5/15 Two Colorado Campgrounds--James M Robb & Rifle Gap State Parks

I was only at each of these briefly and did not do any sightseeing in this area because of lack of time and I was still recovering from my bout of bronchitis and whooping cough, which meant a lot of time staying indoors and resting.  

They were both very nice places, however, and I would easily go back to either of them.  

James M. Robb Island Section State Park

This Colorado State Park is along I-70 in western Colorado, it is near the towns of Grand Junction and Palisades.  It is a fruit growing area, so good fruit in season.  The area is known also for steep cliffs and nearby high mountains.  Here is a photo of the highway going into the area. 

Campsites are nice, but most have electric only, and the campground is located between the highway and the Colorado River.  One important fact is that the sites on the western side of the campground are shaded by an early-setting sun, which makes them cooler in hot weather.  Basically, when i was there it was cool, but instead of setting at 8 pm, the sun set behind the big cliff on the left of this photo at about 4 pm!

Another photo of the huge cliff on the western side of the state park.

Rifle Gap State Park

This state park is only about 65 miles north of James M. Robb State Park.  It is located at a higher elevation, so there are some snow-covered mountains in the distance.  The state park is about 15 miles from a decent-sized town with major stores such as Walmart.  

Here is the drive into the town of Rifle Gap.  Pretty countryside. 

This is the dam that creates the lake this campground is located on.  

 

 

I should have taken more photos of the campground, but the second day I was there it was very windy and rained.  The important thing to know is that there are several small campgrounds in this state park, all near the lake, and this one had extremely nice, large, paved full-hookup sites.  Each site also had a covered picnic table.  And each evening, the barn swallows came out and went through their acrobatics while grabbing insects during their flight. 

I would easily recommend either of these campsites, although I really liked the paved camping sites and full hookups at Rifle Gap.