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Serendipity Base Camp

94%
·
· Monte Vista, Rio Grande, Colorado
1 acre hosted by Kalli W.
1 lodging site · 5 Vehicle/Tent sites
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Near Great Sand Dunes National Park
Within a 60-minute drive from the Entrance Station.
We have 1.75 acres.  The history of this property is interesting, varied and historical.  During WWII the property was used as a detainment camp for German POW's.  They were transferred here from Trinidad and Walsenburg CO to work with the farmers in the community, working potatoes.  It was a happy, fruitful work situation and some of the farmers/POW's became good friends, even traveling to visit each other after the war.  Parts of the building are still there. Serendipity.  The land has served as an auto junk yard, repair shop, metal scrap yard, thrift store and more.  As we have worked on the property we have found many treasures that are working their way to the surface.   The location of the property we feel is perfect.  You can get everywhere from here.  We are in the city of Monte Vista limits, town is walking distance.  It sits in the middle of what makes the valley thrive.  Farming (Cows & hay) to the East.  There is also a beautiful view of Mt Blanca and the Sange de Christo mountain range.  When the sun sets you understand the beauty of the mountain and understand why is was named Blood of Christ. To the North is Coors - they gather the barley that is grown here in the valley to start the making of the beer.   To the West is Mountain King - a potato storage unit.  There is about 55,000 acres of potatoes grown with a wide variety of all different colors.  With averages of 22 tons of potatoes per acre.  - That's a lot of taters! The sunset over Mountain King is what you see in the pictures.   Serendipity Camp is less than 1/2 mile from Monte Vista.   Gas, groceries, coffee shops, restaurants, thrift & gift stores, and hardware.  We have a volunteer run community movie theater that is open Friday - Sunday and for a short drive you can get to one of the few drive ins still operating.   We do see/have wildlife that visits us regularly.  A timid clan of Marmots (we call them whistle pigs). a fox appears occasionally, as well as many different birds (small birds, falcons, and Sand hill cranes in season)  We have seen racoons in the area and sometimes a small herd of about 5 deer.   Learn more about this land: Welcome to Serendipity!  This is our first year hosting as a campground.  We have been short term hosts for several years and thoroughly enjoy it so we wanted to reach out to the camping community also.  We have 1.75 acres.  The history of this property is interesting, varied and historical.  During WWII the property was used as a detainment camp for German POW's.  They were transferred here from Trinidad and Walsenburg CO to work with the farmers in the community, working potatoes.  It was a happy, fruitful work situation and some of the farmers/POW's became good friends, even traveling to visit each other after the war.  Parts of the building are still there. Serendipity.  The land has served as an auto junk yard, repair shop, metal scrap yard, thrift store and more.  As we have worked on the property we have found many treasures that are working their way to the surface.   The location of the property we feel is perfect.  You can get everywhere from here, it’s a great base camp to do all there is to do in the San Luis Valley. We are in the city of Monte Vista limits, town is walking distance but it’s very private. It sits in the middle of what makes the valley thrive.  Farming (Cows & hay) to the East.  There is also a beautiful view of Mt Blanca and the Sange de Christo mountain range.  When the sun sets you understand the beauty of the mountain and understand why is was named Blood of Christ. To the North is Coors - they gather the barley that is grown here in the valley to start the making of the beer.   To the West is Mountain King - a potato storage unit.  There is about 55,000 acres of potatoes grown with a wide variety of all different colors.  With averages of 22 tons of potatoes per acre.  - That's a lot of taters! The sunset over Mountain King is what you see in the pictures.   Serendipity Camp is less than 1/2 mile from Monte Vista.   Gas, groceries, coffee shops, restaurants, thrift & gift stores, and hardware.  We have a volunteer run community movie theater that is open Friday - Sunday and for a short drive you can get to one of the few drive ins still operating.   We do see/have wildlife that visits us regularly.  A timid clan of Marmots (we call them whistle pigs). a fox appears occasionally, as well as many different birds (small birds, falcons, and Sand hill cranes in season)  We have seen racoons in the area and sometimes a small herd of about 5 deer.   As we tweak Serendipity Glamp Camp, we have campsites for tents, campers, vans & cars, bell tents, a small tent and a small teepee style tent for a more comfy stay, but still camping.  It is a gated park so you can feel safe leaving your camp for the day or evening.  And although there are town lights around, there is not alot of light noise overhead and you can see millions of stars. There is one fire pit for now, but working on others.  Some firewood is provide.  There are picnic tables in the community area and we are moving toward a working community kitchen.  We are still doing improvements and setup but would love to have you stay with us.  We welcome feedback.  There are 2 porta potties and some non-potable water to use.  For now, come and set up camp where you please.  The tents are not ready yet as we need to glamp them up a little.  Will get them listed as soon as they are ready,   We do allow pets, on leash in the campground.  One of the other amenities we are building is an agility dog park that will be available to campers and members from the community.  
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Reviews
94% Recommend27 Ratings · 21 reviews
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Charlie K.
7 reviews
Recommends
· March 2025
Loved the Tardis Potty
We loved the Tardis Potty. It was surprisingly large and especially clean inside. We felt safe inside the locked gate. And the picnic table was a nice amenity. We were watching the Sandhill Crane migration at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. This is the cheapest camping within a 10 mile radius. Very convenient for us.
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Rebecca O.
4 reviews
Not recommend
· March 2025
Pros: Lots of flat spots for vehicles and tents and a clean portapotty. And right in Monte Vista, which is good if that's what you want in terms of location. Cons: Zero charm. Literally has a junkyard on one side, giant (30 ft high) piles of concrete piles on another side, and on a third side a huge industrial building that shined its very bright exterior lights late into the night.
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Lisa Mc Kinney T.
2 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· March 2025
Igloo Base Camp
Primitive but what I was looking for. Communication was great. Waking up to 4” of snow made things interesting.
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Molly H.
1 year on Hipcamp
Recommends
· August 2024
Cute little spot!
Tent · With kids ·
Kalli was an amazing host and it was a cute little place to stay! We appreciated her so much and couldn’t have been happier with our stay :)
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Scott W.
6 reviews
Recommends
· August 2024
This was an easy and and clean place to place a tent for a quick evening's rest.
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Susie P.
8 months on Hipcamp
Recommends
· July 2024
6 m campervan · With pets ·
Quite and secluded for being on the edge of town, I stayed in the horse trailer turned camper. Absolutely loved it. I had camp gear with me so I used my solar shower. Trailer has solar lights inside. A fire pit of sorts, I cooked on it. There's also a camp stove but didn't use it. Will definitely stay here again if I am in the area!!
Location
Monte Vista, Rio Grande, Colorado, United StatesTraditional, ancestral territory of Diné Bikéyah, Pueblos, and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) First Nations according to
To respect the Host's privacy, the precise address of this land will be provided after booking
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Hosted by Kalli W.

Joined in June 2020

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Hipcamp acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and future and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.