Flat Rocks Campground

Flat Rocks is the Forest Service campground on Rampart Range Road south of Sedalia that exists primarily for the off-road crowd. It is the only developed campground in the Rampart Range area that allows off-highway vehicles, and Flatrock Trail connects straight from the campground into the roughly 115-mile motorcycle and ATV system that defines this part of the forest. If you ride, this is the address. If you do not ride, you should know going in that summer weekends here are loud, because the campground is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

There are 19 sites that take tents and RVs up to about 30 feet. It is first-come, first-served only, not reservable, with a nightly fee around $28 that includes two vehicles or one RV, a charge for a third vehicle, and a day-use fee. Vault toilets, and potable water when the campground is in full service, though the water may be off in the shoulder season so confirm before relying on it. Full service runs Memorial Day through Labor Day; the access road closes by December 1 each year and the target reopening is April 1, though in practice it often slips to late May depending on snow.

Rampart Range Road itself is the thing to plan around. It is a maintained dirt and gravel forest road, not paved, and it closes for the winter. A normal vehicle handles it in season, but it is slow going and trailers should budget extra time. The campground is also the most practical staging point for the Devils Head Lookout hike if Devils Head Campground (no water, more primitive) is full.

Because it is first-come only and it is the OHV-friendly option, Flat Rocks fills early on any summer weekend and especially on holiday weekends. Riders arrive Thursday for a long weekend. If you want a site Friday at 5 p.m. on the Fourth of July, you will not get one. Midweek is the realistic window for a non-rider who still wants to stay here for the trail access and the central Rampart location.