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Purgatoire Campground is nestled near the headwaters of the Purgatoire River in the beautiful Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The primitive campground is laid out on two loops. One is a large grassy meadow with sites that accommodate equestrian campers and one that is wooded with aspen and spruce.
Constructed by the Youth Conservation Corp in 1976, Purgatoire was originally named Potato Patch Campground. The river provides nice fishing and a trailhead attracts hikers and horseback riders.
Campsites come with campfire rings, picnic tables and vault toilets. Equestrian sites can fit large horse trailers. Drinking water is from a hand pump and parking aprons are grass and gravel. Trash service is provided.
A fairly privative campground with a few outstanding tent and small RV sites. $21 a night for a trailer, and no water! But as John Denver sang close to heaven.
Absolutely amazing camping. Some of the best views and scenery. You have a creek that runs down the mountain, next to most camping spots. There are two different camping areas as you travel up the mountain. The first spots are more established. They have benches, fire pits, and I believe one vaul toilet in the area. The second area, is a 4x4 recommend trail that runs up to the peak, you'll find camping spots all over the place as you travel up the mountain. These are primitive sites. No benches, a couple of them have fire pits, otherwise they're just made up of rocks and holes. The views from up top are amazing.
Really nice Campground. Free camping along the way there on the gravel road. Good hiking trails. Went last week of September and it was fairly empty.
Came here to do a short hike. We didn’t get to finish cause of the weather but the little we did was amazing. The views are really great to take in. Lots of downed trees so wear gloves or use trekking poles. Parking lot is also kind of small so be early. The road to get to the trail head is not smooth at all for low cars so drive with caution.
Beautiful and peaceful experience if you can get to it.
The first night the moon was so bright it was almost like daylight. It’s so remote the light pollution is minimal. Luckily with the mountains around, the moon ended up tucking away behind them early morning around 2:30am and the stars just popped out in the clear skies. It was beautiful and I will be back!
Be careful leaving the campground and on the nearby highway. There are definitely deer and a huge elk ran in front of me on the highway not 5 miles from the turn to the campground!
