Old Spanish Trail Dispersed Camping

There's a couple good sized spots not far from the highway that are flat. We went a little further, just past where the pindrop is. The trails close to here are more for motorcycles, though they're not bad mountain biking trails. The Quarry Trails a couple miles closer to Del Norte were great. Pretty technical.

The road is currently what I would call corduroy, not full on washboard yet. Location is great for mountain biking or perhaps during sand hill crane festival season. We picked up a few spent bullet casings, otherwise there was no trash. There are a few sites that would be OK for big rigs. You can see them on satellite view. We couldn't hear the highway. You can see the cell tower from camp.

Some minor washboarding on the main road and some trickier side roads, but overall very easy access. I stayed here for two nights and worked during the day. Plenty of sun for solar, great cell service since the tower is in view.

Super quiet out here (during the week)- I only saw one other vehicle the whole time, and no animals but birds. I could see the flies maybe being annoying in warmer weather but it wasn’t too bad right now.

Pros: beautiful scenery, peaceful and quiet, good signal, plenty of spots, easy access

Cons: dusty and no cover available.

This is a nice area to stay. I was here this year the last two weeks of August, departing September 1st (gate is open). The area is used by locals during the day, so there can be some traffic during the day, hikers, bikers, UTVs etc. But it's a beautiful area, and the nights are quiet and peaceful. Close to Monte Vista & Del Norte, which is handy.

My camp site had a lot of debris etc. I did clean it up. I'm a leave it cleaner than you found it camper. I think (just a theory) it's more locals than campers leaving trash. A lot of bullet and shotgun casings, as well as clay pigeons, bottles etc.

Great area for walks, good cell service.

Our first experience with BLM land. It was great. Easy access from 160 on the south side. Directional signage was good but comes up quick. Sue’s review and comments were very helpful and informative a must read. We were about a mile in from the trailhead on the right where the road forks. Roads weren’t bad. Stayed there evening of June 15 2023. Great hiking-desert in bloom. Quite, great sunrise. Close encounter with a small rattlesnake. Had a little traffic early evening but nothing after sunset. Would stay again

Wife and I were passing through from the Great Sand Dunes to Pagosa Springs and decided to do a night of dry camping here as all of the pictures looked so beautiful; well it did not disappoint! Was able to take our 4Runner off-roading on all of the spider web trails throughout this area. Was not crowded at all during early May 2023. Would definitely camp here again. Entrance is located at coordinates 37.62956ºN, 106.25170ºW

There is a free dump station 12 minutes up the road in Del Notre at coordinates 37.68408ºN, 106.35221ºW; as well as an RV park (Woods and River RV Park). They were nice enough to let us get water as the city park dump station still had water turned off for the winter season (May 2023).

We have Verizon with a Weboost and are getting 5LTE at this site. There is a cellular tower visible here, so I would imagine most all cellular services will get 2 bars minimum if not 5.

We stayed here in late September 2023 for 2 nights as we worked our way south through Colorado while avoiding I-25.

This is right off the main highway we were traveling and offered a great place to observe some distance mountains, with 4 bars of cell service and few neighbors.

It's an open area without many trees so when it is windy it's windy. I'd recommend checking the wind conditions so you park into it not sideways against it to minimize the annoyance of it.

Several great hiking and mountain bike trails right out your camper in this area and amazing night skies.

The only negative we had was that our spot had two previously used fire rings near it so we assumed it was a group camping area at one time and offered us a lot of space to spread out since no other campers were anywhere near us.

What we did not realize was that the local mountain biking club used this area as a parking lot to go on rides every afternoon we were there from 430 to 730 pm. Public lands are public lands and this inconvenience would not keep us from staying here again but we would select a different site.

Our site was on the right side of the road as you go in just past the power lines on the other side of the hill. The road in was washboard but slow and steady got us in just fine.

Great dispersed camping with many sites on the access roads. Suggest you use the GPS in this review as the coordinates provided in the heading take you several miles away from the correct turn out.

Also suggest reading the great review by Sue GG (at the bottom of this list of reviews) for some sites and distances from the access road. Some of the access roads can be a bit rough. We drive a 27ft Class A and had minor issues.

Del Norte is about 10 minutes away, with diners, grocery stores, gas, and a free RV dump site with potable water in the City Park - GPS: 37.684087, -106.352198.

Lastly, mobile reception based around seeing the local cell tower is good, but some sites don't have line of sight and the AT@T signal can be a bit patchy.

I spent 7 days dry camping here August 4th -10th.

I'd say it was a pleasant stay. There were a few other campers, but not many. This is also a day use area for locals, so you'll see people come and go, especially on the weekend. There are plenty of hiking, bike, and OTV trails in the area. I had great cellular service here.

Something to note as well. The City of Del Norte (near by) has a FREE dump station with potable water for RVers. Also, in Monte Vista the Maverick Station has a dump station I believe is free. I say that because at Maverick's on other locations, they have free RV dumping. But also In Monte Vista, the Coop has a fee based dump station. The one in Del Norte is very easy to access, and quite handy.

This area is beautiful, and I had a peaceful stay. I was there visiting family who live near. I'm sure I'll return.