Planning Colorado Bucket List Trip

[Riverbug]

Never been to the mountains...any real mountains. Talked about going Colorado for 30 years and finally planning to do it next year. Our plan is to travel for 4+ weeks starting last week of August. As I've been planning the route and checking out places to stay (using RV Trip Wizard mainly), I notice an abundance of public campgrounds which seem to be limited on hook ups. We're planning to start from the North of the state and work our way south (including a side trip to Canyon Lands in UT).
Wondering if anyone can advise:

How easy it is to find dump stations and fresh water throughout the state?
Are most campgrounds going to remain open until end of September?
Is it easy to find places to just pull over and camp for the night if we do not make reservations in advance?

Thanks!

[Mike Clay]

Never been to the mountains...any real mountains. Talked about going Colorado for 30 years and finally planning to do it next year. Our plan is to travel for 4+ weeks starting last week of August. As I've been planning the route and checking out places to stay (using RV Trip Wizard mainly), I notice an abundance of public campgrounds which seem to be limited on hook ups. We're planning to start from the North of the state and work our way south (including a side trip to Canyon Lands in UT).
Wondering if anyone can advise:

How easy it is to find dump stations and fresh water throughout the state?
Are most campgrounds going to remain open until end of September?
Is it easy to find places to just pull over and camp for the night if we do not make reservations in advance?

Thanks!

We’ve never camped in Colorado but it is on our list. I’m envious. Please keep us updated on your progress. We hope you have a great time.

[Second Chance]

We've done Colorado and I would recommend reservations - especially these days. Same for southern Utah. A very handy tool for that part of the country is the Mountain Directory, too - western version in either the PC/downloadable or printed format.

On another topic, "bucket list" usually connotes an end-of-life situation... I hope that's not the case here!

Rob

[geotex1]

Rob gave you good advice for Colorado. It is one of the most heavily visited States by Americans and Foreigners for every type of outdoor activity. I suggest you look into joining Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome. There is A LOT of off-grid, true boondocking camping in Colorado, but you might not be wanting to leap right into that style of camping just starting out.

[Dick Noble]

North == Steamboat Springs. Great little skiing town. Visit Strawberry hot springs. It is clothing optional.
Also, Estes Park for elks, Grandby for the head waters of the Colorado River and a fun town.
Colorado Springs for Garden of the Gods, cog railroad and seven falls. Glenwoods springs, for hot springs.
South== Black Canyon of the Gunnison (more mid then south). Ouray for hot springs. Durango for the Narrow Gage railroad and Mesa Verde.

[Riverbug]

We've done Colorado and I would recommend reservations - especially these days. Same for southern Utah. A very handy tool for that part of the country is the Mountain Directory, too - western version in either the PC/downloadable or printed format.

On another topic, "bucket list" usually connotes an end-of-life situation... I hope that's not the case here!

Rob

Oh boy, that's not the situation at all so perhaps my misuse of the term. Appreciate the concern though. I use bucket list to annotate the things we really want to do before we die or before we can't travel any longer (whenever either of those things might be). We're actually mid-50's and I retired a couple of years ago; my wife retired a couple of months ago. We hope we have many years, but one never knows. I'll check out the mountain directory. Thanks.

[Riverbug]

Hi all, thanks for the great responses. We actually have quite a bit of our itinerary filled already - we've kind of had 30 years to dream and prep. I'm really trying to get those specific questions answered because most campgrounds (public and private) do not state when they close, at least not online). And I cannot find much info about whether you can just pull off and sleep for the night in many places (you know, like you can in AK). I'm assuming we'll be utlizing mostly primitive campsites as that's what seems to be more readily available, thus the question about whether or not it will be easy to find dump stations and water when needed... We do rural touring almost exclusively so we aren't typically traveling to urban locations where there might be more full service campgrounds and amenities.

[Riverbug]

Rob gave you good advice for Colorado. It is one of the most heavily visited States by Americans and Foreigners for every type of outdoor activity. I suggest you look into joining Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome. There is A LOT of off-grid, true boondocking camping in Colorado, but you might not be wanting to leap right into that style of camping just starting out.

Thanks for the tips. I was contemplating Harvest Hosts. I'll have to keep searching for off grid information. We don't mind that at all. We have tons of things on our itinerary (places we want to see and specific passes we want to drive, etc.) now we're ready to start planning where we want to stay and make reservations for the places where that's an option.

[traveldawg]

Never been to the mountains...any real mountains. Talked about going Colorado for 30 years and finally planning to do it next year. Our plan is to travel for 4+ weeks starting last week of August. As I've been planning the route and checking out places to stay (using RV Trip Wizard mainly), I notice an abundance of public campgrounds which seem to be limited on hook ups. We're planning to start from the North of the state and work our way south (including a side trip to Canyon Lands in UT).
Wondering if anyone can advise:

How easy it is to find dump stations and fresh water throughout the state?
Just about any private campground you pass along the way should let you fill your water tanks and dump (most likely for a small fee).

Are most campgrounds going to remain open until end of September?
Yes. Most. Higher elevations close sooner than lower ones. Some stay open but turn the water off. If you are going for 4 weeks in August this is not a concern.

Is it easy to find places to just pull over and camp for the night if we do not make reservations in advance?
No. Some might disagree with me. But if you only have 4 weeks and there is someplace or something you want to see then I would highly suggest booking - NOW! State parks fill FAST - so start considering exactly where you want to be and when and then be sure to get on line the day the reservation system opens. Boondocking sites are also well know so those fill quickly too.


Thanks!

Enjoy the planning. Congrats on the retirement. Have fun.

[Riverbug]

Enjoy the planning. Congrats on the retirement. Have fun.

Thanks for the response Larry, very helpful. We were thinking of leaving the last week of August so that would have us returning at the end of September. We prefer off season travel when possible but up in the mountains I realize pushing it into October is risky, was hoping September would be safe. Will definitely start nailing down places to stay and start trying to book them.