Buffalo Springs
1Heads up1 fire 28 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 17All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Buffalo Springs Campground sits on a rolling hillside in the San Isabel National Forest, providing an ideal setting for biking, hiking, horseback riding and rock climbing. Keep reading
Recreation
Picnicking and wildlife watching are also great activities. Look out for sightings of mule deer, bald eagles and chipmunks. Volleyball courts and horseshoe pits are also provided on-site.
Facilities
Campsites are widely spaced. Parking aprons are dirt and rocky and fit a maximum trailer length of 30 feet. Amenities include campfire rings, picnic tables, vault toilets, drinking water and parking for up to two vehicles.
Natural Features
Tucked in a stand of aspen, spruce and other mixed conifers, Buffalo Springs offers private, secluded campsites. At 9,000 feet altitude, the campground maintains a glowing reputation as a place for excellent mountain views. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
The nearest large fishing and boating lake is Antero Reservoir, the first man-made lake to be built on the South Platte River. The lake produces trophy class fish, including rainbow, brook and cutthroat trout. The nearest town is Fairplay, Colorado, a historic gold mining settlement of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. The town has an open air museum that sets that helps recreate the life and times of the 19th century gold rush era.
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
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 elevatio
No RV hookups are available
Everything else this campground posts · 10
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
ATVs and off road vehicles are prohibited in the campground
Dogs must be on a leash or tethered at all times.
Reservations are available up to five days prior to arrival date. Sites not reserved five 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
- 17 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…include campfire rings, picnic tables, vault toilets, drinking water and parking for up to two vehicles.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 18 of 18 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 332nd darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 7 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 · 12
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
18 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 15 mapped sitesAll 18 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 16 of the 18 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. 16 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 4,596 ft | 194 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 002 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 60 ft | 4,545 ft | 228 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 130 ft | 4,785 ft | 329 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 004 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 130 ft | 4,655 ft | 359 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 005 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 99 ft | 5,055 ft | 120 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 99 ft | 5,013 ft | 219 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 007 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $24 | |||
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 107 ft | 5,125 ft | 188 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 76 ft | 5,047 ft | 138 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 010 - Host | host pad | 24 ft | 5,175 ft | 111 ft | ||
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 011 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 123 ft | 4,957 ft | 259 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 012 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 76 ft | 5,091 ft | 186 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 90 ft | 4,871 ft | 286 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 90 ft | 4,938 ft | 350 ft | |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 015 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $24 | |||
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 016 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 73 ft | 4,699 ft | 188 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 017 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 73 ft | 4,697 ft | 136 ft | $24 |
| BUFFALO SPRINGS | 018 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 235 ft | 4,477 ft | 251 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
Dawson CabinSan Isabel National Forest · 20 miFrom Fairplay, take Highway 285 south for about 12.5 miles, just 3 miles past County Road 22 turnoff. Turn right onto Forest Road 431 and continue one mile to campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hartsel, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 19°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -4°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Buffalo Springs 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 →