Reverend’s Ridge Campground is the only campground in Golden Gate Canyon State Park with sites that accommodate RVs, offering a surprisingly woodsy mountain camping experience within easy reach of the Denver metro area. Set at about 9,100 feet among dense stands of pine and aspen, the campground feels distinctly alpine, with abundant shade and frequent wildlife sightings. Moose and deer are among the animals campers may encounter in and around the park.
The campground is especially appealing as a base for exploring Golden Gate Canyon’s extensive trail system. Hiking and mountain biking opportunities are close at hand, and Panorama Point—one of the park’s signature destinations—offers sweeping views across the Continental Divide. In fall, the park’s large stands of aspen make this an especially scenic place to camp.
Despite its proximity to Denver, Reverend’s Ridge feels much farther removed from the city than its location might suggest. The combination of high-elevation forest, easy trail access, wildlife, cool summer temperatures, and developed camping amenities makes it a particularly attractive Front Range destination for RVers who want a mountain camping experience without traveling deep into the Rockies.
1 Review on “Reverends Ridge Campground”
It pains me to only give this park a 4 star overall rating, but a couple of negative aspects forced me to deduct a star. First the good: it’s beautiful, and we loved being surrounded by tall trees for a change. (Usually we’re tree-averse, because we need Starlink to work. Ironically, Starlink worked great here, in spite of all the tall trees.) The park was quiet, mostly. A few barking dogs—particularly the camp host’s dog—regularly disturbed the peace. The weather was cool, thanks to the high elevation, which was a nice respite from the heat wave affecting everywhere else in the country this summer. The park offers some fun events, like a movie night and an astronomy presentation. There are tons of hiking trails nearby, though I think we did the Raccoon Trail. (Which was awesome and only 4 miles.) There are laundry machines here that take credit cards. That was a nice advantage!
I guess that just leaves the less-good aspects: First, the showers are awful. Not because they were dirty or anything. They were actually very well maintained. But the shower heads sprayed about 5 drill-like streams of water that fan so widely apart that it was impossible to get all the water simultaneously directed at your body. You have to do some serious gymnastics in order to rinse your lower extremities and god help you when rinsing your face because if one of those streams catches you in the eye, you’ll feel like you were stabbed. Since the park doesn’t offer sewer hookups, these showers are your only option. Everything else about the bathrooms was perfectly acceptable. (And actually better than your average state park bathroom.) The other thing that I didn’t like about this park is the last 1.5 miles to get there. You have to take Gap Road, which is horribly washboarded. We didn’t drive much past 10 mph and it was still painful. That said, we saw people driving down that road like they were drag racing—trailer in tow! So clearly some people aren’t bothered by the bumps, but we sure didn’t enjoy them.