Inexpensive Colorado land, under 8,000 ele., allows camping? What areas to look at?

[StealthRabbit]

As per above, there are several nice youth based or Christian camps in beautiful areas near Westcliffe, or similar.
Some of my 'retired /RV' friends set up at Colorado camps off season. (For free or utility costs only) Camps like to have a few extra hands for odd jobs. During the camping season you would be expected to spend a few hours / day helping out, but off season it may be a few hours / week. There is much variety, so skills / physical labor is not always required. The benefit usually out weighs the responsibilities of your own land. It is not cheap to add roads, power, septic, wells.

Alternatively, I look for legal placed, but trashed mobile homes on acreage. You can often get all of the above for free, or at least permittable. I haul off the mobile and build a shop big enough for RV, and with a nice apartment, out of view of tax assessor. Bare land bears the risk of not being permittable.

Then there is...
Security,
Road maint and plowing,
Taxes
Insurance
Upkeep (mowing, weeds, conservation)
Lots of landscaping, maybe need of tractor....
Fencing
Planting and WATERing new plantings

The workamp becomes attractive.... They usually have big shops, (where you can do your own maint and build furniture in free time), big commercial kitchens and dining halls and extra dormitories for when your family comes to visit. (Available off season). Sometimes there are other RV'rs and great supportive friends. + you are an asset and have an immediate acceptance into community. ( not always the case when developing bare land)

[TCHP]

Don't overlook the possibility of being a camp host at any of a number of state parks.

[wanneroo]

There is no such thing in Colorado of "running a water line out to" or "Drilling a well" on raw land in the vein you seem to be thinking. You don't own the water unless you purchase a water right and any sort of tapping into water in a rural area in Colorado usually involves tens of thousands in tap fees and other costs. In addition in the summer as many newbies come to find out if they do have access to a well, much of the water is seasonal flows so the well either goes dry in summer or they have a drip of 1-2 gallons a hour. Many people will supplement with 1000 gallon cisterns at their homes(which have their own costs and expenses to maintain properly) and will even truck in water to fill them.

There is a whole real estate industry in Colorado that revolves around selling uninformed suckers and dreamers raw land that has no real value due to the horrendous cost of legitimately developing it or the land itself has no real ability to actually be developed even if you wanted to. 10K doesn't even buy that garbage land unfortunately in most cases. It might be possible to find a small lot for that somewhere, but resale costs and liquidity are extremely poor.

Since you are already mobile with an RV I find it bemusing why you would want to tie yourself down to useless land? I'd keep your cash and use it to rent what you need when you need it.

[Arrby]

I can only speak to Teller County, but here all available small lots are in platted subdivisions. With a lot - typically two acres - you may obtain a household well permit. This is very much like a hunting license; you can drill, but you may or may not get water. If you do obtain water it has to go somewhere, which means a septic system.

There are a great many of these lots available in the $15,000 range. Cash offers can purchase many more for far less than the listing price. Many do not allow seasonal camping, but some do. Full time residence in a RV is prohibited by the county, regardless of the community covenants.

Actually, 1 to 2 gallons per minute is pretty decent and with a small cistern will serve a small family quite well. I have (supposedly) seven gallons a minute and this is considered almost decadent in my neighborhood. Within half a mile I know of one well that was rated at 12 gpm, another of one gpm, and another that finally found five pints per minute after drilling 450 ft. Granite is not permeable and the water follows seams and fissures whose locations are impossible to know in advance.

Expect to pay $10,000 for a well and fees, minimum. Probably that much again for septic. Lots around me are selling for $6,000 to $10,000 an acre, but a two acre lot quite close just brought $30,000 simply because it had a proven well and nearby utility service.

Which brings up another issue: electricity. Wells need power to operate. Bringing power to a site can be quite expensive, or relatively inexpensive. It all depends on proximity to existing lines. Solar and on site generators can be used, but have their own issues.

The note above about liquidity is quite true. It can take years to sell an unimproved lot. Such properties are more akin to a boat or atv than an investment. But then seasonal rentals are not an investment either. Which ever way you go you should just plan on it being money spent.

[famlife]

Thank you all for the help. I definitely got an education. If I buy in CO, It'd have to be a pre existing house, it seems. Good to know!