Vallecito Lake Campground

[lastlight]

Heading to GMU 751 Vallecito Lake this week. Can anyone tell me in the Vallecito Campground at the trail head into the wilderness is usually full for 3rd season? Will I have a spot set up a small base camp or will I have to check the other camp grounds around the lake. I am hiking into the wilderness to spike camp the first 4 days of the season, unless this storm calls for feet of snow coming... Thanks in advance.

BTW for some reason the USFS says this campground is now closed but I dont think thats right...

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Heading to GMU 751 Vallecito Lake this week. Can anyone tell me in the Vallecito Campground at the trail head into the wilderness is usually full for 3rd season? Will I have a spot set up a small base camp or will I have to check the other camp grounds around the lake. I am hiking into the wilderness to spike camp the first 4 days of the season, unless this storm calls for feet of snow coming... Thanks in advance.

BTW for some reason the USFS says this campground is now closed but I dont think thats right...

Yeah it’s closed, most campgrounds are closed. You can dispersed camp but not typically at trailheads. That area is super busy so I would say probably not an option.

 

[lastlight]

Even the non reserveable sites? Ive never heard of all campgrounds closing like that. I could just over night park I assume then..

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Even the non reserveable sites? Ive never heard of all campgrounds closing like that. I could just over night park I assume then..

Most campgrounds, Colorado/Montana/the entire east coast close it's winter.

Also Covid... a lot of campgrounds had reduced or eliminated services this summer.

I've never been to that specific campground, but I don't think it has gates, many do. Bathrooms will be closed, dumpsters locked or removed, water turned off etc. Also it's probably not plowed. My assumption is given it's the off season your are probably allowed to pull into a site and camp for free.

There are a lot of campgrounds that do have gates that are locked where you would be SOL.

Definitely worth a call to the local USFS office.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Definitely worth a call to the local USFS office.

Very good advice.

 

[brushcreek]

I stayed here back in 2013 had a good experience

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[mountainlaurel3]

I was at that campground/trailhead Thursday/Friday. Gate is open, I did not check the bathrooms. It is a huge campground and I only saw one occupied site. Not sure if it is officially open or not, but looks possible.

Also, the storm IS calling for feet of snow down here, though the big accumulations will be at higher elevations like Wolf Creek/Molas/Coal Bank passes.

 

[lastlight]

Thanks guys, I called the Durango ranger station. Only the campgrounds in the San Juans with closed gates are closed. Some do not have gates, like Vallecito.

As for this storm, looks like could be feet in the high country where I am backpacking into friday AM. Im heading up to around 10k feet. I am plenty experienced and have proper gear, tipi and titanium stove. But if opening day thru sunday snow doesnt let up Ill be coming out earlier than the 5 days I planned....

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Good luck!

 

[Nick_CO]

Im heading up to around 10k feet. I am plenty experienced and have proper gear, tipi and titanium stove.

Well, how did it go?

 

[lastlight]

Well, how did it go?

That storm was so much fun (type 2). Camping in the burn with trees falling all around me through the entire second night plus lightening cracking all around while I am keeping warm next to my stove with a 7ft pipe LOL (not really). I new the wind would be bad and carefully chose a camp location, although I had a giant widow maker 20 yards from my tipi leaning slightly opposite. But with the high winds it easily could have fallen my way. There was no where else to set up spike camp that didnt have dead standing. I was shit out of luck, couldnt move my stove out of the tent from the lightening because I had a good fire going and couldnt get out of the tent and hunker down anywhere else due to the heavy mix of rain/snow/wind trees falling everywhere. I was fairly certain there was a higher than I am used to chance of not making it out of there alive. I was camped also on a cliff, one dead standing fell about 40 yards from me and took out large boulders and part of the cliff with it falling around 60 feet to the bench below, I felt the ground move on that one.

Lessons learned for sure, lightening was a surprise as it was wasnt being well reported as a possibility. Ive braved many high country lightening storms before but never with a 7 ft conducting rod inches from my head all night.

 

[Nick_CO]

Looks like you got some good use out of the stove/tent setup. We got some unexpected lightning during my friend's hunt second season as well. We had to lay low on a very exposed steep hillside as it cracked all around us for about an hour. Wasn't very fun at the time.

 

[Phaseolus]

Elk Man, what about the elk?

 

[noharleyyet]

Posted solo in a deadfall clump in the middle of a thick Aspen grove during a multi event storm...dust, corn snow, snow, wind, and lightening. Looking up at the Aspen would make your head spin. The swirling wind had the elk so confused...cows and spikes were walking right up to me....surreal. Took a nice bull coming to water mid evening after the storm passed.

It was a blast, I was too green and excited to be scared.