Dispersed Camping Near Red Feather Lakes | Deadmans Road

Located about an hour west of Fort Collins, there are numerous spots for dispersed camping on Deadmans Road. These spots are pretty easy to reach and can accommodate rigs of any size. This is a nice place to take a break from the city and explore the beautiful area surrounding Red Feather Lakes. Read on to find out more about dispersed camping near Red Feather Lakes.

Quick Info: Dispersed Camping on Deadmans Road

Cost: Free

Ownership: Forest Service; 14 day limit

Directions: From Red Feather Lakes, follow W CR 74e/Red Feather Lakes Road west for about 0.7 miles. Then turn left onto Deadmans Road. Once you past the national forest boundary, there are numerous dispersed camp spots along and branching off of this road.

Solar: Good but varies depending on the camp spot you choose

Miles From Town: About 4 miles from Red Feather Lakes and 48 miles from Fort Collins.

Water: None but there is a water refill station in Red Feather Lakes

Road Conditions: The dirt/gravel road is in good condition, accessible to passenger vehicles but can
get a bit bumpy in spots.

Cell Service: Yes in some spots but not all

Our Experience Dispersed Camping Near Red Feather Lakes

Once we passed the Roosevelt National Forest sign, it didn’t take long before we began seeing spots and turn offs with dispersed camping on Deadmans Road. There were several spots located just off the main road and others that were had several spots along the spur road.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and most of the spots were available. After passing up a lot of great spots, we made it to the one that we liked the best. We walked around and decided where we wanted to park and how we were going to maneuver the trailer.

Funny story… it didn’t go as planned. This spot is awesome, there’s a spot on top but then it goes past the spot and down into a beautiful, level, private, just perfect little area. Only problem was, we were able to get our truck tires to fit between the boulders in the road but our trailer jacks and stairs were not going to clear the boulders. By the time we figured that out, the truck was facing down the hill and was not able to reverse us out of this situation. Luckily we found a camper nearby who came and helped give us a little tug backwards. We ended up just camping in the spot up top instead.

Our Spot

While we were dispersed camping on Deadmans Road, we really enjoyed this spot. We had a nice view out over the forested Red Feather Lakes surrounding area. And we also had decent cell service to get work done. There were some cool boulders to climb and a few dirt roads nearby to check out on random walks/runs.

And just up the hill from us was the North Lone Pine trailhead. We never completed the trail in its entirety but it made for a spot to run off the main road. If you continue on Deadmans Road, eventually, there is a fire lookout tower that we saw the signs for but didn’t make time to see this time.

The majority of the time while we were camping on Deadmans Road, it was chill and peaceful. But there is heavy logging use and a good amount of traffic as a result. And when the logging trucks were making their runs, they weren’t shy with the engine brakes. Also, as we checked out some of the spur roads in the area, we found a spur road about two or three miles up the hill from us that was used as a logging home base. There were probably 10 trailers with water and propane tanks for the workers so we noticed a lot of the same vehicles coming and going during our stay.

Camp Here Later – Pin it Now!

On the weekends, camping on Deadmans Road is a popular choice. And an available spot is hard to come by! We even had 4 Subarus camp down in the spot right behind where we were parked for one of the weekends. But the overall feel remained pretty chill.

My favorite part about our stay on Deadmans Road was waking up one morning and getting to see two moose on the hill nearby. They are such amazing creatures!

Red Feather Lakes

While we were camping on Deadmans Road, we headed into Red Feather Lakes to check out the lakes. We found that some of the lakes were completely private. One day we went for a run around Dowdy Lake and were surprised to find that it was a fee area. But it was really well maintained with great picnic spots, restrooms, and water spigots. Plus it was quite scenic and looked like a fun spot to kayak or paddle board. There is also a pay campground on the lake shore as well.

In the town itself, there a couple small markets, a gas pump, Ace Hardware, post office and nice library just to list some services to be found. And across from the post office is an extremely useful water refill station. We used it several times to full up jugs and the water is tested frequently to ensure drinking quality. They ask that you pay 25 cents per gallon that you use which is definitely a fair price.

We didn’t check for ourselves but we were told that the Potbelly Restaurant on Red Feather Lakes Road has great food. And we read that the ice cream at Hill Top General Store has great ice cream.

More Dispersed Camping Near Red Feather Lakes

In addition to the dispersed camping on Deadmans Road, there is also dispersed camping on nearby Manhattan Road. But on this road, dispersed camping is only allowed in designated numbered spots found along this road and its turnouts. This dirt road is also in good condition and can be done in a typical passenger vehicle.

After we left our camp spot on Deadmans Road, we took Manhattan Road south to reach the CO-14. It seems like a nice place to camp and also seems to be well used on the weekends. And I thought it worth
mentioning that as this road nears the 14, it becomes really windy and descends really steeply on dirt.
So it was very slow going and our tires were sliding with the weight of the trailer behind us. By the time we reached the stop sign at the bottom our brakes were literally smoking. Now we know haha.

Deadmans Road and Manhattan Road are just two of the main areas for dispersed camping near Red Feather Lakes. But there is a whole web of forest roads in the area that also allow dispersed camping, we just didn’t get a chance to check them out this time.

Thanks for Reading!

We hope you enjoyed this article about dispersed camping on Deadmans Road! If you would like to see more of our articles about some great dispersed camping spots, check out the links below:

• Camping Near Quincy + Swim Holes
• Dispersed Camping Near Williams, Arizona
• Camping and Exploring the Flat Tops Wilderness
• Dispersed Camping in the Sierra Buttes

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