We love visiting Rifle Falls State Park in western Colorado, this is the fourth time we’ve stayed there. Rifle Falls SP is north of Rifle and New Castle which are Interstate 70 towns, and is about 25 miles NW of Glenwood Springs Colorado. It is a small park and is co-managed with Rifle Gap State Park several miles to the west. There are tent camping sites along the small creek with a good amount of privacy. Pull-in sites have electricity and will accommodate pop-ups to motor homes. There is potable water available at several taps in the campsites. There are a couple of non-flush bathrooms making those early morning trips convenient.
Beyond the campsites is parking and picnic areas at the main attraction, the three waterfalls. Over the weekend the park was heavily visited, so we hung out at the very well shaded tent campsites with our chairs and feet in the creek, occasionally taking plunges in the pools of cold, refreshing Colorado stream. In the evenings we hung out in the luxury of our friends pop-up camper and had a great campfire.
There are hikes around the tent sites, a loop around the falls, and a loop to the neighboring fish hatchery. There are many caves along the falls loop where you can go inside and enjoy some darkness. Nighttime boasts dark skies in the canyon. Overall a fun multi-family camping experience!
Hi, Dave! Do you know of any good rockhounding near Rifle Falls? We are staying there in late June… I trust your advice.
Hi Mary Lou. Hope all is well. I have not hounded when we go camping there, but it is fairly close to the Book Cliffs which I have always wanted to go to. It’s also somewhat close to Spring Cave, if you are into exploring aquifers. I was going to check out some of the suggestions in Voynick’s book around there, but always have had too much fun at the falls to adventure out! If you discover something, let me know!