Chaffee County is home to several campgrounds, but sites fill up quickly! Plan ahead and prepare for your adventure by reserving your campsite online. If you cannot make a reservation, make sure you have alternative plans before packing up your car. To more easily score a campsite, try camping during the weekday or outside of the busy summer season. You will be rewarded with the much needed solitude.

Dispersed Camping

If campgrounds are not what you’re looking for, you can try dispersed camping, which is camping outside of designated campgrounds. We have some basic rules to follow to ensure we protect our fragile mountain environment:

• Travel and camp on durable surfaces.
• Camp only in existing campsites on public lands that allow dispersed camping. Do not create your own campsite. Don’t build a new fire ring, widen the existing area, or create a new parking spot.
• Dispersed camping means no access to trash collection or toilets. Have a plan to pack it out, that includes human waste. Yes, pack out your poop! Disposable bags are available at your local gear shop.
• Camp at least 200 feet from any water source. No camping at trailheads.

Most designated campgrounds do not have trash services, so that means you are taking everything you brought with you and packing it back out. Check around your campsite before you leave, even the smallest amount of trash can cause harm to local wildlife and diminish the next campers experience.

Depending on where you will be camping, fire restrictions may vary.

Prevent wildfires and protect our great outdoors:

1. Keep campfires small and manageable.
2. Never let a fire burn unattended.
3. Properly maintain and watch campfires.
4. Do not build a fire at a site in hazardous, windy or dry conditions. Check to see if campfires are permitted.
5. Do not build a fire if the campground, area or event rules prohibit campfires. Check with the campground or forest representative.
6. Use an existing fire ring or fire pit. If there is not an existing fire pit, and pits are allowed, look for a site that is at least fifteen feet away from tent walls, shrubs, trees or other flammable objects. Also, beware of low-hanging branches overhead.
7. Supervise children and pets when they are near fire.
8. Never cut live trees or branches for fires.
9. Fire restrictions and bans are set by local jurisdictions and by individual forest agencies. Check with the local sheriff’s office, fire department or the federal forest agency before lighting a campfire this summer.
10. If you think it isn’t safe enough to light a campfire, choose to be safe and not start one.
11. Properly extinguish and dispose of cigarettes.
12. When putting out a fire, water it until you can handle the embers
     

Extinguish your campfire properly

1. Allow the wood to burn completely to ash, if possible.
2. Pour lots of water on the fire, drown all the embers, not just the red ones.
3. Pour until hissing sound stops.
4. Stir the campfire ashes and embers with a shovel.
5. Scrape the sticks and logs to remove any embers.
6. Stir and make sure everything is wet and they are cold to the touch.
7. If you do not have water, use dirt. Mix enough dirt or sand with the embers. Continue adding and stirring until all material is cool. Remember: Do not bury the fire as the fire will continue to smolder and could catch roots on fire that will eventually get to the surface and start a wildfire.

No hook-ups, no potable water, no problem. For campers who want to experience the backcountry but not lose sight of civilization altogether, the AHRA runs six campgrounds along the Arkansas River. These beautifully semi-remote campgrounds are open year-round. All sites have a tent pad, fire grill, and table and shared vault toilets, but campers must bring their own water.

Near Buena Vista, the riverside sites at the Railroad Bridge Campground (14 campsites), Ruby Mountain (22 campsites) and Hecla Junction (22 campsites) are popular areas for kayakers and rafters, as well as rock-climbers and hikers.

Near Salida, there is Salida East (21 sites), Rincon (8 spots), Vallie Bridge (16 sites) and Five Points (20 sites) along a more mellow river section. This area is ideal for fly-fishing or calmer boat floats. Reservations for these campgrounds can be made from three days to six months in advance. $18 per night per site.

Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Website

307 W. Sackett Ave.
Salida, CO 81201
Phone: (719) 539-7289
E-mail: [email protected]

• Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Map
  • Browns Canyon National Monument Brochure and Map
• AHRA Cooperative Management Area & Land Ownership Map