Flat Rocks Campground — Hotel in Four Corners States

So I went here for a weekend to take my kid camping, hang with friends and for a friend to ride his dirtbike. I have to say, this area is an amazing place to ride a dirt bike. I've never seen a better place to do that! With that said, the actual campground is a complete waste of money. The campsite manager is like an overbearing landlord. Telling every group that arrives the rules of the campsite and she enforces them to the letter. In fact, her 9 year old kid wanders around all the camps looking at stuff and telling everyone what they shouldn't be doing. I tried to be hospitable to him. As he wanted to play with my kid, I made him some snacks and smores, but eventually seeing him constantly making sure everyone was following the rules, paying their fees and peeking into our tents and have a very vulgar mouth when things wern't going his way, I had to down right tell him to leave because he was just making the vacation very uncomfortable for everyone. Yet, he still didn't leave. We had to go off hiking to get away from him. I felt bad, but we were there to visit with our friends. Not play host to an unattended child.

Late at night the landlord walked the entire camp ground and shouted to everyone from the road to make sure they put out their fires because she had to put them out herself the night before. Sorry, but we put gallons of water on ours and made sure it was completely out.

Bottom line, camp in the "free camp" areas. Which are everywhere else. There are still toilets and water services around. And all the spots are nice. The only downside is you can't legally have an uncontained fire going in the free camp area. That's where I'll be staying next time (If I go there again).

Pros: Easier access to water service Good hiking from the camp site

Cons: Overbearing Landlord and child Loud dirt bikes all day long Dirt bikes running in the early morning Dusty Many (including the landlord) speed on all the roads in an unsafe manner Better hiking in many other places...

We made the mistake of heading up to Rampart Range Rd/Devil's Head area on a holiday weekend (Mother's Day). All the free campsites along the Rampart were occupied (and super noisy/dusty from the dirt bikes anyhow) and unlike previous years we've visited, the Devil's Head Campground was closed. So we checked out Flat Rocks Campground. It's actually a pretty nice little spot, but we were not very impressed.

-Fee is $22/night, which is about double what we're used to paying. On top of this, they don't have garbage disposal service (there were dumpsters, but had signs saying not to use them) and the water wasn't turned on (probably because it was early season...). But then why still charge full price?

-Garbage everywhere. Piled up in the firepits. Littering the campsites. Dog poop all around our site.

-Campsite #1 is supposedly for the campground "host". When we arrived there was a man (possibly drunk/high?) laying on his back on the picnic table in site #1, cans strewn about on the ground, smoking cigs and blasting music. Not sure if he was the actual host? But clearly not a welcoming first impression...

-Dirt bikes. Given the proximity to ORV area, it's not surprisingly popular with the dirt bike/ATV crowd. Which is fine. But the rules posted at the entry indicate that riding in the campground is restricted to entry/exit (and a 5mph speed limit). These rules were not enforced at all.... we witnessed multiple riders speeding in/out. And one large group in particular had a couple kids on dirt bikes doing laps on the roundabout within the campground. Not exactly a quiet camping experience.

Not sure if this is a new operator (Rocky Mountain Recreation Company) that the USFS has switched to, but I seriously hope they get their act together. Too lovely a spot to let it...

Campground itself is nice and clean. Vault toilets are spotless and even smell nice somehow. Camp host 2022 is an amazing person named Nell. She cares about the guests. Not to mention a fellow Cornhusker!! 😎 We has site number 18 and it’s tucked back in the corner. Stayed 2 nights. First nice was so quiet and peaceful. Second night may have been the worst night of camping ever in 43 years. Two young kids high as a kite and drunk kept my 7 year old son and I awake til 5am. Got zero sleep. Playing music, laughing yelling. Then their friend showed up at 3:00am and it got worse til they passed out at 5. This is an Atv campground, so just remember that going in. Very noisy, dusty and super congested on the one small road. We chose to leave and not stay the 3rd night due to this. Didn’t feel comfortable having my son riding his bike around. Speed limit is supposedly 5mph which I was surely reminded of when I drove by at 8mph. However atvs and dirt bikes were going well above 5mph through the campground. Rules state riding ATVs is for entry and exit only however all morning people were doing laps around the campground on 4 wheelers. Not very relaxing. If ATVs and dirt bikes are your thing this is the place. If you’re looking for quiet relaxation, I would avoid at all costs. No offense to the camp host who has to deal with this all. She does very well for what this place is. Finally the firewood is $8/bundle. That’s crazy. The same company that provides this, provides the same bundles to Safeway and they’re under $6/bundle. 🤷‍♂️ I know because I bought...