I love the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. If you want a campground, or if you want to boon dock in the middle of nowhere, the Flat Tops should be on your list. One thing to keep in mind is your gas consumption, the campground is 35 miles from the nearest town. If you plan on doing a lot of exploring in your vehicle, plan ahead. We preferred to hike and fish around the campground, and then we drove the scenic byway on the way out.

The bird watching was amazing in the campground. We had cedar waxwings and western tanagers hanging around our camper, a ring-neck pheasant landed on our picnic table, a family of dusky grouse was seen running around the camp, and bald eagles would glide over the river while we fished! Simply amazing! We even saw purple martins—easy for me to identify since we grew up with them diving at our heads as kids.

The Flat Tops Wilderness area is also a fisherman’s paradise. From the campground you simply walk across the street to the North Fork of the White River. A few miles up the road you can find the beautiful Trappers Lake. Look at the Google Map, and you can view all the many lakes in the area. Bring your kayak with you 🙂

We did notice that it’s best to get an early start to your day. Colorado storms moved in each day (loudest rainstorms we ever encountered).