Royal Gorge / Canon City KOA Holiday — Hotel in Four Corners States

Beautiful Location, Great Staff—but the Campground Needs Some TLC

We came back to this KOA after a wonderful stay two years ago, when our kids were younger and everything felt well-run and clean. Sadly, this return trip didn’t live up to the memories. There’s still so much potential here, but it feels like the campground is being stretched thin—both in staffing and upkeep.

The Positives: • The location is beautiful and peaceful, with great mountain views and nature all around. • The RV sites are spacious and well-kept, and the park is very pet-friendly—we appreciated the dog run and small pens. • There are nice trails behind the property, great for exploring with young kids. • Fire pits were clean and ready to use. • The newer front desk staff member was friendly, helpful, and clearly trying to make guests feel welcome. • And the best part of our trip? Whitewater Bar & Grill across the road—live music, volleyball, fire pits, great food and service. A perfect night out that made the weekend special.

Where It Fell Short: • The slide was seldom open. We unfortunately only had one timeslot with our five day itinerary which included 2 1/2 days staying at the campsite where we actually got to utilize playing on the slide. The kids had a blast—it just should be available more often during the summer season. • Mini golf looked abandoned: covered in leaves, sticks, red ant hills, even some litter. Not playable. • Playground is dangerously outdated. My son fell off the merry-go-round and got hit in the head by a wooden seat with rusted nails. • Advertised amenities like go-karts, the western town, the café, and pizza shop were closed or non-existent. • The pool was freezing—colder than a mountain river. It was clean, but surrounded by ant hills and debris that hadn’t been cleared. • The general store had mostly souvenirs. A few basics like eggs, bacon, or even fishing bait would go a long way for campers who don’t want to drive 15 minutes into town for small items. • Bathrooms and showers were functional but had broken benches, clogged drains, and standing water outside. • Cabin was clean but extremely basic—a wooden tent with a hard plastic-covered mattress that made sleeping hot and uncomfortable. We were thankful for the A/C and fan, but it’s not worth the premium without even a sink or toilet. • Maintenance timing was frustrating—they started loud weed-whacking right outside our cabin Friday morning, instead of handling it during the slower weekdays. The area clearly needed cleanup after recent weather, but it was jarring and tough on allergies.

Final Thoughts: This KOA has the framework to be amazing again. The bones are there, the setting is gorgeous, and the staff—especially the newer team members—are doing their best. But it needs more consistent management, regular upkeep, and better follow-through on advertised features.

As a KOA Rewards member, I’m beginning to question whether paying the extra nightly rate is really worth it when so many key amenities are missing or...

Lost half a star for closing office/store at 5pm. Lost the other half for not actually cleaning the bathrooms daily, maybe not at all except for once changing the trash bags during our Fri-Tues stay. I made a mental note of simple things that should have been gone had they been cleaned properly, and none of it was done, mainly the showers still having the same hair on a couple shower walls. I have a cheap pair of plastic flip flops I keep around for showering at campground facilities, I don't make a habit of touching shower walls, so while it looked a little gross I still took a shower. In spite of that, our stay was pleasant. The campground is an older one so if you arrive in your tour bus size RV with 12 slides, yes you're probably going to think the sites are too small. Maybe you need to check before you reserve next time. The very young lady at the desk when we managed to arrive before office closure was pleasant enough, was able to handle using my points for part of our charges, and seemed capable of doing her job. The only other employee we saw was a young man doing maintenance, who also came around Sunday evening to warn everyone of a possible overnight freeze so we could take precautions. We did not need to go to any extraordinary lengths to level our camper, did not get swallowed up by any potholes (there are some shallow ones here and there, drive slowly like you're supposed to and they're not a problem) and yes there are TONS of goat heads. There is really nothing that can be done about those things. If you enjoy complaining about things like that, every RV park or campground in the Southwest is the place for you to be. Go to some part of the country where they don't have them. (good luck with that!) Otherwise, don't take your dog, don't go barefoot. I am not sure if the go carts were available, or miniature golf as we didn't have need of that kind of entertainment. The pool also appears closed at least for the season, again, not something we needed so I do not know it's actual status. There are some young trees which will one day look quite nice. They are certainly much larger than the one other time I was there many years ago. Over all it's a nice enough KOA that we would stay there again should we visit that part of Colorado...

I would give them zero stars if possible, but one star is as low as you can rate them. The Royal Gorge area is beautiful and makes for a wonderful vacation destination. Do yourself a favor though, and learn from my misfortune of staying at this DUMP, and stay anywhere else. There are many RV parks in the area. A wise man learns from his mistakes, a wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.

-The entire place is filthy dirty. -The pool was NOT heated, the water was cloudy and green. I wouldn't let a dog swim in it. -Bathrooms, showers, and laundry room were nothing short of NASTY. -NO cable or satellite TV at all, and there's NO TV reception on an antenna in that area. -Their Wifi is so slow it is absolutely useless. -The water is gross. An 18 wheeler rolls through the park at 6 am every morning (waking everyone) as they deliver a new load of well water. This disgusting water clogged a brand new water filter in 6 days. -A breaker pops and the power goes out whenever there is high power usage (every Friday and Saturday afternoon). -The management is RUDE and they openly treat their workers with disrespect. -2 of the 5 antique washing machines are out of order. 2 of the old dryers have no heat and are not marked out of order. -This park has the smallest RV sites I've ever seen (been RVing 31 years) with dead trees and long weeds everywhere (NO grass). -There is NOTHING in the "store". The selves were EMPTY and dirty. -Mini Golf coarse is left over from the 80's and that appears to be the last time it was swept off of all the branches, twigs, and leaves. -The go cart track has 2 go carts and 1 barely runs. -Verizon is the ONLY carrier that covers this area, if you have any other carrier you will NOT be able to text or receive data. -I can go...