Aspen (CO)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 11All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Aspen Campground is an excellent place for campers looking to relax, hike, fish and enjoy the sounds of nature. The campground sits near Jefferson Creek, a few miles downriver of Jefferson Lake. The lake is one of the highest elevation lakes around, capping 10,685 feet elevation and bordered by steep 12,000 foot peaks Fishing in both the creek and lake offer promising catches of trout. Another noteworthy aspect of the campground is its access to the Colorado Trail. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground offers nearby access to two trails. Hiking, biking and horseback riding are excellent on the epic Colorado Trail, a 471-mile trail that stretches across Colorado from Denver to Durango. Also nearby is the West Jefferson Loop Trail, a foot path that goes up to the Continental Divide and loop for 11 miles. Rainbow, brown, mackinaw and brook trout can be found swimming in the creek and lake. No-wake boating is allowed in the lake and a boat ramp is easily accessible.
Facilities
Amenities include picnic tables, vault toilets, drinking water from a hand pump and a campfire ring. Parking aprons are gravel and can fit up to two vehicles. It is difficult to access Jefferson Lake Recreation Area during the winter months. The roads to this site are not maintained for snow throughout the winter.
Natural Features
Aspen Campground, at 9,900 elevation, sits in a valley along Jefferson Creek at the base of Jefferson Hill. The single-loop campground is shaded by groves of aspen and mature spruce. Jefferson Lake, spanning about 182 acres, has deep, cold waters and freezes over in winter. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
Visit historic Fairplay, Colorado, a ghost town that was once a frontier boom town. The South Park City Museum contains 34 authentic buildings with 60,000 artifacts.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
Alert for Reservation Holders: There is a one-time fee of $11.00 to enter Jefferson Lake Recreation Area in which your campground is located. You will only have to pay this fee once for the duration of your stay. There is an Annual Pass available for entry into the Jefferson Lake Recreation Area - $100.00 for the 2025 Calendar year.
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating
This is a high elevation facility, please use caution when traveling from lower elevations
Everything else this campground posts · 11
No RV hookups are available
For more information on Pike and San Isabel National Forests, click here
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing organisms by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Firewood is available to purchase on site, depending on any fire ban. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
The use, sale, and possession of all forms of cannabis in the United States is illegal under federal law on federal lands.
Shooting of any type is prohibited in the campground and Jefferson Lake Recreation Area
ATV's and off road vehicles are prohibited in the campgound and Jefferson Lake Recreation Area
Dogs must be on a leash or tethered at all times.
Reservations are available up to 5 days prior to arrival date. Sites not reserved 5 days before become ‘walk-up’ and are available on a ‘first come - first serve’ bases.
Check-out time is 12:00pm. Check-in time is 2:00pm
Two vehicles or one RV per site is included in the camping fee. $11.00 for a third vehicle. $11.00 fee for day use if not camping overnight.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 11 · 6 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Amenities include picnic tables, vault toilets, drinking water from a hand pump and a campfire…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 11 of 12 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 425th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 18 km away
- Peak 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 11 mapped sitesAll 12 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 11 of the 12 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| ASPEN | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 110 ft | 554 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 53 ft | 525 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 53 ft | 541 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 004 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 45 ft | 514 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 005 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 32 ft | 509 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 006 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 32 ft | 516 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 14 ft | 75 ft | 570 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 008 - Host | host pad | 25 ft | 670 ft | ||
| ASPEN | 009 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 28 ft | 690 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 14 ft | 28 ft | 694 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 27 ft | 665 ft | $24 |
| ASPEN | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 27 ft | 661 ft | $24 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Lodgepole (Jefferson Lake, Fairplay Colorado)0.8 mi
Jefferson CreekPike National Forest · 1.3 miMichigan CreekPike National Forest · 2.5 mi
Timberline CampgroundPike National Forest · 4.2 miHall ValleyPike National Forest · 4.4 miFrom Fairplay, take Highway 285 north to Jefferson, then turn left on County road 35. Travel approximately 2 miles and turn right on County Road 37. Travel approximately 2.5 miles to the Aspen Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Blue River, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 21°F, day 54°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 2°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
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
Aspen (CO) is in Colorado’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Brittany Pettersen (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →