Blue River Campground (CO)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 24All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Blue River Campground is located 10 minutes north of Silverthorne on Highway 9 in White River National Forest. This cozy campground is located between Lake Dillon and Green Mountain Reservoirs along the banks of the Blue River. With breath taking scenery and the sound of the flowing river, this is a favorite spot for many. Keep reading
Recreation
Encompassing a landscape of rivers, mountains, trails and forest roads, the White River National Forest is one of the top recreation forests in the nation. Anglers will find populations of rainbow and brown trout when casting their lines out into the water. River access through the campground is for paid campers only. Boating, kayaking, paddleboarding and endless miles of hiking trails are within a short drive in either direction from the campground.
Facilities
Blue River Campground has 24 standard sites suitable for tents and smaller trailers. Vault toilets are provided. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and bear box.
Natural Features
In the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the 2.3 million-acre White River National Forest is a place of serenity and adventure, boasting eight wilderness areas, four defined seasons and ten peaks surpassing 14,000 feet in elevation. The White River National Forest was established in 1891 as the White River Plateau Timber Reserve; the second such reserve to be named in the United States. In 1905, the newly formed Forest Service was given authority of the reserve. Long before this designation, the area was home to the Ute Indians who followed herds of elk and bison on their seasonal migrations. Wildlife in the area abounds. Bighorn sheep navigate rocky ridges and bull elk bugle at dusk. Scenic rivers sustain populations of cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout. Alpine regions provide habitat for pika and ptarmigan. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
Site access is difficult when road is wet. Site closure may occur due to flooding.
No drinking water available at this campground
No public river access through the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
All food, beverages, trash and scented items must be properly stored when not attended. Bear-proof trash receptacles are provided at the campground.
Two pets per site and must be leashed at all times.
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (ELEVEN) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
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.
Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Click here for more information about White River National Forest
Campers must occupy the site the first night at a campsite. This prevents booking the site for Fri-Sun and showing up on Saturday.
Campers may leave the site for 24 hours and must occupy the site otherwise. This allows a camper to say go for an overnight backpack trip in the woods for one night and come back to their campsite the next day.
Check in time is 2:00pm and Check out time is 11:00am It is imperative that you are clear from the site at 11:00am on your check out day so the host can come prepare the site for the next event. Please don't be the group that makes the incoming group have to wait.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.WhiteRiver.Dillon@AmericanLL.com
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 24 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 2 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…suitable for tents and smaller trailers. Vault toilets are provided. Each site has a picnic table, fire…”
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Night sky · 413th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 30 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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 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.
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · this campground’s own 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
24 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 24 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. 21 of the 24 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Blue River | 001 | standard nonelectric | 119 ft | 535 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 002 | standard nonelectric | 112 ft | 420 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 112 ft | 330 ft | ||
| Blue River | 004 | standard nonelectric | 132 ft | 441 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 98 ft | 729 ft | ||
| Blue River | 006 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 630 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 007 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 574 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 109 ft | 474 ft | ||
| Blue River | 009 | standard nonelectric | 74 ft | 185 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 010 | standard nonelectric | 73 ft | 116 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 011 | standard nonelectric | 93 ft | 151 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 012 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 75 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 013 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 44 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 014 | standard nonelectric | 2 ft | 62 ft | 26 ft | $25 |
| Blue River | 015 | standard nonelectric | 1 ft | 77 ft | 89 ft | $25 |
| Blue River | 016 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 43 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 017 | standard nonelectric | 95 ft | 132 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 018 | standard nonelectric | 79 ft | 69 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 019 | standard nonelectric | 79 ft | 90 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 020 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 132 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 021 | standard nonelectric | 2 ft | 62 ft | 150 ft | $25 |
| Blue River | 022 | standard nonelectric | 2 ft | 62 ft | 211 ft | $25 |
| Blue River | 023 | standard nonelectric | 109 ft | 232 ft | $25 | |
| Blue River | 024 | standard nonelectric | 97 ft | 179 ft | $25 |
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
South Fork Group Site - Arapaho NF (CO)Arapaho National Forest · 7.1 mi
Sugarloaf CampgroundArapaho National Forest · 7.2 miSouth Fork CampgoundArapaho National Forest · 7.3 mi
Heaton BayWhite River National Forest · 8.8 mi
Windy Point Group (CO)White River National Forest · 9.4 miFrom Silverthorne, on Interstate 70 take exit 205 and go north 8 miles north on Colorado Highway 9. Turn right onto Forest Rd. 1877. From Kremmling, Colorado, turn off Highway 40 onto Colorado Highway 9 South and go 30 miles, turn left onto Forest Rd 1877 at Blue River Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Silverthorne, 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
Blue River Campground (CO) is in Colorado’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Joe Neguse (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →