The first night is the part that sells out. Loop A at South Rim Campground sits 14 miles from town on the canyon rim, it goes by reservation only on Recreation.gov, and since the 2025 South Rim Fire it is the one loop open, for a 2026 season that runs May 18 to September 30. Book the site first and the van second.
Then give the canyon a day. The South Rim Road runs overlook to overlook out to Painted Wall, 2,250 feet of striped cliff standing over the Gunnison and the tallest in Colorado, and most of the stops are a short walk off the pullout. The Rim Rock and Uplands trails are open but cross burned ground with loose footing and blowing ash. If the loop is gone by the time you look, the hookup night is 22 miles south.
Ridgway Reservoir and the San Juan foothills, 22 miles south
Ridgway State Park sits on US-550 with the reservoir under the San Juan range, and it is where you go for power and a shower. Pa-Co-Chu-Puk has full-hookup 50-amp sites along the Uncompahgre, while Dakota Terraces and Elk Ridge run 30-amp electric with a dump station, showers, and flush restrooms; Elk Ridge is the loop people book for the San Juan views. Sites reserve up to six months out, and select loops stay plowed and open all winter. As of August 2026 the park runs under Stage 2 fire restrictions with no campfires, so plan on the stove.
Ridgway also sits a half hour from the Ouray hot springs up US-550, an easy soak-and-return with the van parked back at the reservoir.
Cimarron and the water east on US-50
East of Montrose, US-50 follows the Curecanti canyons to Blue Mesa, Colorado's largest reservoir. The van camp on this end is Cimarron, 20 miles east of town, 21 first-come sites that rarely fill, no electric, $24 a night, with Crystal Reservoir about a mile and a half up the road. As of August 2026 the dump station there is offline too, so treat it as a dry night and come with your tanks handled.
Two people and a week of gear fit a van fine up here. Add a third and a fourth and you are shopping for beds, which is where the same Montrose trips in an RV pick up, pointed at Ridgway's loops rather than the rim.
Two trips that belong to other towns
Colorado National Monument, the red-rock canyons above Grand Junction, sits about 90 miles northwest and reads as a Grand Junction trip; the Grand Junction campervan lander covers it. Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings are 156 miles south, far enough to base out of Durango instead, where the Durango campervan lander picks them up. Both are Western Slope runs, and the Colorado campervan hub lays out the rest of the state.