In the mornings, I would sit out in the peace and quiet before the action starts with the kiddos and think wow, what a strange peaceful place, quiet with birds singing mixed with the sounds of the city not far away. If I have to be near a city, this is my kind of suburbia! The strangest thing of all is that you can hitch up your home, go somewhere completely different, totally new surroundings, but when you get all set up and settled and walk in the door….it’s like you never moved at all…You’re home!!
We learned so much during our time in the Denver area. How to use this new trailer, how the hookups work, how to make sure everything doesn’t fall completely apart while driving. We got quite efficient and packing up and hitching and moving to the next place on travel day. One of the biggest learning curves for me has been how to feed the family out of an 8 cubic foot fridge and extremely limited food storage without going to the grocery store every other day!
Nothing quite seems to go as planned, and that is just as true for RV living…actually I would say more true. Originally, we thought we would have to be in the Denver area for Jon’s work for 3-6 months before we would be free to travel around and complete the plans I had put together. We bounced around the State Parks near Denver for a couple months, strategically planning our stays so we could stay within the rules (14 days within a 45 day period at each park). Jon worked Monday through Friday so we would stay at a park for one or two weeks and then move on a Saturday or Sunday to the next one. Neither of us care for big cities, but if you have to be in one, State Parks are a lovely way to do it. Although people consider these a place to go “camping” it felt much more like tiny home suburbia to me since I grew up tent camping far away from society-including campgrounds. Denver has several state parks within an hour or so from downtown. This was a great time of learning. Living away from family and friends, living in a tiny space, homeschooling for the first time and learning our travel trailer were all new things. We only got to taste life on the road for a couple short trips away from Denver when our plan changed suddenly because Jon had a job opportunity that was too good to pass up. This new job would land us in Denver for another year then would offer the opportunity to go remote after that. I was so torn! Many people live in these things and stay stationary but that was NOT our plan! I didn’t want to live in a tiny camper and stay in one spot! Jon certainly did not want to make the hour + commute to downtown Denver every day for work! But the job was just too good of an opportunity so we decided overall it was worth it. We would stay near Denver for a year and continue to bounce around State Parks until he would be free to work remote. The dream of traveling to new places would be put on hold.
Why state parks?
Well, they are generally cheaper than RV parks. They are often nicer and much more spacious as well. State parks are wonderful places to live, they are beautiful-that is why they have been set aside as state parks. In this area, most of them have a lake, playgrounds, tons of hiking trails and paths as well as shower facilities and nice laundry and bathroom facilities.
5 State Park Campgrounds within an hour of downtown Denver
Cherry Creek State Park
This park is located in Aurora and is the closest to downtown Denver. Because of that, it seems to be the most difficult to get a reservation at. It is not as large as some of the other campgrounds so they have limited space. It is a beautiful park in an excellent location. However we didn’t spend a lot of time at this park due to difficulty getting a reservation and honestly, the “vibe” wasn’t the greatest in my opinion. This park has a lake so it is popular for water activities as well as many other things such as birding, hiking, biking & model airplane flying.
Chatfield State Park
This park is located in Littleton, about 20 miles from downtown. If you know the area, you know that 20 miles can take FOREVER in the Denver area. However, this park is the next closest to downtown and is where we ended up spending the most time. Chatfield has a huge campground with tons of spots. It also has a large playground in the campground area which is always a bonus when you have kids! Chatfield has a large lake, tons of paths and trails for hiking, walking & biking. It has a model airplane flying field which is quite popular and maybe the most popular attraction of all is THE BEST DOG PARK EVER! We really grew to love the location and environment at this park. Seriously though, if you’re in the area and you have a dog, check out this dog park.
St. Vrain State Park
This park is located in Longmont, right off of I 25. It is about 30 miles from downtown but I 25 is quite possibly one of the most unpredictable highways ever and takes absolutely forever to get anywhere. I have learned to avoid I 25 whenever possible.
We ended up at this campground a lot, probably because it seemed to have space available more often than the others. There are several ponds and it is a busy park for birding and lake activities. There are paths and trails available as well. I enjoyed this park because I like Longmont which is the nearest town and because the sites were nice and spacious. However, the noise from I 25 is loud and constant. Also the mosquitos are pretty terrible here!
Golden Gate Canyon State Park
This is probably my favorite campground of them all! It is a beautiful place in the mountains and in the forest and has a very “Colorado Wilderness” feel to it. It is 30 miles from downtown Denver but much of that is slow roads that are very difficult in bad weather. We didn’t stay at this one very many times because there was little to no cell service/internet. The parking is tight and would be difficult or impossible in a large RV. There is a few ponds and streams that you can fish in, there is rock climbing available and lots of hiking trails!
Boyd Lake State Park
This the last of the 5 state park campgrounds that we stayed at in the area. Boyd Lake is located in Loveland and is about 50 miles from downtown Denver. We only stayed at this park a couple times because it is the furthest from where Jon was working. It also had a little more of a “trailer park” feel to it. The RV sites are much closer together then at the other campgrounds I talked about. It is a VERY busy place with tons of people out playing on the lake as well as biking and hiking. Loveland is a very busy town. Overall, this park is still nicer than most RV parks you see around but not one of our favorites!
Any of these campgrounds are a lovely and affordable option if you are going to be visiting the Denver area!
