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Camping Trip Review: Mountain View RV Resort, near Cañon City, Colorado

Bojack all set up at Site #15 of the Mountain View RV Resort, just west of Cañon City, Colorado.

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving! I can’t believe I forgot to write up our experience in Cañon City, Colorado from the end of September.

This trip inadvertently became our last camping trip of the season, thanks to COVID-19 running rampant through our family the following week, taking us out till mid-October. We ended up having to cancel our Columbus Day weekend trip to Mueller State Park, which was heartbreaking: it was going to be with friends and right around the peak golden aspen time of year. Maybe another year we can try it again.

Name of Campground: Mountain View RV Resort

Location: About 8 miles NW of Cañon City, Colorado, on U.S. Highway 50.

Dates Stayed: 24-26 September 2021

Miles Traveled: 65 miles.

Site #: 15, which was considered a “deluxe pull-thru”, but it was a somewhat tight, complicated pull-thru.

Hookups?: Full hookups!

Cost: $60/night + $10 for our 16 year old son

Amenities: Nice bathrooms with free showers, small playground in the shade, two dog walk areas

Cell Service/WiFi: There is WiFi, but it was very weak from our site. We ended up using our cell phones to stream Netflix in the camper.
Continue reading “Camping Trip Review: Mountain View RV Resort, near Cañon City, Colorado”

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Camping Trip Review: Mt. Princeton RV Resort, Buena Vista, CO

Another beautiful site, in front of another beautiful Colorado 14er: Mt. Princeton, elevation 14,196′. I took this photo not long after we arrived, so we hadn’t set out our chairs, rug, or set out our awning.

Statistics

Name of Campground: Mt. Princeton RV Park

Location: About 1 mile north of Buena Vista, Colorado, just off U.S. Highway 24

Dates Stayed: 2-5 July 2021 (3 nights)

Miles Traveled: 108 miles each way

Site #: B1,  Pull thru

Hookups: Full hookups!

Amenities: Playground, pay showers (50 cents per 3 minutes), activity room with books and puzzles, very active social scene, dog park

Cell Service/WiFi: The park has WiFi, but the further you are from the central part of the park, the weaker the signal is. Cell service was hit or miss. Continue reading “Camping Trip Review: Mt. Princeton RV Resort, Buena Vista, CO”

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Buena Vista or Bust!

Summer Mountain Towns Close to Colorado Springs - Monica Shea

Definitely a perk of living in Colorado — having such beautiful places to visit!

This weekend we are heading out with Bojack to Buena Vista*, Colorado, a town near the headwaters of the Arkansas River.

*It’s pronounced “Bew-nuh Vista”. I don’t know why….but this history lesson may provide a little insight.

We have reservations at the Mt. Princeton RV Park, which has a lovely view of Mt. Princeton itself, but isn’t super close the other famous attraction with “Mt. Princeton” in the name: the hot springs, which we may visit this weekend. The RV park has very high reviews, but we were a little stunned at some of the policies. For example, there’s a limit of one dog per reserved site. Also, they are quite strict about not arriving after 6pm, they don’t want folks trying to set up camp late at night, waking up neighbors. We hadn’t experienced either of these policies before.

In an hour or so Dave and I will go get Bojack from storage, to load up and head out around lunchtime. He went out there a couple times earlier this week to do system checks and fix the carbon monoxide detector (it was factory-original: it was time to replace it since Bojack is now 5 years old).

That’s all I’ll write for now….you’ll hear more from me after the trip…maybe during? I don’t know! Ta!

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Excited for Our Next Trip!

Great Sand Dunes
Image credit: NPS.gov

Hi! This is Patricia! As I’d said before, Dave and I have reserved weekend camping trips with Bojack for almost every month during the “warm season”…April through October.

Our 2nd trip of the year is coming up this weekend, and I’m getting excited for it! This will be the longest trip Bojack will have taken with us, to Base Camp Campground east of Alamosa, Colorado. Alamosa is a 2.5-3 hour drive from Colorado Springs, in the heart of Colorado’s San Luis Valley, home to many of of the state’s potato, lettuce, and (interestingly) quinoa farms.

Continue reading “Excited for Our Next Trip!”

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Camping Trip Review: Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO

Idyliic, isn’t it? Cheyenne Mountain State Park 20 miles up the road was the most perfect place in the world for Bojack’s “dewinterization campout”.

Statistics

Name of Campground: Swift Puma Campground, Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Location: Colorado Springs, CO, just west of the Fort Carson Army Installation.

Dates Stayed: Friday, April 23 – Sunday, April 25 (2 nights)

Miles Traveled: 23 each way

Site #: 22, Back-in

Hookups: Full hookups!

Amenities: Full hookup at all 51 of their RV sites // Numerous walk-in tent sites // All the of park’s RV and tent campgrounds surround a very new, very nice camper services building with showers, laundry, and activities // Each of the campgrounds also has their own flush toilet building // Hiking trails are woven throughout the campsites, making it easy to access the more challenging hiking, bike, and equestrian trails // The best marked, best mapped hiking trail map of any Colorado State Park I’ve visited.

Cell Signal/WiFi: Virtually non-existent. There was no WiFi, and most of the time Dave and I had 1-bar with our Verizon cell service. It was enough to upload the occasional photo, and send texts to the kids and friends, but little more than that.

Who Came on This Trip: Dave and Patricia. The boys and Ranger stayed home but were right up the road.

Continue reading “Camping Trip Review: Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO”

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Camping Trip Review: Chatfield State Park near Denver, CO

Saturday morning. Bojack made himself right at home on the pull-thru pad.

Statistics

Name of Campground: Chatfield State Park, C Loop

Location: Littleton, Colorado (southwest of Denver)

Dates Stayed: Friday, October 16 – Sunday, October 18 (2 nights)

Miles Traveled: 50 each way

Site #: C Loop #132 (pull-thru)

Hookups at the Site: 20/30/50 amp electrical only (no water or sewer)

Amenities: Minimal water availability mid-April through mid-April // Numerous toilets nearby // Full bath facilities w/ coin-operated showers // coin-operated laundry // playgrounds, volleyball, horseshoes, and multi-use trails in walking distance // boat ramp if you want to bring your boat // large dog park in driving distance (for additional fee)

Cell Service/WiFi: Our Verizon cell service worked well, and we had strong WiFi at our site, with enough signal to stream television.

Who Came on This Trip?: Dave, Patricia, and Ranger (our dog) Continue reading “Camping Trip Review: Chatfield State Park near Denver, CO”