Prospector Campground - Dillon CO

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   Overall: 7/10

This is a Forest Service campground on the S/SE area of Lake Dillon Reservoir up in Summit County Colorado. I know of 2 other forest service campgrounds around the lake, of those I believe this is the biggest one.  This is a very, if not the most, popular mountain area in Colorado as there are several ski resorts that have summer activiites, lots of biking/hiking, as well as the lake, all of which is only 1-2 hours from majority of front range cities, hence it can be a busy area.
We had site 55, which has some of the best views in the place, the downside is it's in loop D, which seemed to be the biggest and most popular/crowded loop. In future I'd probably move over to loops A or B, as they seemed quieter. Overall it's a pretty nice campground, with a few caveats:

1) **Bring drinking water**. The water system must have some cracks or something letting dirt in, the water from the spigot near our site was a bit cloudy, though I unknowingly drank about 40oz from my camelbak before I realized this, and I'm not dead yet so it must not be really bad (famous last words). I'm not sure how clear the water from the spigot near entrance is, but it seemed better. Either way so it'd probably be best to bring your own drinking water.

2) as mentioned, loop D west side is best views, but the loop is a bit crowded. I would completely avoid the inner sites on this loop as it's very open due to pine beetle kill requiring much of the trees be cut a few years back.  Site 55 and the one north of it seemed like the better sites in the loop. This was a weekend though, and it cleared out pretty good by Sunday at lunch so probably not as much an issue during week. Loops A and B seemed much less crowded, though you do lose the views.

3) site lengths vary tremendously, we had a decent sized pull through, other sites seemed like you could barely park a compact car in the pull off so be careful (google maps has decent overhead shots). 

Overall this seemed like one of those places where you can end up with a dynamite spot, or be camping on top your neighbors, so highly recommend trying to scope out a spot from pics/maps. Also due to pine beetle kill, there's downed trees all around the perimeter of the campground, so all the free firewood/kindling you could want, bringing a hand saw would help though.

One other note, if you are in the area and want to eat somewhere, I highly recommend Pug Ryan's in Dillon. We've gone there numerous times over the years and never been disappointed with the food or the beer.

Here's the view we had.. not too bad 

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COSPod Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 20 Jan 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 38	Topic: Prospector Campground - Dillon CO Posted: 17 Jun 2014 at 5:38pm
	Overall: 7/10 This is a Forest Service campground on the S/SE area of Lake Dillon Reservoir up in Summit County Colorado. I know of 2 other forest service campgrounds around the lake, of those I believe this is the biggest one. This is a very, if not the most, popular mountain area in Colorado as there are several ski resorts that have summer activiites, lots of biking/hiking, as well as the lake, all of which is only 1-2 hours from majority of front range cities, hence it can be a busy area. We had site 55, which has some of the best views in the place, the downside is it's in loop D, which seemed to be the biggest and most popular/crowded loop. In future I'd probably move over to loops A or B, as they seemed quieter. Overall it's a pretty nice campground, with a few caveats: 1) Bring drinking water. The water system must have some cracks or something letting dirt in, the water from the spigot near our site was a bit cloudy, though I unknowingly drank about 40oz from my camelbak before I realized this, and I'm not dead yet so it must not be really bad (famous last words). I'm not sure how clear the water from the spigot near entrance is, but it seemed better. Either way so it'd probably be best to bring your own drinking water. 2) as mentioned, loop D west side is best views, but the loop is a bit crowded. I would completely avoid the inner sites on this loop as it's very open due to pine beetle kill requiring much of the trees be cut a few years back. Site 55 and the one north of it seemed like the better sites in the loop. This was a weekend though, and it cleared out pretty good by Sunday at lunch so probably not as much an issue during week. Loops A and B seemed much less crowded, though you do lose the views. 3) site lengths vary tremendously, we had a decent sized pull through, other sites seemed like you could barely park a compact car in the pull off so be careful (google maps has decent overhead shots). Overall this seemed like one of those places where you can end up with a dynamite spot, or be camping on top your neighbors, so highly recommend trying to scope out a spot from pics/maps. Also due to pine beetle kill, there's downed trees all around the perimeter of the campground, so all the free firewood/kindling you could want, bringing a hand saw would help though. One other note, if you are in the area and want to eat somewhere, I highly recommend Pug Ryan's in Dillon. We've gone there numerous times over the years and never been disappointed with the food or the beer. Here's the view we had.. not too bad