Little Molas Campground

Alongside the San Juan Scenic Byway, Highway 550, Little Molas Campground is a quiet, cost-free reprieve for campers visiting the San Juan Mountains. A small, informal campground that gets more visitation for its nearby fishing at Molas Lake and the Colorado Trail (segments 24 and 25 begin here), Little Molas Campground offers dispersed camping, RV sites, and hitching posts for livestock in a beautiful setting high in the San Juan Mountains near Molas Pass.

The campground consists of one loop with tent campsites in its inner circle and RV sites along its southern rim. While there are no amenities at the campground other than vault toilets, both tent and RV campsites have pleasant views over Little Molas Lake to Snowdon Peak, sitting on a shelf 20 or 30 feet in elevation above the lake. Set well away from the 550, highway noise is of little concern, though incoming traffic seeking use of the Colorado Trail or the day use area can liven things up. Most campsites have a rudimentary fire ring, and tent sites are relatively flat. The access is a little rough, though low-clearance vehicles should have no problem as long as caution is used.

Nearby Little Molas Lake is stocked annually with Colorado River cutthroat trout, and the Colorado Trail offers numerous hiking destinations in the area. Close access to Highway 550 brings most adventures in the San Juan Mountains within striking distance; Silverton is less than 4 miles north, while Durango is roughly 30 miles, an hour’s drive, to the south.

For those looking for more comfortable amenities, Molas Campground is less than five minutes away. That said, as long as there is a comfortable site at Little Molas, there’s little reason to stay anywhere else.