Your First Night Out: Where to Camp After Picking Up Your Van
Our advice, delivered with total consistency to every customer: don't drive home. Go camp.
You've just signed the paperwork at 1901 Central Avenue and you're standing in a parking lot holding the keys to a van you've been thinking about for months. Our advice, delivered with total consistency to every customer: don't drive home. Go camp.
Not for the romance of it, though there's that. Because night one is a shakedown. You want to discover how your heater cycles, whether you actually like where the light switch is, and how the bed feels — somewhere close enough that if something needs attention, you're back at the shop in ninety minutes.
Here's where we send people, organized by when you're picking up.
Winter pickups (November–March)
St. Vrain State Park — 25 minutes, 4,900 ft Lower than Boulder and lower than Denver, which is the entire point. Open year-round, 87 sites with electric and full hookups, showers, paved access. If you don't want your first night in a van to also be your first night cold-camping, plug in, run the heater on shore power, and learn the system without any stakes. Reservations required even in February.
Golden Gate Canyon State Park — 50 minutes, ~9,100 ft The opposite approach, for people who want to find out immediately. Reverend's Ridge stays open through winter with plowed access and some electric sites. Cold, quiet, genuinely beautiful under snow. Test your heater here and you'll trust it everywhere.
Shoulder season (April–May, September–October)
Moraine Park Campground, RMNP — 1 hr 15 min, 8,160 ft The only campground in Rocky Mountain that stays open year-round, and in the off-season it's first-come, first-served — no timed entry required outside the reservation window. In summer it's a different animal: from May 22 through October 18, 2026 you need a Timed Entry + Bear Lake Road reservation, though a campground booking includes it. Paved, level, 49 sites with electric.
Olive Ridge — 1 hr, 8,350 ft Ponderosa and aspen at the southeast corner of RMNP, with gravel interior roads that a stock van handles without drama. Twenty-six RV-suitable sites. September here, with the aspens going, is the best camping within an hour of the shop and we'll defend that.
Summer pickups (June–September)
Pawnee Campground, Brainard Lake — 1 hr, 10,350 ft When Boulder is at 97°F, this is where the whole shop goes. Spruce-fir at the foot of the Continental Divide, Brainard Lake a short walk away, Indian Peaks trailheads at the door. A campground reservation covers your Brainard Lake entry, but it books months out — set a calendar reminder. Paved to the entrance, well-graded after.
Camp Dick — 55 minutes, 8,650 ft Middle St. Vrain Creek, a glacial valley, and a former 1930s CCC camp. Mixed reservable and first-come sites, water spigots, vault toilets, no hookups. Roughly a mile of maintained dirt off the Peak to Peak. The neighboring Peaceful Valley sits just down the road at 8,500 feet if Camp Dick is full.
Dispersed, if that's your thing
You can camp within 300 feet of most Forest Service roads on National Forest land, 14-day limit, and there's good dispersed ground along the Peak to Peak corridor near Rollinsville and East Portal Road. Two rules that matter: check the Motor Vehicle Use Map for the specific road, and know that the Winiger Ridge area near Gross Reservoir is designated-sites-only under a standing Forest Order — camping outside a posted site there is a Class B misdemeanor.
Before you go
Stage 1 fire restrictions are in effect on the Boulder Ranger District through December 31, 2026. Check current status before you plan a fire.
Take the systems walkthrough seriously — it's much easier to ask the question in the parking lot than at 10,350 feet.
Frequently asked
Where can I camp near Boulder in winter? St. Vrain State Park (4,900 ft) and Golden Gate Canyon State Park both stay open year-round.
Do I need a reservation for Rocky Mountain National Park? From May 22 to October 18, 2026, yes — though a Moraine Park campground reservation includes timed entry.
Is dispersed camping allowed near Boulder? Yes, on most Forest Service roads within 300 feet, with a 14-day limit. Check the MVUM and note the Winiger Ridge restrictions.
