Slate River Dispersed Camping

I stayed at the GPS coordinates mentioned in earlier review. The road is rough, rutted out and rocky. I'm surprised I made it with my Jeep Cherokee. Luckily I have an off-road teardrop so that wasn't an issue at all. I literally opened my door to a giant waterfall every morning. Lots of trails around. I hiked everyday. Very few people came through. Most were Jeepers or 4 wheelers just stopping for the view. In 14 days of camping I had this area to myself for 12 days. It gets really windy around 130pm until around 4pm. The ground is very very rocky. I chucked a lot of rocks just so I could walk around my camp without taking out a toe. The mice figured out we were there after about a week. Luckily I have a rat dog and she had a blast hunting them. It did worry me though when I found turds in my vehicle and one little guy actually attempted to come into my teardrop. I was here from 8/3-8/17 and had perfect weather the entire time. The last night I was a bit worried as all of a sudden it was really smoky from surrounding fires. Welcome to Colorado in the Summer. There is no cell service. There are little pools of the clearest mountain water I've ever seen, surrounding the area and waterfalls. Icy, but good for a dip to cool off. I DID hear three distinct bear roars off in the distance throughout my stay. I only found one pile of old dried up scat at my site. But hiking up to the waterfalls there was a lot more. But again all dried up and old.The nights were clear and still. Star gazing is great here, and I was able to easily spot the Milky Way.

Stayed 9/16 - 9/18/2019 - access road was recently graded and was very smooth. Stayed right on the river and there were only 2 or 3 other people staying in the area, but at a great distance, so very private. According to someone we spoke with, the pit toilet (which was nice) was added within the past year as historically the area had porta-potties. Great location with easy access to Crested Butte (15 minute drive). Ranger stopped by one day and we saw him another day driving through and checking things out. Area was spotless which was amazing as it looks like it gets heavy use in season.

This is our favorite mountain town and place to hike. We come here at least once a year to camp, hike, and enjoy the town. Unfortunately, every year we come, it is getting more and more populated with people which also equates to more trash and a bigger footprint on the land. We camped in an open area that has vault toilets near by and by the weekend, it was packed full of vans, trailers, tents, and vehicles! We were a bit shocked that people were parked and camping on vegetation, instead of staying on the dirt areas. The Gothic Valley area has already been closed to dispersed camping during the peak summer months because of campers trashing the area. I'm afraid this is going to happen to all the areas around Crested Butte. =(. If you do any sort of dispersed camping, please follow Leave No Trace ethics.

Listen, here's the secret low down. Consider it your passcode to heaven.

38.966498, -107.088930

Note Exhibit 16a, Section 5, Paragraph 0 in the photos.

Don't come expecting cell phones or warm nights, but if you get fidgety over waterfalls, fresh bear scat and endless mountains covered in flowers well into July, then this "end of the road" (not really, you can technically go further if you make a turn a little before this) is more than Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD and the East Coast Family could ever hope to harmonize with.

Note that the road just before this, and really the road in general, is pretty choppy, there are some water crossings when it rains, and, as they say, suckas and hoods get misundastood, so do your diligence and all of that fun stuff.

This is a rougher road than Washington Gulch and no cell service. For us, that is a killer. But oh the views.... if we were willing to bounce down there it would be worth it! Especially the spot at the very very very end of the road with an amazing waterfall.

There are a couple of flat spots that have a number of larger rigs packed in together. We are learning in Colorado that boondocking is often not a solitary sport!

You are a longer, slower distance from the town of Crested Butte - but lots of access to 4 wheeling, fishing and enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery.

Crested Butte, CO is the cats pajamas. Little victorian town surrounded by mountains full of booze, good food, ski bumbs, mountain bikers and old hippies. Whats not to love? Slate River is a little bit tougher of a road than Washington Gulch, but the views of Paradise Divide and the sound of the river make it worth it. Theres a nice big spot where I camped that can fit a couple big campers, but the turn in isn't that easy. Farther down the road is a bigger area full of campers with more options. If you don't have a trailer and don't need cell service you can head farther up the road into the mountains for some really awesome spots too.