Telluride car camping

Hey everybody, looking to take the wife and 8 month old camping next month down near Telluride. One of the spots in the state I've not been to yet. Want to car camp in something off of a fire road or mild to moderate 4x4 trail, something with nice views and sites with already built fire rings, maybe near a creek or a lake. Don't want any pay sites or anything that will have a lot of people around. Need reasonably quick access to town and not sure how my son will like bouncing around in the car seat, so wondering if anyone would be willing to share good fire/county roads that fit the bill in the area - looks like a ton on google maps, but having trouble narrowing it down. I've heard "drive south on 145 and pick a road", etc, but after 6 hours in the car and an evening arrival I don't want to spend too much time hunting for a site. Also don't want to blow up your spots so feel free to PM me, won't share with anyone and almost never in that region so I will keep any good options discrete.

Thanks in advance!

 

alta lakes is not too far from telluride and very pretty.

We also like woods lake for car camping near telluride.

 

37°52'45.1"N 107°52'23.8"W

That is one spot I have saved on my phone down there.

 

Too bad, the best campsite I have ever been to in Colorado is a Pay one above Ouray.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gmug/recarea/?recid=32522

 

Thanks, are there lots of spots just along Alta Lakes road there? Cruise until you find one?

 

Looks great, we are coming down from the Montrose direction so won't be over that side but I will check that out some time.

 

Yes sir

 

I've never camped along the road itself. The land around the sides of the road is private property, as I recall. Maybe I'm wrong through. I've never seen anyone camp along the road either.

But the lakes themselves have plenty of camping right around the edge.

 

The spot I was at was pretty large, you could have pulled in 2 or 3 large RV's, I set the GPS coordinates prior to finding the spot, should have saved it when I was in the actual spot...

 

Ouray is on the Montrose side but 5-7 miles South where you make a right (west) to head to Telluride (either via Hwy or Last Dollar Rd).

 

Think Alta Lakes Road and areas around the lakes will be free of snow by mid June? Looks like a really nice area. Excited to get down there.

 

Last dollar road has some spots.

 

I guess i didn't take any daytime photos but there a pretty nice view.

 

Just outside Ouray two days ago. Spectacular area.

 

Im headed out into this area in July, is that campground full by Friday midday? Also, I dont do alot of bear country camping, any precautions you guys recommend? What about food in a fridge etc.

 

You can make reservations for some if not all the sites. The secret is out and I have never seen more than a space free early on Friday's.

Keep in mind this is also close to the NW entry (SW is Silverton with its Side by Side "UTV" city) to the Alpine loop too.

 

ya I looked online, all booked only walk up available. So I think we will plan to find a spot off of Portland Road, hopefully.

 

Alta lakes is always a go to for me. Can make it in stock and every time I've been there it's not too busy.

 

Just drive over Ophir pass in your Taco. I did it last year and it's a piece of cake. We had more fun in Ouray/Silverton than Telluride anyway.

 

Ended up at Alta Lakes last Saturday night. There was still a lot of snow up there (I pulled out a guy in a 4Runner that was stuck in a drift) and it was very wet and muddy around the lake itself. Because most of the campsites were still under a few feet of snow, the others were soggy, and everything else along the road was taken, I took a chance and blasted through a drift myself and ended up with an awesome, secluded site below one of the secondary lakes. Awesome area, thanks for the reco, look forward to getting back there later in the season when it's dry. No luck fishing in any of the lakes!