Lathrop State Park is Colorado’s first state park and now one of 40 Colorado state parks. It is located five miles west of Walsenburg, Colorado. Primary activities including camping with 103 sites, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, and water skiing. Camp sites can accommodate RVs, wheel chairs, motor homes, group camping, and individual camping. The park provides trash dumpsters, showers, and water. A Colorado State Park pass is required at all times while inside the park. Cell phone service was weak in the park.
Yucca Campground
We camped in the Yucca Campground at camp site #8, which is a non-electric camp site. Each camp site includes a fire pit, a picnic table, and nearby access to an outhouse and water faucet. We picked up old newspapers from the park visitor center to use as kindling for our fire.
In addition, each camp site was generously spaced out from neighboring camp sites. It was very windy and dry the night we camped so our tent’s rain fly was more of a wind sock than anything. The only drawback of the Yucca campground is that we were close enough to US-160 to hear cars driving by all night and, thus, an electric site in the Pinion Campground is recommended.
There is an amphitheater near the camp store and just off the Hogback trail. We attended an evening presentation that described the formation of the neighboring Spanish Peaks.
Across the street from the camp store is a playground that was fun for our two year old to explore.
In sum, camping at Lathrop State Park was a lot fun because of its spacious campgrounds and on-site activities including hiking, fishing, water skiing, outdoor presentations, and playground.
Two Knobby Tires 