Black Bear Cabin at Mesa Lakes (CO)
- 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 · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Black Bear Cabin at Mesa Lakes offers guests the opportunity to experience an overnight stay in a traditional Forest Service Ranger Station. The original Black Bear Cabin was constructed in the 1930s, where rangers worked for years overseeing the expansive forest. The cabin is about a 45-minute drive from Grand Junction area of western Colorado, and plenty of canoeing, mountain biking and fishing activities are within reach. From mid-August through October, guests can enjoy fall colors with extensive golden aspen stands surrounding the area. A large grass yard fronts the cabin, which can be used for family gatherings and weddings. This cabin is not ADA accessible. Keep reading
Recreation
A popular mountain biking and horseback riding trail, West Bench Trail #501, connects the seven lakes of the Mesa Lakes Recreation Area. The cabin is also within walking distance to a carry-down boat ramp for canoeing and kayaking. The Grand Mesa Scenic Byway is well worth exploring. The byway passes near the cabin and offers 63 miles of scenery as it climbs from the rugged canyon floor up to the forested mesa tops at 11,000 feet. The road passes sparkling lakes and meadows bursting with wildflowers.
Facilities
The semi-rustic log cabin has a living area and bedroom on the main floor, and a bathroom with a flush toilet and shower is in the basement. The kitchen is equipped with a refrigerator and an electric stove. Electric lighting and heat are provided. Sleeping accommodations for five adults include queen size sofa sleeper and three twin size beds; air mattresses or cots can be brought in to accommodate three additional people for a total of eight guests. No RVs, campers, or tents allowed near facility to accommodate more people. Basic cooking and eating utensils, plates, knives, forks, spoons, cups, and basic pots and pans are furnished. Cleaning supplies are included as well. Guests should bring bedding, warm clothes, food, a first aid kit, towels, dish soap and typical camping gear. Click here for more cabin details.
Natural Features
Black Bear is perched on a grassy lawn, partially shaded by large pines. Spruce, fir and aspen are among the surrounding trees. At an elevation of 9,500, the cabin is in close proximity to several mountain lakes, including Waterdog Reservoir and Jumbo Reservoir. Mesa Creek flows nearby. A variety of wildlife, including deer, elk and moose, frequents the area.
Nearby Attractions
Grand Mesa Visitor Center is a short drive away at Island Lake. The center offers educational exhibits, a bookstore and a high-altitude wildflower garden containing over 50 native species. The town of Cedaredge, 26 miles from the campground, is home to Pioneer Town, a 19th-century village with frontier museums and over 20 structures housing a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, saloon and jail. Cedaredge's Applefest is held annually in October.
What the agency tells you
Entry is by combination lock; call Grand Valley Ranger District office 5-7 days prior to arrival at (970)242-8211 for combination lock Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (please provide your reservation #) The Grand Valley Ranger District office is closed all Federal Holidays.
Heavy snowfall may cause cabin rental cancellation; call ranger district for updated conditions and restrictions
Collection of firewood is not permitted; please bring firewood or purchase at Jumbo Campground
Everything else this campground posts · 10
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack in-pack out' facility
Please clean cabin before leaving; cleaning supplies are provided
No fireworks
No smoking allowed
No pets or livestock allowed
This facility does not meet accessibility standards
Bears frequent the area; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating
No cell service in this area.
Guests should be aware that there is a risk of exposure to hantavirus when visiting remote cabins; click here to learn more
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing organisms by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…on the main floor, and a bathroom with a flush toilet and shower is in the basement. The kitchen is…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Facilities The semi-rustic log cabin has a living area and bedroom on the main floor, and a bathroom with a flush toilet and shower is in the basement.”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Hotel/Lodge/Resort Privately Owned
- Hunting
- Ranger programs
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 1 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 · 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
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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.
| BLACK BEAR | Black Bear | cabin electric | 114 ftMesa Creek | 1,292 ft | $200 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Jumbo CampgroundGrand Mesa National Forest · 0.7 mi
Moose Manor CabinGrand Mesa National Forest · 0.9 mi
Island Lake CampgroundGrand Mesa National Forest · 4.0 miLittle BearGrand Mesa National Forest · 4.6 miLittle Bear Campground - Grand Valley RDGrand Mesa National Forest · 4.7 miFrom Grand Junction, CO, take I-70 east for 13 miles. Take exit 49 to Highway 65 South toward Grand Mesa. Continue for 25 miles and turn right into Mesa Lakes Recreation Area. Take the second right and follow along Sunset Lake shore. On approach to the lake's spillway, you will come to a gate. The gate is opened by combination lock. Open gate and follow through on a single lane road about 100 yards. Cabin is sign posted and parking is in front of the cabin.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cedaredge, CO
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
Black Bear Cabin at Mesa Lakes (CO) 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 →