Pawnee Buttes Dispersed Camping

We were coming from Nebraska and heading West in a Ford F-150 pick up truck pulling a 22 foot travel trailer. We stopped in Sterling, CO to fill up gas. If you are taking road 14, just know that it is at least 60 miles before the next gas station, so plan accordingly. We left Sterling heading west on highway 14, until we got to county road 129 where the pavement ends and we headed north into the grasslands. We simply followed the Google maps directions to get all the way to the Pawnee Buttes Trailhead parking lot from there! It was pretty easy, honestly! The roads are all gravel, so just take your time. They were pretty well maintained, due to the industry traffic that goes through there. We came across a couple of eighteen wheelers. The gravel was pretty compacted and seemed pretty safe. There are several areas to pull off, and if you are pulling a trailer, or you have a large rig, there is a loop parking lot at the Pawnee Buttes Trailhead that you can turn around in if you need to. The picture of me and the dog is standing on County Road 110 just before you get to the parking lot for the trail head. Our camping spot was one of many flat areas off of road 110 that you can pull off on, as long as it is 300 feet or less from the edge of the road. Our spot was before you get to the trail head, but if you pass the parking lot and keep going up the hill on Pawnee Buttes Trailhead Road, there are tons more spots to camp up on the ridge about a quarter mile or so. There are a lot of cows, but they are shy, curious animals. We had our pit bull with us, and we didn’t feel threatened. Just make sure that if you go through any gates while wandering the grasslands, you shut them behind you. There are no garbage facilities, so please LEAVE NO TRACE! There are some vault toilets in the parking lot.

This is a hidden gem of Colorado boondocking. We are used to country roads so getting there didn’t bother us at all. Found a spot easily on Friday evening in early October and only two other campers were in the area. Spent most of our day hiking the buttes and enjoying the peace. The kids loved the cow neighbors. Highly recommend, just please don’t spread the word.

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.