Camping in a secluded area under the Rocky Mountain peaks and away from the main roads and other campers is called "dispersed RV camping" on public lands. Rolling off the paved highway onto a Forest Service road, the scenery captures the imagination and the heart. It also requires full self-containment for water, wastewater disposal, food and trash. Just pull off the road at least 150 feet from a stream and not in a meadow, and the RV can be set up for up to 14 days of Colorado camping.
Coloradans don't believe that sweeping a pine branch over the tire tracks to hide them qualifies, but adherence to the "leave no trace" principles is an important part of dispersed RV camping in Colorado. Fires must be drowned and buried so that a hand can be placed on the coals without getting burned. All trash, including minute pieces of paper, must be placed in trash bags. All trash bags must be hauled to a waste disposal site, usually located near ranger stations or sometimes on the nearest paved highway.
Most Arapaho Forest Service roads are graded or graveled but able to accommodate a recreation vehicle. The Sulphur, Clear Creek and Boulder Ranger districts have more than 50 developed campgrounds. More than 500 dispersed camping areas are mapped in the Sulphur Ranger District alone; thousands of other Arapaho National Forest sites are found just driving around and deciding, "this is the place." In most cases, if an RV can drive to it, it can be a secluded Colorado RV campsite.
High-country RV camping is possible in the Roosevelt National Forest. Most of Colorado's 14,000 mountain peaks are located in this forest. The Colorado River, a little more than a stream in the Roosevelt National Forest, meanders through by any number of paved and Forest Service roads flowing toward canyon country. Campers with RVs can pull off the roads in any level area located more than 150 feet from the river.
Cross the Continental Divide and head into the more wild areas of Colorado inside the Rio Grande and San Juan national forests. Set up the RV camp anywhere it's safe to pull off the road in these two mountainous, forested public land areas. The jagged west Rockies are flush with streams, waterfalls and fishing. Mountain bike trails and hiking branch away from just about anywhere an RV can be parked. Less visited than the eastern Rockies, these two forests provide plenty of seclusion.
