The Bank Campground

Beautiful location; great for climbers. Definitely recommend a 4-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle to get up there. The majority of the sites were fairly small, so plan accordingly.The only two real downsides were a major fly infestation both at the site and in the vault toilets. There is also limited privacy at this campground. Your neighbors are very close to you. There is some tree coverage which is nice.

Minimal tree coverage in the B Loop making some sort of canopy pretty necessary. Sites were clean and well maintained. Only negative is that we were swarmed by gnats and flies which was an annoyance.

The site was fine. It’s an open site with Pinon Pines scattered around but overall very open/exposed, so if it’s windy you will feel it and it’s nice to have a popup tent for shade. The site had plenty of room for a variety of tent sizes and room for two cars if needed. We setup our 2 person tent and also a popup tent with lots of space leftover. There was a concrete picnic table and firepit. The only amenity was a vault toilet two sites over. There weren’t any bear trash cans so you had to pack out your trash (would be nice and safer if there were bear trash bins). We got there driving Shelf Road from Cripple Creek through the canyon which is a dirt road (a bit rough) but really neat canyon views. Once you get to the campground road it’s an incline rough dirt road up to the plateau where the campground is flat. Rock climbing is just a super short hike from the site. There are hiking trails too.

Beautiful, clean campsite with clean facilities. It made for a great first night of camping on a 4-day bike packing tour of the Gold Belt scenic by-ways.

I really love the Banks Campground, but site 31 had a gigantic ant hill that was right next to where the tent set up was and the table. Ants were everywhere, which truly detracted from the trip. I have been at other campsites at Shelf Road without ants and had a great time.

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Staying at Shelf is always a treat! Warm sunny climbing days all year round. We reserved both group sites for a large party coming down from the Front Range - parking is ample and flat (for van-sleepers) with a huge fire pit and great views from both sites. Site 1/A overlooks the climbing areas (and has a cliff... so maybe not best for toddlers or really drunk friends) and Site 2/B overlooks the mountains. Site 1/A has a little bit more coverage for shade/protection of wind. Both worked very well for our group.

Would be great to have a campground host

So beautiful and quiet. Love staying here.

Good place to sport climb with a mix of route levels.