Aspen Guard Station
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 14:37 UTC
- Sites
- 1In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
You’re in for a treat when you rent Aspen Guard Station’s beautiful cabin. Built between 1938-1940, this cabin offers a visit to the past while being near enough to civilization to have a foot in both worlds. This old cabin housed the Forest Service Rangers who patrolled the forests, often on horseback, checking timber and livestock permits, helping neighboring cabin dwellers and the public, much like today. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, wildlife sightings. Mountain bike riding, ATV/UTV access.
Facilities
Full Kitchen stocked with pots, pans, baking dishes, plates, glasses, cups, silverware, etc. Two bedrooms - two full beds. Flushing toilet. Working shower. Furnace and Heater. Outdoor fire pit with cooking grill and log bench. Picnic Table.
Natural Features
Located directly on Forest Service Road 561 in a grove of aspen trees with enclosing fence.
Nearby Attractions
Mesa Verde National Park Durango to Silverton Train Anazasi Visitors Center Four Corners National Monument
What the agency tells you
KEY PICK UP!!! - You must pick the key up at the P&D Grocery, Mancos, Frontage Road. - Store closes at 8:00. There is no other way to get in after that. - Pick up 2:00 p.m. or later on day of check in. - DROP OFF - NO LATER THAN 2:00 p.m. on day of check out.
DISCLAIMER/WAIVER FORM: You will be required to sign a disclaimer/waiver form at the P&D Grocery at key pick up. No signature, no key.
NO PETS!
Everything else this campground posts · 1
ISSUES: All issues with the facility are handled by Jersey Jim Foundation through email or text message. - TEXT ONLY!!! No phone calls will be accepted. Phone number is: 970-676-1147. - Problems with reservations contact the Forest Service or Rec.gov.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Showers
- Seasonal Showers
- SHOWERS (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 2 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Yes
Nothing to book until it reopensread 14:37 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Aspen Guard Station closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 2
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- House CreekSan Juan National Forest · 18 mi · 49 sites
- Hovenweep CampgroundHovenweep National Monument · 48 mi · 31 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 14:37 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites
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.
| Aspen GS | Aspen Guard Station | cabin nonelectric | $100 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Transfer CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 1.1 mi
Jersey Jim Fire TowerSan Juan National Forest · 1.4 mi
Target Tree CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 9.7 mi
KroegerSan Juan National Forest · 9.9 mi
SnowslideSan Juan National Forest · 10 mi
Mavreeso CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 13 miMancos, Colorado
- 11.5 miles north of Mancos on Forest Road #561, a chip-seal paved road for 10 miles and then a well-graveled forest road accessible by two-wheel-drive vehicles.
- Remain on FS Road 561 past Transfer Campground.
- Stay right at fork another mile
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Mancos, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 23°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 0°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Aspen Guard Station is in Colorado’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Jeff Hurd (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“the agency's own site records list "CELL PHONE SERVICE" on 1 of 1 campsites here”