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Heritage Under the Stars
Pitch your tent at either of these campgrounds. Each is located a close distance from historic sites that tell an important part of this nation's story. Take a few hours away from your camp site for a refreshing history break.
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2 Days/2 Nights
Destinations include:
Bent's Old Fort
Boggsville
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
Camp Amache
Horseshoe Bend Ranch Camping B & B
John Martin Reservoir State Park Camp Grounds
Option 1:
Days One and Two: Camp at John Martin Reservoir with 200 campsites.
Let the trail ruts of the Santa Fe Trail peak your interest and visit two historic sites nearby, between La Junta and Las Animas. Bent's Old Fort is open to visitors year 'round. The original fort was built in the early 1830's and served as a conduit of commerce and a repository for the burgeoning fur trade that was supplying European markets with buffalo hides and beaver pelts. This fort was a massive two-story structure that slept more than 200 and at times employed nearly 100 people. Visitors today can roam through the fort, interact with NPS interpreters, shop at the bookstore, and experience the place where the Bent brothers fostered trade with the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux and Hispano cultures through marriage, friendship and business partnerships.
Option 2:
Days One and Two: Horseshoe Bend Ranch Camping B and B
Settle into the campground on this working cattle ranch, and take day trips to historic sites. The ranch is located six miles from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site where in October l864 over 150 Cheyenne people, mainly elders, women and children were massacred by the troops of Colonel John Chivington.
