Campvue

Reviewed: Aug 26, 2026

4 out of 5

The footage of site 37 above was me, camping as Campvue, in July of 2026. It was a great stay, albeit and not an ideal time of year to camp here. More on that in a bit... I had my pick of sites when I went to reserve on recreation.gov, and based on my research, 37 looked like a good choice as the loop it's on sits near the edge of the rim with excellent views of the Fruita, Colorado area below. And in person, it did not disappoint. 37 has some of the best views in the campground in my opinion. Sites in this section also have a bit of room to breathe. Neighboring sites are kinda near by, but not right on top of you, and the pinyon and junipers help to break up sight lines, so I felt 37 had good privacy for this reason. I am not sure if all the land behind the site belongs to 37 (I image most of it does), because it is a large, open dirt space, which could in theory accommodate many tents. As for me being solo, I opted to set my tent up closer to the road in between some junipers to help break up the wind a bit. And windy it got. It was the monsoon season, and I got hit by a storm the first afternoon. It was mainly windy, with a little rain and lightning, but nothing too severe. But do make note, when the wind picks up in this area, it can get pretty rough. I noticed the forecasts for the remaining days I had booked were not looking good, and since it is so exposed, I felt it safer to pack it up and head into Fruita for a cheap hotel for a couple nights. I would've preferred to stay put, but the storms were proving to be quite dangerous with lightening. Lucky for me, for whatever reason, they allowed for full refunds even up to the day before, which I felt was awesome. Recreation.gov historically penalizes heavily for cancellations or changes, so not sure if they changed a larger policy, or if this campground is an exception, but I felt this was really nice. I appreciated that! Made cancelling more justifiable. Other than the storms, make note shade is hard to come by, as the pinyon and junipers are not that tall, so you'll basically be directly in the sun most of the time (and it gets hot here in the summer). Staying in the park was fun, and I have camped here before. Having nowhere else to be gives you plenty of time to explore the park, but for adventure-hungry people like me, the surrounding area has some amazing places to seek out (like the Rattlesnake Canyon Arches), so there are many incentives to want to camp here. The bathrooms were clean, and everything was perfect save for the weather. If I get the chance to come back one day, I 100% would enjoy camping in site 37 again, although the campground does have some other great campsites (especially for tent campers like me), on loop C. Some of those even have tent pads, unlike most sites. You really can't go wrong with 37. To get 5 stars, I would've like to see a tent pad, and maybe a wee bit more space between sites.