Washington Gulch Designated Dispersed Campsite #24

The road into Washington Gulch is paved to the end of the small subdivision by Long Lake. After that it becomes a two lane maintained dirt road that is oiled for dust until the Snodgrass Trailhead. Past this trailhead the road narrows to 1.5 car widths and is very winding. Care should be taken due to blind curves and fast Jeep drivers. It is doable for any large rig if one goes slow. The road at this point is less well cared for but still passable for all rigs. The further back one travels, the worse the road becomes and eventually degrades into 4X4. Note: in early season the road may be blocked by snow or landslides.

All sites in this portion of the valley receive strong winds on most days.

This back-in campsite is fairly level and full sun. A great site for solar or Starlink users. The access road has a sharp turn so larger rigs may need to back into the area to access the site. The road is very dusty at this part so this site receives a lot of flying dirt.

As many others have said, the views from this site are spectacular, and there's ample room for trailers, tents, etc. Upon arriving in mid-July I saw three or four other trailers which were fairly spread out. The GPS location noted here is in a large meadow - I didn't dare continue past the 'steep and narrow road' sign and plunked down at an established area with an existing fire ring. Bring bug spray - lots of mosquitoes - but definitely worth it.

We loved this location - for the beauty at our parking site, the TONS of things to do in and around town and the relaxed feel of Crested Butte.

The only drawback was the mosquitos! So lather up and enjoy the beauty of this spot.

We found a nice field about 1/2 mile in on the Forest Service Land. We are surrounded by several other big rigs (mostly friends). We are set well back off the road - which is dusty and you do not want to camp on the road!

We had ample service from Verizon and T-Mobile for working and streaming. We did find that service bars sometimes randomly dropped off -- down from 3 to just 1 or 1xLTE. But most of the time we had no issues.

If you keep going at the split to the left - you will see the open field. Keep going down that road and there are several access points to the upper plateau or lower field. We enjoyed the lower field as we had less dust and absolutely stunning views of Gothic Mountain and all the wildflowers. Dave even filled in some of the ruts with rocks to make it easier entrance/exit.

You can keep going along Washington Gulch and find many other campsites tucked in the trees that are perfect for tent or truck campers. We did see a couple of bigger rigs farther down the road - but you must be ok with a little pin stripping to get there and slow bumpy dirt road. I would recommend scouting it out first.

The dirt road is busy with lots of bike shuttles headed up to some of the most popular bike trails and those scouting for wild flowers. Going the other direction into town is access to a couple more trails. On the East is Snodgrass - a beautiful ride/hike through the flower fields and Aspens that comes out across from Mt.CB. To the West is a small steep and very popular trail that heads up to a lake, complete with rope swing and on the weekends, full of locals!

We had fly fishing just down from our camp and even floated down Slate River after organizing a car drop shuttle. A day at Lake Irwin was also another fun kayak adventure. After almost 2 weeks in town, we still haven't hit everything!

In town we enjoyed food, drinks and local activities during Bike Week - even spent a day biking on Mt. CB.

We found laundry at the local hostel - a bit pricey but fine. Water/sewer dump are close by and can be found in town near the Shell Station.

So other than mosquitos - nothing negative to report. WE LOVED IT!

Stayed here in the end of July to visit Crested Butte, the road in was treacherous yet doable in our Class A + Mini Cooper setup. I'd recommend a high clearance vehicle, especially considering the potholes along the main road. We were the only ones there in an RV, everyone else was small to medium sized trailers, Airstreams, and truck campers, so tread carefully if you're in a bigger vehicle.

The road in can be narrow, especially at the beginning (just past Washington Gulch Rd and Stream View Lane) since the road twists and turns around hills, be mindful for cars and other trailers coming from the opposite direction. It never happened to us, but if a trailer happened to be coming in the opposite direction as we were leaving, there's no way we both would have fit.

Setting is beautiful, the space is wide open and can comfortably accommodate many sites with lots of room to spare. Great views of Crested Butte (the mountain, not the town) and wildflowers galore in the summer. Field mice are rampant, but we never had an issue with them getting into our stuff.

We would have stayed longer, but a re-enactment group in the valley below had gotten a permit for the area and we had to go - a giant RV on a hill is a bit of an eyesore while trying to maintain a re-enactment after all. Like another reviewer said, they were setting off cannons at all hours and hollering constantly. Other than that, this was a wonderful site, and is a great spot if you have the means to get up there.