Salida East Recreation Site

Great site right on the Arkansas river. First day we were there nice Ranger came by and all was good at $18 per night. Third day different Ranger came by and said we had to pay extra $7.00 for our truck for the past 2 nights and the current night we were staying for a total of $26 per night. We did and left the next day. We have a 25' trailer we pull with our truck. No services or trash. Slightly noisy as you can hear the highway but the cadence of the river makes up for it. We saw bighorn sheep on the mountain across from the river. Salida is very close and has most everything you need. Free water at Pagosa Springs visitor center but dump is $10.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife's reservation system is miserable. The fee station provides the number to call to reserve a site from the campground (800-244-5613), but there is no cell phone service and you will have to go into Salida to the park HQ. Difficult getting a trailer into HQ as there is no parking for anything other than cars and the streets are narrow. As for Salida East Recreation Site, it used to be free when it was operated by the BLM, but in 2017 BLM started renting it to the AHRA, thus the high fees. If you are a rafter or kayaker the campground might appeal to you, but for peace and quiet forget it. There was a nearly constant flow of buses with utility trailers, trucks with utility trailers and cars raising dust all going to the boat launch on the west end. Don't camp on the west end! Use only sites 1 thru 14. For the money you will not get a dump station, or trash dumpster (carry in and carry out policy) or any other service. The basic sites ($28/night) are by reservation only and the primitive campsites are $18/night, walk-in only. However, most of the primitive sites are too small for an RV and are rocky and not level.

well the state of Colorado has ruined what once was a free camping area. the above costs do not include the $8.00 per day fee. $18.00 gets you a primitive site. for $10.00 more you get a picnic table and a tent pad. don't need a tent pad with a motorhome, trailer, or a 5th wheeler. one vault toilet by the boat launch and a porta-potty by the entrance. they did not improve the rough roads or the very rough campsites. very few are level, so bring your legos. we have stayed here in the past for free. the only improvements I see now are the tent pads and the wood fencing. it's all still dry camping. very disappointed. we will not use this campground again. for a few dollars more we went to four seasons rv park with 50 amp full hookups on a level, clean site 1 mile down the road..

This clean campground is off the highway and next to the Arkansas River and Mountain view’s are beautiful! It’s minutes from the town of Salida, but far enough to feel like you aren’t camping in the city. It is completelly possible that another reviewer is correct that you may get some homeless/drug users that have access to wander to this area so I would secure your items although we have never personally had this problem in all the past times we had visited but because there are signs of these people on the end of town that is closest to the grounds. This used to be a free site but we were surprised to find an $18 fee on our most recent visit a few weeks ago, pretty steep - especially for winter camping. If you don’t have facilities in your camper - bathrooms are provided on the site. You have to haul trash out. No dump site available here. The lots are level, they have a picnic table, a fire pit ring and some have tent pads and there is easy access to the river. Great views, there is shrubbery and plant life but no large trees for windbreak or shade. Windy conditions have been common for us when we visit. Because of the high camping fee, there are other great free places to camp we will go to because you don’t get much for the money at this one and it’s not that great of a site that we would miss it - it’s a remenant of a leftover gravel pit turned into campground but we totally understand that a fee could deter the riff-raff from taking up their new free home-site there. Unless we have to settle, we probably won’t be back to this one just because we don’t want to pay a bunch for camping unless we stay at a full service RV lot or are getting our moneys worth.

For years, this area was a boondocker's dream...close to town, free, next to the river, and did I mention free?
Now, for $18 per night, you get a porta-john and a table. No water, no trash.
Lacking many viable alternatives, we spent the weekend here. Only one other site was taken, as it was the weekend before Halloween.
I suspect this will become a trend, as we see the BLM and Forest Service sending out feelers for similar moves in other boon docking area..provide very minimal service in exchange for $15-20 per night. Kind of a drag, but considering the amount of trash and stupidity that takes place at some boon docking areas, it beats a straight out closure.
The campground is still close to town and next to the river. It doesn't suck..it just feels different.

We were disappointed in this campground. It is close to Salida and on the Arkansas River. I gave it one star for each of those factors. Other than that, it is basically just a gravel place to park. It is BLM land, but managed by Colorado. That means that our lifetime pass discounts don't apply. It is waaaay overpriced for off season use. I suspect that we could have stayed at one of the commercial RV parks for not much more than the fees we were surprised with upon arrival.

They charge $18 for the bigger sites PLUS $7 for you car. You have to fill out forms for EACH day of your stay for BOTH your campsite and your vehicle. Seems like a wasted effort there. It is right on the highway, so lot's of noise if you're in a tent, it would be super noisy.

Had it still been BLM managed land, and thus free, or even at Forest Services rates, it would have been more in line with the quality of the campground. You can do better than this for less money with a little research and with just a little more money, you can have full hookups.

This is totally dry camping with pack it in pack it out rules.

Got here by 6pm on a Monday and had the pick of most sites. We opted for the “deluxe” $18 a night site (+$7 vehicle fee). Has a nice table and tent pad (not needed). We chose site 14. It was tucked into a corner surrounded by trees and a stones throw from the river. Site was level and felt very secluded since no one took the site next door. Many of the other sites filled in the later evening.

The cheaper sites are a mixed bag. Some sites are okay but are essentially turnouts off the gravel road in the campground area. Most appeared to have large rocks and uneven ground. You can hear a little road noise but it’s not to bad. Would stay here again.

Great spot on the river but it could use some trees for shade. Also got very windy on us both days we stayed. The spots are pretty spread out and it really didn’t fill up midweek in June anyway so we felt like we had space. They have improved a lot of the sites with fire rings and picnic tables as well as tent pads (though a neighbor tent camper said the pea gravel they used is tough to drive stakes through). Pit toilets only but very clean. It’s pricey - the more developed sites are now $18 a night plus the $7 vehicle fee, but there are still plenty for $10 (plus $7). But you’re paying for proximity to Salida. We hiked into town easily. Would stay again but probably scout out a cheaper site (though we could see the river out our back window in #3). No hookups, no water, no trash cans. Carry in / carry out. We would stay again though!