private parks in Colorado. It is older and the width of each is less than our preference. Our biggest problem with the park was data transfer through cell service. The signal strength was good but the data transfer was deplorable. Download speeds were excellent after 10 PM and before 7 AM. Upload speeds rarely exceeded 2 Mbps. During the daylight hours, data service was practically nonexistent. This issue could have been caused by excessive traffic on Hwy 50 due to fires closing Interstate 70 and detours of that traffic through Gunnison. Camp wifi was very slow. Even with the extreme traffic on 50, the noise in the park was not bad. If you are looking for a home base to explore Black Canyon, Blue Mesa Lake, and Crested Butte, the park is fantastic. If you are looking for a serene Colorado experience, you might want to look elsewhere. If you need reliable data transfer through cell service, our experience is not encouraging. We do have an external antenna and a mobile router.

Gunnison, Colorado is a lovely area, quaint little town with great views and running rivers. Mesa Campground - let me start with what we liked about it. The staff was beyond helpful and friendly. The little store/office and grounds in general were clean and manicured. I did not use the restrooms or rec hall. The roads throughout the park were wide and easy for even the big rigs. And the gravel sites are level and well shaded. BUT, the sites butted up to the site behind you leaving only about a foot or two between the backs of two different units. AND the sites were a bit closer side to side than our preferences. AND the cottonwood trees which gave great shade were "weeping" a slime flux that made our trailer an absolute mess; so much so that we will need to have it detailed. Even sitting outside in the absolutely wonderful weather was not pleasant because of the goop that was falling from the trees onto us, our chairs, our propane fire pit, and the picnic table. In addition, there is some road noise, but that was to be expected since the campground is located on US Hwy. 50. I would not come here again and that is such a shame, because we really liked the people we found there.

This offers easy access to a lot, but that’s where it ends. The online rules state- no rugs- there were rugs everywhere. Also no hanging of clothes to dry- saw at least two rigs doing this and one looked like they lived there. The people working are nice- but it’s just so unkept. It needed mowing DESPERATELY. The sites to the left are so tight. We and others we watched had such a hard time getting in and out. The entry was so overgrown with uncut grass - what was supposed to be the dog run- no way you could do that. Was disappointed in the lack of WiFi. And also, the sign to show it’s location was never lit at night- dark part of the highway so this would’ve been helpful. This park has a lot of potential. I hope they work on these things consistently moving forward.

Small gravel & dying grass sites. No patios. Campground appears to be shifting to cabins and tiny houses. Inner RV loop is rear bumper to rear bumper tight. Perimeter sites have rear privacy, but are primarily long termers in need of upkeep. Many written rules, obviously not enforced. Tattered awnings, refrigerators outside, dog turds all over our site. Nice staff, good WiFi. Price not justified by conditions.

Just on the west side of Gunnison on highway 50, this campground gets you close to everything. 10 minutes to the Gunnison River, 25 minutes to Blue Mesa Reservoir, 5 minutes to a Wal-Mart and City Market plus 5 minutes to an awesome hiking, biking park called Hartman Rocks Rec area. Crested Butte is only 25 minutes north with a great small town feel. This campground is mostly filled with long term folks. During our 2 months here we've met countless friendly people and the office/workampers are equally as friendly and helpful. It's a quiet campground with laundry and bathrooms. Sites aren't super large, but they do water and mow frequently. During hours they escort you to your site and make sure you're happy with your spot. They plan events for the guests and regularly share events going on in town. Plenty of places to eat/shop nearby as well as great sightseeing of the Gunnison National Forrest. Park is on the edge of service with Verizon, but our weboost signal booster made up for it. This park also has amazing WiFi service. Fast enough to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime.