Colorado Dispersed Camping: Access by Region and County
· Camprtron LLC · License: CC BY 4.0
Hinsdale and San Juan counties have the highest concentration of 4×4-only dispersed sites in Colorado
In Hinsdale County, 14 of 22 reviewed sites (64%) require 4×4 access. In San Juan County, 16 of 24 reviewed sites (67%) require 4×4 access. This is the highest rate in the dataset.
Where you camp in Colorado is as much a function of your vehicle as of which forest you choose. The Camprtron dataset tracks road access type per reviewed site, and the distribution varies sharply by county. This reflects the underlying geology and road-management history of each area.
The San Juans (Hinsdale, San Juan, Ouray, and San Miguel counties) are the most 4×4-dominated region in the dataset. The geological complexity of the region (steep volcanic terrain, narrow shelf roads, and high alpine passes) means that a significant share of the dispersed camping here is only reachable in a capable off-road vehicle without a trailer.
By contrast, Routt County (Steamboat Springs area) and Gunnison County have the most passenger-car-accessible dispersed sites, with well-maintained Forest Service roads and graded approaches. These counties are the best targets for campers in standard SUVs or towing short trailers.
Note on seasonal access: Month-by-month seasonal open/close data at the site level is not yet integrated into this dataset. That data source requires seasonal MVUM route-table parsing, which is on the Camprtron roadmap. Until then, this page focuses on the access-type distribution by county, which is a strong proxy for which areas require 4WD (and therefore cannot be visited in winter/spring when roads are impassable) versus which areas have year-round or near-year-round access.
Access Type by County (Top 10 by Site Count)
| County | High clearance | Passenger car | 4×4 required | Total reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gunnison | 22 | 15 | 10 | 47 |
| Chaffee | 18 | 12 | 7 | 37 |
| Eagle | 16 | 8 | 5 | 29 |
| Hinsdale | 8 | 0 | 14 | 22 |
| San Juan | 8 | 0 | 16 | 24 |
| Routt | 13 | 10 | 0 | 23 |
| Ouray | 5 | 0 | 11 | 16 |
| La Plata | 12 | 7 | 0 | 19 |
| Lake | 9 | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| Teller | 7 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
Methodology
County is derived from PostGIS spatial join of site centroids against Colorado county boundaries. Access type is assigned per site from MVUM surface classification codes, refined by road-geometry analysis within one kilometer of the site centroid. See the access-road methodology page for full detail on access-type assignment.
Only reviewed sites are included (human-confirmed description and access assessment). County-level counts reflect the composition of the dataset as reviewed. They are not a comprehensive census of every dispersed site in each county.
The SQL query that produced these figures is committed to the Camprtron repository at marketing/data-queries/seasonal-closures.sql. The downloadable CSV contains the full county × access-type breakdown; no per-site rows, no coordinates.
Download the Dataset
Reviewed dispersed camping site counts by Colorado county and road access type. Aggregate rows only, no individual site data, no coordinates. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (attribution: Camprtron LLC)
Download the access by county dataset (CSV, ~2 KB, updated 2026-06-12)