I am pretty familiar with the Buena Vista/Salida area. I have camped in and around there for years. The biggest issue is finding a suitable place for a big throw-down camping area for a big group. The Sawatch Range is mighty steep. A lot of the land down in the canyons is private, so you gotta get up high. There are some neat places on Cottonwood creek west of Buena Vista, but that is at least 30 minutes from this range. The next drainiage is up towards Mt Princeton and it get really rocky up by St Elmo. There may be an area up there, by Iron City. The next area after that is either up on Antero or on Monarch Pass. All of these will be a drive to that range. There would easily be some good places up on Aspen Ridge East of there, but you have to drive around to get across the Arkansas River - again at least 30 minutes to this range.

With the way the snow is piling up, I'm thinking late June or late July. Stay away from the 4th

Here is the Arkansas River Valley with the Sawatch Range behind.

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