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Serendipity Base Camp

95%

24 reviews

· Monte Vista, Rio Grande, Colorado

1 acre hosted by Kalli W.

1 lodging site · 5 RV/tent sites

Near Great Sand Dunes National Park

Within a 60-minute drive from the Entrance Station.

Kalli is a Star Host

Star Hosts are highly rated, responsive, and committed to providing incredible experiences.

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

95% Recommend30 ratings · 24 reviews

Linda S.

2 reviews

Recommends

· April 2025

16 ft car · With pets ·

Serendipity Base Camp

Such an interesting place to stay! It is peaceful and quiet but the scenic features are in the distance and masked by some piles of debris and metal junk in the area. It has historical significance as a WW II German POW camp. It would be so interesting if that could be developed. It would benefit from having a flush toilet available and access to water. The cost is quite reasonable and the owner is friendly and available. I so enjoyed talking with her. It has a locked gate at night and I felt very safe. It is close and convenient to everything in Monte Vista. I would stay there again.

S A.

4 years on Hipcamp

Recommends

· April 2025

18 ft Class A ·

Serendipity Base Camp

Worked fine for me and was just what I wanted. A safe place on someone’s property to spend the night for 20 bucks.

Jennifer H.

2 reviews

Recommends

· March 2025

Basic but works fine

Tent · With pets ·

Serendipity Base Camp

Basic safe place to stay for a night. Nothing fancy but it's exactly what I wanted. The wrong code was posted on the site. Had to try a few times first, then go get dinner and was told the new code pretty quickly. My dog doesn't like other dogs so the leashed dog policy is great, except when the caretaker comes over with his dog off leash. I just barely stopped an ugly dog fight (mine was on leash).

Charlie K.

7 reviews

Recommends

· March 2025

Loved the Tardis Potty

Tent ·

Serendipity Base Camp

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.

Rebecca O.

4 reviews

Not recommend

· March 2025

16 ft car ·

Serendipity Base Camp

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.

Lisa Mc Kinney T.

4 months on Hipcamp

Recommends

· March 2025

Igloo Base Camp

16 ft car ·

Serendipity Base Camp

Primitive but what I was looking for. Communication was great. Waking up to 4” of snow made things interesting.

Location

Monte Vista, Rio Grande, Colorado, United StatesTo respect the Host's privacy, the precise address of this land will be provided after booking

Hosted by Kalli W.

Joined in June 2020

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