Blue Mesa Reservoir fills the view west from the pads at Elk Creek, the last light sliding off the water while the mesas across it go dark. Curecanti's big lake has 96 miles of shoreline along US-50 east of Montrose, and with hardly a tree around the campground, the water is right there out the windshield. The same open shore takes the weather first on summer afternoons, when thunderstorms build and a hard wind comes straight across the reservoir, so the awning goes in early.
A motorhome lets the whole week happen from one pad on that shore. Breakfast and dinner come out of the rig's own kitchen, the kids have room inside when a storm stalls over the lake, and the days head out and come back: to Lake Fork, down the Pine Creek stairs into the canyon, then back to Elk Creek before the light goes.
Blue Mesa nights at Elk Creek
Getting out of Montrose late, stay close for the first night at the Montrose / Black Canyon KOA Journey and save the reservoir for morning. The KOA is open all year with pull-through sites on 50-amp, and the evening can go to the Black Canyon's South Rim Road, where the Painted Wall falls away below the overlooks. The rim and Cimarron's water farther east on US-50 are written up on the Montrose campervan page, the better fit when it's two people in a smaller rig.
Elk Creek is where most of the week's nights land. Only loops C and D have electric hookups, which is what keeps the coffee maker and a space heater going on chilly mornings, so lock one of those sites before you book the RV. The Park Service allows motorhomes up to 55 feet and trailers up to 35 feet there as of September 2026, and that trailer limit is the one that decides which towables are in the running.
Morrow Point from the Pine Creek stairs, and nights at Lake Fork
Below Blue Mesa the Gunnison narrows into canyon, and Morrow Point's water lies at the bottom of it. The Pine Creek trail drops about 232 steps between the canyon walls to the shore, an easy morning for kids who count every stair on the way down and a slower one coming back up. Bringing a boat down to the water takes a free backcountry permit.
Lake Fork is the other big campground on the water, 27 miles west of Gunnison on CO-92, and a good place for a couple of dry nights before heading back to the electric loop. It has no hookups, and its upper and middle sections take reservations from mid-May to mid-September while the lower section stays first come, first served.
Both campgrounds run their dump stations only in season, which sets the rhythm of the week. Dump and fill at Elk Creek before moving, run on the tanks at Lake Fork, and empty again before you plug back in at Elk Creek.
Ouray and the Uncompahgre, south on US-550
South of Montrose, US-550 climbs toward the San Juans and ends the trip somewhere very different from Blue Mesa's open water. At Ouray Riverside Resort, the riverfront rows put the Uncompahgre River a few steps from the rig with the mountains standing straight up behind the pads, and the park runs full hookups with extra-wide and pull-through sites for big rigs. A few nights here, plugged in and parked by the water, make an easy second half after the dry stretch at Lake Fork.
Ridgway State Park's reservoir comes up along the way, and that night belongs to the Montrose campervan page. The rest of the state's rig trips, from Rocky Mountain to the Front Range reservoirs, are on the Colorado RV page.