Stillwater Pass

Weekends can be completely full — both campers and ATV riders.

There are about 20 turnout sites along the main road up to route 455, which is the last place anything larger than a car appears to be able to turn around. About half of the sites can accommodate one or a few RVs. There are also some designated forest service “camp grounds” which are really just a cluster of fire rings near to a vault toilet.

Many sites along the road had some tree cover or shade but most are pretty exposed.

It is a gravel dirt road that gets worse in terms of condition the further you go.

Cell service is minimal on Verizon and ATT. If that matters for you, that will reduce the number of eligible sites. Sometimes the service was veeeery slow, almost unusable on Verizon.

There is a forest service sign saying there is a fourteen day limit at one of the more formal campground spots. No fees and no registration.

I’d say if you show up any day other than Friday or Saturday and are not too picky you should be able to find a spot. I could be wrong but that’s my guess.

There is a washout in the road towards the “end” (ie, the junction with 455) that, if it gets any worse, may make it impossible....certainly for larger rigs.

Although I saw one large class A, most people were in smaller trailers or tent camping.

Good location for the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

We found this to be dispersed camping, which was a pleasant surprise. Rolled in on a Friday night in mid-July and snagged the last spot, although it was admittedly less than ideal...down a steep incline, and unfortunately left littered with trash and about 100 cigarette butts from the previous campers.

Somewhat level, very wooded. All spots are close to the road, which was much busier than expected. Road was in good condition though, perhaps it's been paved since prior reviews.

Last thing, we actually got harassed by multiple bears our second night, which was surprising because we didn't cook and the previous night practiced perfect camping etiquette with our food prep, cleaning, etc. Guessing that a lot of other campers haven't done the same, so the bears come around often. Ended up having to sleep in the car because they were aggressive and would not leave. Also had a moose run right through the site in the same night. Wild kingdom!

Great spot if you get there early during the week. We got there late Friday night when it was raining. The dirt mountain roads became a little sketchy pulling a camper, but we got to a site safe and sound. We also had to drive 45 to an hour back into the National Forrest as all the close spots were taken, but it’s also free so you can’t complain. On the weekends expect to hear lots of gun shots. If you have an atv/utv/ dirt bike and like camping in nature I’d recommend this place. Overall I’d go back with my family once we get a rzr. Another thing to think about is trash I didn’t see any dumpsters. Also no power and we didn’t have any cell service at all. This place is a nice get away, just make sure you’ve got everything you need before you get out there, that was our mistake.

This was our first time at Stillwater and we had a blast. We camped at two different beautiful campgrounds and went on a hike to Lost Lake! The campsites were pretty clean and there are sites for miles and miles off CR4 so you can be as close to or as far away from the start of the pass as you'd like. We saw a moose and lots of other wildlife! There were a lot of ATVs and there were some people shooting off guns during a stage 2 fire ban which was frustrating but other than that it was an amazing weekend! We will definitely come camp here again.

There are a ton of sites up this road and also the one next to it...for miles, depending how far into the forest you want to venture. Not all of the sites have cell coverage (Verizon) but we did close to the top of the ridge. (Same GPS location as the Singh's) Most sites were large enough to have multiple rigs together. One weekend we were there, there was a spot that must have had 15 large rigs that were all together. You can find privacy too if you are looking for it.

There is very good hiking in the area and the ATV trails are also available for hiking and biking. Because we have a dog, we hiked most days in the area instead of the National Park. Lost Lake is up over the mountain and there is dry camping on the other side as well and if you were to come in through Granby, you could access that side easier and have highway for quite some distance. (If you search Vagabond Ranch, you will find the back way up.)

Note: Because of the ATV trails up the road, there will be MANY 4 wheelers driving past all day.

We love this place! There are a couple spots at the start of the road, but the best spots are a bit farther up. The road is so smooth, no bumps or even washboard for quite a while, and not too curvy either. We made it easily in our 24 foot class c. We LOVE our site, it has a gorgeous view of the mountains and is just a bit farther up the road. Here are the coordinates: 40.2303030, -105.8903037. We have 1-2 bars of LTE here with both ATT and Verizon. With a booster its better. For a Wednesday it is pretty busy, but there were a couple open spots. Its June in Colorado, so to be expected!

Stayed here early Jul-16 which served as a fantastic base camp whilst visiting Rocky Mountain NP.

There are various locations suitable for large RV's and we were lucky enough to find a spot with enough isolation.

As others have already said, lots of ATV's and we also hard quite a lot of gun shooting off in the distance. While not ideal we had enough space and quiet to make our stay enjoyable.

Very busy on weekends, keep this in mind whilst travelling the roads to and from camp.

We originally tried to stay off Vasquez Road near Winter Park but it was packed! Not even room for an overnight. We found Stillwater Pass to be a little less busy but still extremely popular with ATVs. We arrived on a Saturday and found a spot jammed in among a couple of 5th wheels and a pop up camper. It wasn't bad, but not the most ideal boondocking spot.

We packed it up once the crowds left and headed a bit further up the road to a more secluded spot. Unfortunately, we had some pretty inconsiderate neighbors that showed up and camped on a trailhead (against the NF rules) about 150 yards from us. They played some impressively loud music and fired guns at all hours. We weren't exactly sure which direction they were aiming, as there were trees between us and them, but we hope they were exercising good judgement. Needless to say, we were pretty happy when they packed up after a couple of days.

ATVs fly around these roads. Exercise caution when towing or driving on these roads as you never know what stupidity lurks around the next bend. I don't recommend walking along the roads.