Elk Creek Campground

OVERALL: We stayed here two nights in a tent and had a fantastic experience (minus the rain, which was out of their control). The creek was crystal clear — loved listening to it babble at night. People were great, albeit a little hard to get ahold of if you’re trying to make a reservation. Location is great — it’s removed from I-​70 and the train, so minimal noise. It’s not huge and commercialized, which I appreciate. And there’s good privacy between most of the tent sites. And tent sites have water and electric.
CAMPGROUND: There are two sides to the campground on each side of the creek — generally one with cabins and for RVs and one for tents (sites 43 – 67). Although there was a trailer hooked up with the side «for tents» and a tent next to RVs. Our first night there, it was just us and the trailer on our side of the creek for the night. We had three other tent campers in addition the next night. But everyone was spaced out. Something I did notice was that we had a lot of privacy provided by the trees on the «tent side» of the campground. But there was less separation between sites on the RV side, which makes sense.
TENT SITE: Our campsite was right on the creek. Most of the sites are raised a little bit off from the creek. Ours had two «sections» — a raised area where we put the tent and then our fire ring/​grill/​tables were creek-​level. It worked out perfectly. The ground was gravel, which initially was concerning to me (I’m used to dirt or grass). But when it rained all day one day, I was grateful for it. There was an electrical hook up and a water spigot on our site. There was also a wood burning grill, a fire ring and two picnic tables, although most just have one table and just the fire ring. The walk to the dumpster was short, as was the walk to the bathrooms.
If you’re terrified of animals, don’t camp in 67 – 55. They pretty much back right up to wilderness. But I’d expect you’re prepared if you’re out tent camping in Colorado next to a creek. Something BIG came up and sniffed our tent the first night we were there — probably smelled our dog. Just be smart — put your food in your car at night. Lock the doors (bears open doors). Get rid of your trash each night. Respect their space; they’ll respect yours.
AMENITIES: The bathrooms aren’t anything fancy, but they’re clean and that’s what counts. They are also heated (thank God). My husband said he didn’t have hot water, but I sure did — HOT water.
SERVICE: Everyone here was super nice. When I made a reservation over the phone, the guy I talked to was friendly and informative. And when we checked in the lady was so sweet. We had a few really good conversations. The only thing I would say to be aware of is that their hours vary. So, if you need batteries or something, don’t count on them being open. That being said, they’ll go out of their way to help you. They didn’t have the size batteries we needed, and she grabbed some for us when she went into town. And everything was closed one evening, but I saw her walking out of the bathroom, and she opened up real quick so I could get some more firewood (ours got soaked). Town isn’t far if you need something and can’t wait though.
COST: The cost of a tent site was just under $ 30/​night. Totally fair.
NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: 1) Rifle Falls (30 min. northwest) and 2) Hanging Lake (20 min. east) are both must-​dos. We only made it to Hanging Lake because we lost a day to the rain. 3) There’s a small diner you pass on your way in that has good food if for some reason you (like us) get rained on while camping. 4) You’re only 15 minutes from Glenwood Springs, so you can always hit the hot springs, too. 5) We drove through New Castle (just north of where you come in) and it’s quaint. A few good eateries if you don’t want to go to the diner. 5) And if you pass over the bridge (instead of getting back on I-​70), go left when it dead ends, there’s an apartment complex you can park at and access the CO River. It has some good views, a trail and park benches. 6) If you keep driving a little further down the road, there’s a neat old abandoned mine, too.
We’ll definitely be back.

This could have been a super cool campground but it was very unkempt. Dirty bathrooms, garbage around the camp ground and a office that seemed open up when ever it wanted too.
We didn’t have any hot water but I give them props for calling us and tell us before hand.
All in all I won’t stay here again and pay what we paid for a campground with dirty facilities.

I spent last weekend camping at Elk Creek Campground along with six others and had a really fun time. We had 3 sites together that were across the bridge and next to the creek. It was great sleeping and hearing the water roll by!
I usually camp in state or national parks, or just in forest land, so the private campground was a little different feel for me. Like most things in life it had it’s pros (a general store that sells firewood and ice, options to stay in cabins, a beautiful & peaceful setting, and full blown restrooms with showers) and it’s cons (pricey, very small sites, overflowing trash, broken down and not stocked bathrooms, poor signage directing you to your site, and giant holes in the road). Personally speaking, when camping I am more than good with a vault toilet for a few days, and honestly I’d rather have seen a few of them spread out around the place than deal with long lines to get into a quasi working toilet — especially in the morning. Showering while camping over a weekend makes no sense to me so I did not even try the showers.
It also would’ve been nice if they had real fire pits with grates you can cook on, as opposed to the fire rings of rocks which our sites had on them. I would think that with the fire danger that can exist most years having above ground fires would be much riskier. Lastly, two of the three picnic tables on our sites were teetering and on the brink of collapse, some attention in this area is definitely needed.
Really, the more that I think about it the more I think this is one of those 2.5 star kind of reviews, but the friends I was with easily pushed it up to 3 stars. Hopefully your friends can elevate your experience too!

Overall a really nice stay. The sites are nice, albeit a bit close together. We had 2 small RVs and a van/​tent and were fine with three sites. The person we spoke with to make the reservation was very friendly and accommodating for our group.
They put us right on the creek, which was really nice and the RVs both had water/​electric hookups.
I thought the rates were a little high, but I don’t camp a lot, so maybe I’m just out of the loop. There’s a nice little store on site and good size shower/​bathroom house.
The only drawback was that they were having some MAJOR plumbing issues (toilets not flushing, sinks not draining) when we were there last weekend. That was kind of a bummer, but didn’t impact us too much.
If it weren’t for the bathroom issues, this would easily be four stars.

Not a bad campground. Your basic stuff, but isolated, which is nice.
We paid for two nights, but after being gone all day the first day, we arrived back to find our site (site 19) taken by a large RV that was already setup (we had left nothing at our site). Mangement just said, «Do you want site 17?». So we said yes, even though we had liked our previous site (and had left some beer in the creek at the old site… which I recovered later!). No real sorry or anything, just «here is what is left… take it or leave it». Oh well, it was all good.
Showers/​bathrooms are standard camping fare (weak showers, bathrooms were just ok… not clean, not ultra dirty… again, it is camping).
Staff was friendly. Entrance is clear, but exit is not. We got lost trying to get out, and I saw two others the next day also driving around trying to figure out how to get out.
I would go again for cheap digs if I was in the area. The trip to Rifle Stat e Water Falls (15 miles away) is worth the trip.