{"id":4770,"date":"2018-06-19T04:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forestcamping.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/22\/not-a-fan\/"},"modified":"2018-06-01T06:01:20","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T13:01:20","slug":"colorado-campgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forestcamping.com\/dow\/suzi\/colorado-campgrounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a fan"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a posting I made more than eight years ago and am still waiting for answers.\u00a0 Do you have any insight for me?<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>Each month Fred and I publish a newsletter.\u00a0 One of the newsletter\u2019s monthly features is a “Notable Campground” article.\u00a0 I’m a little surprised no one has noticed a rarely a Colorado national forest campground has been cited.<\/p>\n

Colorado is a beautiful state with great scenery and some fabulous campground locations but there is just something about the management of the developed campgrounds that I find a “turn-off.”\u00a0 Okay, very often the people of Colorado strike me as being over-stressed and in a major hurry but so were the folks back in Washington, DC. So I doubt that is the reason.<\/p>\n

Could it be that most of the campgrounds felt overused and overcrowded?\u00a0 All appeared “over loved” and in serious need of some rest and renovation.\u00a0 I know the natural groundcover of a Ponderosa pine stand is pine needles but why, sans the pine needles, is there so much dust and dirt in Colorado\u2019s popular campground?<\/p>\n

Could it be the use of concessionaires with their long list of rules governing everything from the use of generators to size of campfires that keeps me away?\u00a0 We must have surveyed well over 200 campgrounds and only a handful weren\u2019t concessionaire-managed in the whole state.\u00a0 I realize rules are necessary, especially with the number of campers these campgrounds see but please explain the heavy-handed application we saw.\u00a0 And who decided there should be fees on *everything*?\u00a0 I mean, why do I need to purchase an area pass when I’m only camping in the campground!\u00a0 And why are the camping fee a forest service campground is comparable to what the private campgrounds are charging but the facilities sure aren\u2019t?<\/p>\n

I have to ask what happened to the Forest Service and Smokey Bear in Colorado?\u00a0 Did you notice their absence, too.\u00a0 Guess they are off fighting wildfires or something.<\/p>\n

Nope, I’m not a big fan of Forest Service campgrounds in Colorado.\u00a0 There were a few I would have considered going back to (remember I’ve been to 366 FS developed campground in the Rocky Mountain Region).\u00a0 Funny thing is the FS apparently couldn’t find a concessionaire to operate them and so now most have been closed!\u00a0 But that\u2019s okay since I\u2019d rather disperse camp than put up with the hassle of a concessionaire managed campground in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Sorry for venting but sometimes all I can do is shake my head at the reasoning used by this agency.<\/p>\n

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