What a gem this little campground in the Routt National Forest is! Most NF facilities are, actually, but this one, with its amazing Rocky Mountain views, excellent access to hiking and mountain biking trails, and lovely lake nearby stands out as one of our favorites so far. We even had an added bonus of stunning fall foliage, This was our first stop in beautiful Colorado after leaving Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, and we spent several days here, soaking in the serenity. Dumont Lake Campground is located 22 miles southeast of Steamboat Springs on U.S. Highway 40 near the base of Rabbit Ears Peak. The area borders the Continental Divide and sits on top of the Park Range, offering spectacular views of several Colorado mountain ranges. The campground has 22 campsites. Although they accept reservations earlier in the season, we were late enough that all sites were first-come first-serve. Around 2/3 of the sites were available when we arrived on a Thursday. Over the weekend, though, the campground was almost totally full, with only one or two sites free on Friday/Saturday nights. The sites are gravel and none appeared very level but some were long enough to accommodate larger RVs, while others were sized for tents or small rigs only. We initially pulled into a nice pull-through site but determined that it was too shady. The weather was chilly and very blustery that day, so we decided that a sunny site would be best; just the opposite of our summer strategy, where we looked for shade. We chose a back-in site with full sunshine and gorgeous views over a large alpine meadow. It was tough to get Pearl leveled (lots of boards under the wheels required) but so worth it. The campground has no hookups, so we would be boondocking again, but we were getting pretty good at it by this time. There are vault toilets and a couple of hand pumps for drinking water. There was no TV signal, but internet with our Mifi device was fine. With Barry's Senior Pass, we paid only $6/night (half price!) During our stay, we were lucky enough to experience a gorgeous full moon. Dumont Lake is a small (50-acre) lake that allows non-motorized and boats with electric motors only. Wish we'd had kayaks! It was so very pretty, day or night. Lucky Barry even caught a glimpse of a pair of moose feeding near the lake on a morning walk. I walked there with him the following morning in hopes of seeing the same, but no luck. Although we didn't focus on birdwatching here, the campground is noted to be a good spot for birding, and we certainly saw a few without even trying, especially beautiful hawks. I think this is a light morph Red-Tailed. And this charming White-Crowned Sparrow, who seemed to be posing for a photo. Stay tuned for photos from our hiking and mountain biking in the area -- the views were breathtaking, as you might imagine, and we have some good photos to share.
2 Comments
10/3/2016 08:51:11 am
Beautiful! Our daughter visited Colorado for the first time this past weekend and she's in love! She and her husband hiked a portion of the Continental Divide.
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Emily
10/6/2016 08:39:02 am
Colorado is an easy place to fall in love with! There's still a lot of it I haven't seen -- Denver, Boulder (where I really want to go and ride bicycles), etc. But we loved Durango in 2014 and also managed to hit peak foliage season when we visited then. I can see why your daughter loved it too!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
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