Aquarius Ranger Station
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Aquarius Ranger Station is located about 15 miles south of Loa, in eastern Utah. It sits on the west side of beautiful Boulder Mountain, which makes up half of the expansive Aquarius Plateau. The station was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937 and was used by generations of Forest Service employees working in the surrounding back country. Recreational activities abound in the surrounding area. Guests enjoy fishing in many lakes on Boulder Top, and exploring local trails. Keep reading
Recreation
Pine Creek Reservoir is less than a mile from the ranger station. This small lake covers three acres, and offers fishing for brook trout. Cook Lake, Miller Lake and numerous additional fishing lakes are scattered across Boulder Top. Many hiking, biking and off-road vehicle trails meander through the surrounding area. The Great Western Trail spans nearly 4,500 miles through five states, and runs alongside the station. Hikers, horseback riders, mountain bikers and off-road enthusiasts love this spectacular trail. Big game hunting for black bear, mule deer, elk, grouse and antelope is also a popular activity.
Facilities
The Aquarius Ranger Station Complex can accommodate a maximum of 20 people, with four inside and 16 camped outside in tents or RVs. The rustic two-room cabin sleeps four people comfortably on one double bed and one set of bunk beds. No linens or bedding are provided. Two or three RVs and several tents are allowed outside. The cabin is equipped with a table and chairs, a wood stove and propane appliances including a cook stove and oven, and hot water heater. Some pots and pans, dishes and utensils are provided, but guests are encouraged to bring their own. A vault toilet is located adjacent to the cabin, as is a campfire circle and several picnic tables. Potable water is available inside the cabin and at a hydrant outside. Solar lighting is available inside the cabin. Please note: pets are not allowed inside the Ranger Station. No smoking in the Ranger Station.
Natural Features
The ranger station is situated at the edge of a meadow lined with aspens and mixed conifers, at an elevation of 8,700 feet. Grasses, sagebrush and summer wildflowers fill the meadow. From the front porch, guests are awarded scenic views of surrounding area. Summer days are warm and nights are cool. Boulder Mountain rises to an elevation of 11,317 feet. Capitol Reef National Park lies on its eastern edge. Boulder is comprised of over 50,000 acres of rolling pine, spruce and aspen forests on its slopes and broad, lake-studded meadows on its top.
What the agency tells you
- All campers are encouraged to follow the Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” directive and follow CDC guidance found at the links below. - https://coronavirus.utah.gov/stay-at-home/ - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance-list.html?Sort=Date%3A%3Adesc - “Be aware, this facility is not cleaned between user visits.”
The site is not available for walk-up.
Absolutely no pets allowed in the Ranger Station.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility
Firewood for campfire ring and wood burning cook stove not provided; please plan accordingly.
No electricity No Refrigerator
No RV hookups at this site; the nearest dump station is in Torrey, Utah
Saddle, draft or pack animals allowed in provided corrals.
Click here for more information on the Fishlake National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…are encouraged to bring their own. A vault toilet is located adjacent to the cabin, as is a campfire…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…circle and several picnic tables. Potable water is available inside the cabin and at a hydrant…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Night sky · 46th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 10 days ago, 31 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AQRS | 01 | cabin nonelectric | 30 ft | 119 ft | $90 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sunglow CampgroundFishlake National Forest · 11 mi
SingletreeDixie National Forest · 14 mi
Cowpuncher Guard StationDixie National Forest · 14 miUpper Pleasant Creek CampgroundDixie National Forest · 15 miOak Creek CampgroundDixie National Forest · 15 miOak Creek Rec Site (Boulder, UT)Dixie National Forest · 15 miFrom Loa, travel directly south on the paved county road for about 2 miles. From that point, turn south on Forest Road 154 and travel about 8 miles. Turn left on Forest Road 178 and travel about 5 miles, then turn left onto the Aquarius Ranger Station Road and travel approximately a quarter-mile to the cabin.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Teasdale, UT
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Aquarius Ranger Station is in Utah’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Celeste Maloy (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →