U.S. Forest Service · Routt National Forest · CO

Bear Lake Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
9,760 ftElevation
465 ftWater · Upper Stillwater Reservoir
27 miN of Dotsero, CO
21%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 124th darkest of 522 in CO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

9/26/2024: This campground is now closed for the season and will re-open for the 2025 season. The Bear Lake Campground is located 11 miles outside of Yampa, Colorado on Forest Service Road 900. The campground opens annually June 15th (varies with weather). You can find the typical range of outdoor recreation, from fishing and boating, to great hiking and also popular for big game hunting during the fall. There are 43 campsites (3 double-site and 1 triple-site), vault toilets, potable water, and trash services. The sites are surrounded with a mixed conifer and aspen stand. Keep reading

Though Bear Lake is located outside the campground, the campsites do not offer lake views and only a few have views of the Flat Tops. (This campground can accomodate trailers up to 30 feet in length. (For those with longer trailers, we recommend the designated camp sites outside the campground which can accomodate trailers up to 40 feet.) Dogs must remain on a leash at all times in the campground. Campers should come prepared with a variety of different insect repellants as the mosquitos are exceptionally thick this year. If the campground is full, there are many other camping opportunities outside of the campground along Forest Service Road 900 which leads to the campground. These are designated dispersed sites that cost $10 per night and all offer a picnic table and firegrate. Free Day Use Area: The Bear Lake Fishing Pier and Bear Lake Picnic Area are located within a short walk outside of the campground's entrance and are both free of charge for day use only. The lake is popular for trout fishing and can accomodate kayaks, belly boats, canoes and stand up paddle boarding. No camping is allowed at the day use area, however there are plenty of camping opportunities in the immediate area. This is a free day use area that accesses some great trout fishing and has a large fishing pier with perfect views of the Flat Tops Wilderness. There are 2 picnic tables and fire grates for picnicking. Bear Lake is popular to wade, shore, fly or spin fish. Boaters should take pre-caution for their own safety by steering clear of the bridge at the dam on the lake for their own safety as there is a spillway that could make it dangerous for those on the water. No camping is allowed at the day use area. Additionally, those interested in hiking can access Mandall Lakes , Smith Lake , and Stillwater Trailhead nearby within a short drive along Forest Service Road 900. The trailheads are all clearly marked with a sign and can be seen from the road. For those requiring a boat launch ramp, we recommend Yamcolo Reservoir which is located just below Bear Lake Reservoir and also offers great trout fishing and also allows motorized boats. This site was approved for a fee change - Click here for more information

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…(3 double-site and 1 triple-site), vault toilets, potable water, and trash services. The sites are…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…and 1 triple-site), vault toilets, potable water, and trash services. The sites are surrounded with…”
Boat ramp
Yes
Source: Stated in the agency description
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Reservoir, Lake
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
Single site, $30/double site, $40/triple site per day Must p ay with exact cash or check as credit cards are not accepted.$20
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

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Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight28°Clear
Saturday52°Sunny
Saturday Night31°Mostly Clear
Sunday51°Mostly Sunny1% rain

NWS forecast for Yampa, CO

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Chatfield11,260 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Dome Peak11,982 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Red Dirt B2,448 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Jeff Hurd, official portrait

Bear Lake Campground 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Yampa, CO, 11.1 mi SW. Straight line.