Difficult Campground

Site 33, Memorial Day weekend, teardrop camper. This is a great campground, generally sites are flat and roomy (33 is very flat and roomy with large tent pad to right and large table/firepit area to left. Gravel underfoot at drive and picnic side, dirt at tent pad). Sites are well spaced and significant ground cover for privacy and mostly treed and shady. Bathrooms were very clean and well attended. Did not use local water, though it was available, no comment. Firewood available and plentiful (no fire restrictions this early in season). Road in lumpy but paved and easily passable for all vehicles. Plentiful trash dumpsters at front. River access in several places, trailhead for Difficult Creek hike is off the group camping drive to bridge over river and up the creek (very pretty hike, though we only got 2.5 miles due to snow and down timber). Did not experience any significant road noise, never noticed it. We got 5" of heavy, wet snow on Sunday night but no damage, just cold and wet and pretty. Getting into Aspen very easy and quick, Independence Pass was open and clear when we arrived but didn't try on way out Monday after/during storm (it was still snowing on/off Monday am). There was sign up about bear at river in area 2 days prior to our stay, no sightings by us, lots of elk pellets but no elk sighted, plentiful chipmunks and songbirds. Definitely recommend, had a good stay.

Beautiful location, very close to a biking trail that leads to Aspen. Nice river area. Very very clean outhouses. We were there tenting over memorial day weekend and got stuck in a blizzard, so that was a bummer.

a jem

Great location, easy access to Aspen on gravel bike path. Nice hike from campground. Very clean, bathrooms impeccable. No complaints. Quiet at night.

The host from Florida was great . He helps us to fix the problem with our RV. He offers my wife to come in his camper to warm up, because we could not close the door of our RV while it was snowing. The head host have seen us struggling and did nothing! So all the credits goes to the host from Florida!!

Overall, the camp area is great. Cleanest pit toilets I've ever been to. I got in late on a Friday evening and filled out my paperwork, took my parking tag, and hung the bag back on the post. I left for a women's biking event at Aspen Snowmass early Saturday morning to get to my check-in and have breakfast on site. I sleep on a platform in the back of my Toyota, so no tent, and with potential rain, I opted to throw my chair back in my truck. When I got back to my site Saturday evening, around 6PM, there was a camper in my site. I politely told them I think they had the wrong site, as I had paid for this site for 2 nights, and this was my 2nd night. They told me that the site manager had sold them the site for the evening, and I had to sort it out with him. As you can imagine, I was quite confused. So, making my way to the camp host (which was actually harder to find than it should have been), I double check my paperwork, and of course, I did have the site both nights. Get to the camp host, and they're both extremely astonished to see me. They said that my site had been empty, so they assumed I wasn't going to be camping again, and sold it to the other folks. They stated I was the 3rd person that day that had returned when they thought we were not going to be returning because I didn't have a tent on my site. I explained that I sleep in my Truck with a platform, and I had paid for both nights. What was I to do, 4 hours from home, with no place in the area to go? They offered me the option to sleep in the day use area overnight, and some firewood. All very nice, but I felt extremely uncomfortable sleeping in the day use area, afraid I would get in trouble if anyone drove around checking (you're not supposed to sleep overnight in a day use area), not to mention folks walking out there late into the evening getting in/out of their vehicles. I emailed for a 1 night refund, but no response yet. I've never had trouble like this, lesson learned, probably won't return.

Very beautiful and tranquil campground when we visited. Lots of aspens turning golden. Each site has a lot space. The vault toilets were very clean. The hosts were there all the time and they were very friendly and helpful. The campground is only ten minutes from Aspen.

Great camp ground! Our spot was in the back loop and the aspen trees were just changing, it was amazing! Quick 7 minute drive into downtown aspen! I did see photos of a lake in some reviews, we couldn't find the lake and had no service to look it up. We did the hike that is right near the campsite but didn't go all the way so maybe it was at the end of that! Enjoy!

Enjoyed stay! Hiking around beautiful season.

The Difficult Campground offered almost everything we had hoped for. Our site was rather private even though other campers were on each side. Soon after dark, fellow campers extinguished campfires and were respectful of their neighbors. Light pollution was low, and I've never seen so many stars. The host made checking in very easy. Each site had a bear box to secure food, etc. My only complaint was the condition of the pit toilets. There were several around the loop, but they were in extreme need of a cleanout. Waste was way above liquid level which drew in hoards of flies. The smell was enough to bring on dry heaves. For those of us that tent camp or don't have facilities in the camper, it made this part of the experience very uncomfortable. If it wasn't for that, this site would've received five stars.