Lakeview Campground Camping Overview
Overall the Lakeview Campground is a fairly nice campground. Lakeview Campground sits on a mountain to the north of Twin Lakes south of Leadville. The campsites at Lakeview Campground are well spaced and have lots of trees for cover from the wind and sun. Lakeview Campground is on the side of mountain which grants a fabulous view of Twin Lakes and the surrounding mountain ranges. However, the quality and amenities of the different campsites ranges drastically. Some campsites are nice and flat with tent pads and easy access to the outhouses and water. Others are uneven, rocky, missing some of the basic tent pads or are just not laid out in a good way. The area around the Lakeview Campground is amazing and lends itself to an enjoyable camping experience, even when the campsite itself is not great.
Lakeview Campground Information
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Lakeview Campground Campsites
The individual campsites in Lakeview Campground vary widely in their quality. With most campsites you can count on having trees and a good view of Twin Lakes. That is all that the campsites at Lakeview Campground have in common.
All of the campsites have at least a parking space big enough for a large car or truck. However, there is not a lot of room for an RV or large trailer in most campsites. The parking spaces are not always nice and flat either at Lakeview Campground. If you don’t plan on tent camping or using a small RV or trailer this isn’t the campground for you. Those that do plan to camp at the Lakeview Campground with a tent or small trailer will be much better suited to making the campsite work for their equipment.
All of the campsites have a table, fire ring, and a BBQ. Tent pads are only in some of the campsites. This would be ok if all of the campsites that didn’t have dedicated tent pads had obvious flat places to pitch a tent. However some of the campsites without tent pads do not have suitable places to pitch a tent. It may be campsite that fits a small trailer or RV better.
The main problem with the Lakeview Campground is not knowing exactly what kind of campsite you are going to get. When the campground is busy, campers may have to pitch their tents at the end of the parking spot if there is not a good spot in that specific campsite.
If you have stayed at the Lakeview campground, please leave a comment below about the exact campsite you were in and what it would and wouldn’t accommodate.
One growing trend is to disallow the use of campsite trees for hanging items. In fact, in this area, we were told that campers who used the trees for hanging things were being ticketed. It is understandable since so many trees get damaged this way, but if this is the case, campgrounds need to provide metal campsite hangers, which are not provided at this campground. These are important to hang up trash, lights, or to dry things.
The tables at the Lakeview Campground are the concrete framed wood tables. They are sturdy and hold up well in the weather. Just keep an eye out for rough spots that might give you splinters.
The fire rings at Lakeview Campground are the short, low to the ground variety. These fire rings have an adjustable height grilling rack attached to them. These low fire rings are nice to get heat and light out to those around the fire. The adjustable grilling rack cannot be flipped out of the fire so it can get in the way.
A nice bonus to the campsites at Lakeview Campground is that they have BBQs as well as the fire rings. This is very handy if campers prefer to cook over a BBQ instead of a cooking fire. If not used, these BBQs also make great fireside tables. Just be aware that they may be a bit dirty.
Amenities at Lakeview Campground
There is cellular service in the campground. This is always nice to be able to check the weather or make a call if needed.
There were plenty of outhouses; however, they were older than the regular outhouse you usually found. Some seemed a bit run down but they were clean.
None of the campsites here have electricity and there is nothing close that you could temporarily use to charge something. So go prepared with extra batteries and conserve power on whatever devices you might be using.
There are water spigots in each loop at Lakeview Campground. The water was milky but drinkable. However, we suggest that you always take good clean water for drinking and cooking. Use the water in the campground for washing or other non-consumption needs.
There is a lot bear activity around Lakeview Campground, so make sure you are camping with this in mind (keep a clean camp–don’t leave food, coolers, or trash out). Unfortunately there are only a few dumpsters. This makes camp trash management a bit of a hassle. Since the campground is on the side of a mountain it is not very easy to walk around Lakeview Campground to what you need. So make sure you take extra heavy duty trash bags that will not leak and keep trash off the ground. At night make sure to lock up your trash in a vehicle. Then you can drop the trash off at a dumpster the next day.
Things to do around Lakeview Campground
Lakeview campground is a nice campground to just sit back and put your feet up. With every campsite having good tree cover and a view of the lake it is a fantastic campground to just take it all in.
This is a great place to go hiking with lots of trails around the area. There is a trailhead less than a mile from Lakeview campground entrance. This trail head goes up in the My Elbert mountain range and is a great place to explore.
If you enjoy fishing there is are a couple of places that are close to fish. Both Twin lakes and Mt. Elbert Forebay are just a few minutes away and are very popular places to go fishing. On the top of the campground is Mt. Elbert Forebay where you can fish from shore. If you have a boat to go fishing, head down to Twin lakes.
Leadville and Buena Vista are about 30 minutes away if you need anything or if something breaks.
Camping Summary of Lakeview Campground
All in all Lakeview Campground is a nice place to go camping. I think each individual camping experience can change dramatically depending on how you are camping and what campsite you end up in. The surrounding forest and the beautiful view of Twin Lakes do a lot to smooth over some of the other undesirable camping circumstances you may encounter here. There are lots of things to do whether you fish, hike, or just want to sit back and enjoy the beauty of the area.
If you have stayed at Lakeview Campground, we would love to have your comments below. Please let other campers know which campsite you have stayed in and what you thought of it. Was it good or bad for tents? Was it flat enough for a pop-up trailer? Since the campsites are so different, it will be really helpful to know which campsites work best for a certain kind of camping.
For our part, when we camped out at Lakeview Campground to do this review, we stayed in the group loop, Loop D sites 5 and 6. We originally reserved Loop A sites 11 and 13 but were able to change when we found out that the original campsites were completely unsuitable for tent camping. They were relatively steep and covered with rocks. The tree cover was better in Loop A, but these two campsites, A11 and 13, were not set up for tent camping. In Loop D, the campsites were spread out better but more importantly much flatter with several good places to pitch a tent each. The outhouse and water were close to the campsites in Loop D which was nice for the wide range of campers we had staying in them. The parking spots were not flat but would work for a popup camper in a pinch. It would be fun to have a big group of people camping in that loop.
Reserve a Campsite at Lakeview Campground Today!If you have been camping here at Lakeview Campground please post your likes, dislikes, and suggestions below. Your fellow campers would love to hear from you.
We camped at site F001 at the Lakeview campground in June 2017 We had two tents and were able to find enough flat ground for both at site F001. There was room for at least one more tent, if it was small.
The parking spot would fit a vehicle and a trailer that wasn’t too long as long as the two could fit side by side.
Sites F003 and F005 had no room for a tent unless you pitched it on the flat parking space.
Thank you for posting your camping experience here. We appreciate it! The specifics on the campsites is great and quite helpful!