Chaffee County is where you will find the town of Buena Vista. This small quaint town is home to few people, but many outdoor opportunities. With bountiful fishing in the Arkansas River, plenty of peaks to climb, and quiet camping pull offs, Buena Vista isn't a town that will let a wonderer down.
It's easy to forget how close everything is to Denver. Getting to Buena Vista a just a two hour drive up highway 285 into Chaffee county. The drive itself is enough to get you out of the house. In the summer, especially with all of this Colorado rain, everything is a nice color of green.
There are a lot of different places for camping near Buena Vista. Whether you are camping in an RV, trailer, or in a tent, there are several places to park yourself for the night, or the weekend.
On the trip that I went on with a friend, we found a little pull off on the side of highway 24 between Buena Vista and Leadville. The spot sat along the Arkansas River and had a small metal pit for camp fires.
It was difficult to find dry wood because it had rained the two days prior to our trip, as well as during. It took a few tries to get our camp fire started but with a lot of determination we were able to get the flames going.
Even though the spot wasn't too far from the road, it was incredibly quiet. I'm sure the roaring river had something to do with it, but it still felt very refreshing. There was plenty of space to explore just around the campground alone.
Buena Vista and Chaffee county will always be one of my favorite places to visit. With such a small window of summer at 8,000 feet, you should definitely take the opportunity to explore this part of Colorado.