Picnic Spring Campground

I concur with the former review: the cliff side surprise nature of this place requires those with children to either teach them well, so that they may heed your warnings not to approach a fifty plus foot drop surrounding most of the sites, or tie them to a tree to ensure their safety. Our 9 year old also crashed in the thick shale loop that comprises this campground’s inner circle, resulting in the need for not one but two Star Wars band aids, fashioned into an X shape like old Pop Eye cartoons.

Beyond that, and despite the fact that seventeen minutes out it seems implausible that a National Forest could exist here, this remote little campground was full save for one space at 5:30 on a Saturday in August.

We scouted the road—not on Google Maps—which leads beyond the campground’s entrance, and though the roads were clearly real and not incredibly difficult to navigate in a van (for a large RV, this would not be the case, and certain death is likely), and even despite finding a spot with a campfire ring, the tall grass made it undesirable to stay there. Not to mention the actual Picnic Springs Campground is apparently free this year. We looked all over and saw no signs asking for payment, no campground host, and no iron ranger.

Though we snagged the last spot, they’re mostly all spaced very far away from one another, 1/8th of a mile apart at times even. Cell service came briefly and went, and though the sound of generators humming all night was not exactly quiet, the multitude of Northern Plains Nighthawks and enough Milky Way to fill every Saturday morning cartoon bowl of cereal on the planet made up for it.

Beautiful place. Quite a few camp spaces near to drop off of cliffs. I thereby would recommend that it’s not so outfitted for children. Sufficient, plenty of room to back in your rv, nicely set up with picnic tables, bench, stove and fire pit. Some bathrooms throughout and plenty of hiking trails to explore. Bring a coat-gets pretty windy up there.

Nestled in the pines on top of basalt cliffs lies this hidden gem of a campground just 6 miles off Hwy 85. Don’t let the dirt road leading here detour you as it was easy access in. The sites are fairly spread out so your neighbors are not close. Each site has picnic tables, a fire ring and fairly level driveways. Pit toliets are conveniently placed around the campground loop for easy access. Some sites are good for solar others not so much. We are traveling with a friend and we were both able to use the same looped site to share a site but even though we are close we each have our own privacy. Such a gem considering the terrain in the area. Would definitely stay here again. Verizon is 1 bar of LTE boosted at 3mbps on the down. Nothing on the up. Able to stream with little buffering. AT&T data line boosted has 1.45 mbps down and 1.0 mbps up. T-Mobile is roaming on AT&T network.

This has always been one of my favorite campgrounds. It's been 15 years since our last stop. The Forest Service has improved the roads and there are new vault toilets.

The campground is located on a plateau with cliffs on 3 sides. Most of the sites are near the cliff edge. The sites are mostly wide apart; our nearest neighbor would have been at least 200 yards away. The canyon sides are wooded with pine and the center of the loop is mostly grassland. We love the privacy and solitude.

Since this spot is rather isolated, it gets very little use. We were the only campers the three nights we were here.

The water is from the spring and is not certified for drinking. It is pack it in - pack it out for trash. There is a 14 day limit but no fees.

One final note: There are no signs on US 85 or any of the nearby roads. The first camping sign is at the entrance.