Pawnee Buttes Dispersed Camping

I came in from Sterling, CO (53 miles) and the roads are good pavement till you turn off on county road 129. It’s a good chip-seal surface but watch for the curves and hills which are mostly gravel, washboard so if you’re towing, SLOW DOWN. At the turn for county road 110 it’s good but mostly gravel. The one lane road leading into the main area is OK but steep so go slow and if towing you might want 4 wheel drive.

The trailhead lot has a lot of informational signs, pit toilets and three shelters with picnic tables and stands for grills. It’s not a place to camp. It has information about camping rules.

I chose a large site on CR 805 up from the trailhead and past the windmill to the south. I stayed back in the curve so not a view of the buttes but a great view to the east.

A lot of shell casings around that people don’t clean up. Other wise the site was clean.

We bailed on our Plan A so we needed a quick backup plan after hitting the Nebraska High Point/Panorama Point. Thanks to Campendium contributors, we found this camping area.

We're in an Audi Q5 pulling R-Pod 180 and it was a very long, slow drive on the rutted and washboard gravel roads. Wouldn't recommend bringing anything over 30 feet. Once we got there, we enjoyed it. It's interesting and different from most campsites, with views overlooking the gulch and buttes. Coyotes howling in the evening, cows grazing nearby. We were spot on level with the first back-in - that rarely happens at pay campgrounds! Sites are pretty far apart, and of course we had someone running two gennys. Other than that it was quiet. Except for the rain and wind storm that swept through, we estimated gusts at 50 mph. A tenter on the other side of us said he's stayed there three times and all three times wind has been like that. It was a short burst, then back to quiet and beautiful starry night combined with red blinking lights of the wind turbines.

If we went again we would plan to stay longer, it's too out of the way for a one night stop over.

Our coordinates: 40.812327, -103.999357

Maybe it's because not every visitors are lucky enough to see the views I saw?

I was on my annual trip riding a motorcycle from Irvine to the Canadian border, en route this site while on the way back. It's a 5k miles / 10-day trip.

I'd definitely give 5-star rating to this site. The grassland is so solitude vast and I literally did nothing just sitting on my camp folding chair smile for 30 minutes after arrival. The views gave me goosebumps for the touching feeling of natural beauty.

It was not too windy, the campsite is clean, hear but no castles harassing around, the sky is beautiful at its most for there are some cloud make it more vivid.

I'll be staying here again, and get more prepared since I don't have too much room carry equipment by my bike.

We stayed here 9/23 and 9/24/20. When we stayed there was some wash out in the road between the trail head and where we camped that would have been impossible for us to cross. However, we took the following route to get there: HWY 14 to HWY 390 to 112. This will bring you in to the west side of the forest service road. The view of the buttes from our campsite was great, we were within walking distance of the trailhead to the buttes, and it was clean and quiet. We would definitely stay here again to explore more of the local area and scenic byways that surround this dispersed camping area.

Multiple dispersed campsites approaching the Pawnee Buttes trailhead from the west and southwest. I camped (rooftop tent) on the bluff overlooking the trailhead parking lot, approached from the south. Chilly at night (10 degrees) but no wind.

Spectacular view of the Pawnee Buttes to the east. Perfect spot to catch sunrise and sunset. This area is also a “dark site,” so on clear, moonless nights the stars / Milky Way are phenomenal.

During winter snow often drifts onto the roads. If snowy, 4-wheel drive / high clearance helpful for accessing some of the dispersed sites.

Trailhead restrooms are open year-round.

Consistent 3 bars 5G (AT&T). 200 Mbps down / 16 Mbps up.

After visiting friends in Aurora, CO, we needed a quick overnight space before moving on to Wyoming. We entered Pawnee Nat’l Grassland from the intersection of 90 and 49. Drove about 2 miles North on 49, very slowly because of road condition, until we saw sign for National Grassland. About 100 yds after, you can gingerly open a simple barbed-wire gate, and turn in on either right or left side of 49. We went right and drove in a bit near a windmill, to steer clear of two families using the spot for target practice. Each waved at us and had tables set up facing away from the road, so all was well. Our spot had broken skeets and spent shells on the ground, but we weren’t even going out, so it didn’t bother us. No views of buttes from here. Again, we just needed a place to crash, so it was perfectly acceptable.

This was my wife and I's first boon docking experience. I was testing out my new battery box and inverter setup. We entered the camping area from the West Entrance, which I suggest is your best approach for bigger rigs. The reason is the South entrance road has some sever washed out areas and if your wheels slide into the ruts you are going to have some trouble.

We counted 7 camping spots that had fire rings in them. The spots are huge and can accommodate 2 or 3 rigs if you wanted to have a party, but note that the sites are more than 100 yards apart so your neighbors will not bother you at all.

We were in the second spot when entering from the West side. It was fairly level and I could easily turn my rig around in the camp spot.

Being October, it was a little windy and cold the first night but during the days it reach up into the mid 60's and the second night it go down to mid-40's.

Sunset's and Sunrises were amazing and the views are wide open. Definitely will go back.

It was a very dusty long drive out here but not bad for my rig. Lots of oil trucks on the main dirt roads but once you turn off for the buttes you probably won’t see anyone. I saw two cars down at the trail head but they left quickly. I found a great hilltop site overlooking the Buttes.... it took a little bit of work to level out but it’s doable and I would definitely come back to the spot again. I watched a couple of pretty good storms come and go… Luckily they weren’t too bad. So quiet and beautiful out here… I’m surrounded by cows on this open range with views forever. 🐄 Yeah you can see oil rigs and windmills but it’s so worth it for the solitude and silence. Yesterday I was the only one here… This morning I see a rig way over on the other hill but other than that no one. So if you like solitude and silence this is the place to be. I’ve heard some say it’s difficult to get here but it’s not… Follow Google maps and it will bring you right here along with the signs that you will see along the gravel road. And I have a strong 2 to 3 Verizon signal all the time… Amazing!!

We found a nice pull out overlooking the buttes. Easy to level on. May only get to stay a few nights as bad winds and dogs and possible snow coming later this week.
But it’s beautiful and fairly clean. Very spacious and quiet. I have 2 bars of Verizon LTE and 4 bars of T-Mobile. Both un-boosted.

Site GPS cords: 40.810279,-103.997119