The Telluride area may be one of the most scenic and spectacular in all the San Juan Mountains. The fall color is dramatic, and there are wonderful hiking and mountain biking trails as well as developed bike paths and routes for the road bikers. Added to this, the activities and amenities in the town of Telluride are numerous, with festivals practically every weekend, free live music a few evenings every week and more restaurants, stores and attractions than can be visited even over several weeks.
The popularity of this area spills over to the local campgrounds as well. Campsites are actually fairly limited within a 30-minute drive of Telluride, with the town campground and a few national forest campgrounds being all there are to choose from. One of the most popular is the Sunshine Campground, just about a 15-minute drive from town.
Sunshine is set in a dense grove of aspen trees on a hill overlooking the beautiful Illium Valley and overshadowed by Sunshine Mountain (12,930 feet). There is one small loop and typical national forest campground amenites like vault toilets, drinking water and a helpful camp host. All sites are first-come, first-served, and the campground fills up nearly every day in summer. The sites overlooking the valley (sites 11, 12. 13, 14) have spectacular views but can be windy. All of the sites in this campground are pretty nice. The Overlook Trail is between sites 10 and 11 and is only about 100 feet long, but the views are great!
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