Chalk Lake
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 19All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Chalk Lake Campground is located in beautiful Chaffee County, Colorado. This popular facility sits near Chalk Lake and is within 4 miles of a private hot springs resort, making it an ideal location for rest and relaxation. "First come, first served" does not necessarily mean that the site will be available when you get there. Someone may get there before you. This is a popular campground and is normally full starting on Friday, sometimes as early as Thursday, so plan accordingly. Keep reading
Recreation
Chalk Lake is located next to the campground and is a great family fishing spot with rainbow, brook and brown trout. Motorized boats are not allowed on the lake. Chalk Creek also offers fishing, and it's best above Cascade Falls. Plenty of off-road vehicle trails are near the campground. Recommended rides include Mount Antero, Baldwin Lake, Tincup Pass, Hancock Pass, Pomeroy Lakes, and Hancock Lakes. The Cascade Loop Trail is located across the street from the campground. The Chalk Creek Trailhead is about 2 miles east of the campground which gives hikers access to the extensive Colorado Trail, which extends nearly 500 miles from Denver to Durango.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites, a few of which are accessible. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Firewood is sold on-site. Sites: #4-9, and 14 "walk-up", first-come, first-served sites. All other sites are reservable. Site #1 is used by the host from mid-May to mid-September. After that time it is available as a "walk-up", first-come, first-served site.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 9,000 feet in Chalk Creek Canyon, which gets its name from the soft, white, chalk-like kaolinite canyon walls. Kaolinite is a clay mineral that was deposited by percolating hot springs. A variety of wildlife makes its home in the area, including chipmunks, hummingbirds, birds of prey and mule deer.
Nearby Attractions
Take a day trip to the historic ghost town of St. Elmo, just 15 minutes from the campground. An old saloon, county courthouse and many other historic structures remain from the days of its mining glory. Rock hounds come to the area in search of quartz and aquamarine. The city of Salida and Town of Buena Vista are only a short drive away where visitors can enjoy distinctive restaurants, unique shops, incredible art galleries and a large selection of antique shops. The area boasts more than 100 miles of Arkansas River to raft, fish, float or kayak in, as well as fifteen 14,000 ft mountains. Visitors can choose from recreational activities like hiking, biking, ATV/UTV riding, kayaking, rafting, fishing, horseback riding, zipping and swimming. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
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
Do not climb chalk cliffs
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 elevations
Everything else this campground posts · 9
No hookups available
Click here for more information on Pike and San Isabel National Forests
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.
If reservations are not available, some campsites are first come-first served, also called "Walk-up" sites. First-come, first-served sites must be occupied the SAME NIGHT they are paid for. These sites usually fill Friday evenings and through the weekends. Due to the remote nature of campgrounds, calling to check availability prior to arrival is not possible.
Camping and campfires are restricted in the Chalk Creek Canyon to the four developed campgrounds only. Cascade, Chalk Lake and Mount Princeton campgrounds take reservations, Iron City campground does not.
Campers unable to find a campsite in a developed campground may camp above the townsite of St. Elmo on County Road 267( 4-wheel drive only) or near the Hancock townsite located 5 miles south on Forest Road 295. Additional camping is available in the Browns Creek area south of County Road 162 at the junction of County roads 270 and 272. Practice leave-no-trace (www.lnt.org) camping principles when dispersed camping.
Reservations can be made up to 6 months in advance.
Two vehicles or one RV/Trailer and tow vehicle per site is included in the camping fee. $10.00 for a third vehicle.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 19 · 7 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…table and campfire ring. Accessible vault toilets are provided. Firewood is sold on-site. Sites:…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, River, Creek
- Fishing
- Gold Panning
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Rafting
- Night sky · 272nd darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
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 · 13
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.
“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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
19 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 19 mapped sitesAll 19 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 19 of the 19 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. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CHAL | 001 | standard nonelectric | yes | 34 ft | 93 ft | 2,763 ft | $25 | |
| CHAL | 002 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 82 ft | 2,749 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 003 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 71 ft | 2,688 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 004 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 74 ft | 2,656 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 005 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 73 ft | 2,636 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 006 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 140 ft | 2,477 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 19 ft | 145 ft | 2,458 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 14 ft | 153 ft | 2,434 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 14 ft | 161 ft | 2,420 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 010 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 145 ft | 2,268 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 32 ft | 133 ft | 2,207 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 26 ft | 135 ft | 2,178 ft | $25 | |
| CHAL | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 23 ft | 128 ft | 2,153 ft | $25 | |
| CHAL | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 44 ft | 122 ft | 2,111 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 015 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 150 ft | 2,166 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 016 | standard nonelectric | 135 ft | 276 ft | 2,292 ft | $25 | ||
| CHAL | 017 | standard nonelectric | yes | 51 ft | 138 ft | 2,527 ft | $25 | |
| CHAL | 018 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 54 ft | 127 ft | 2,618 ft | $25 |
| CHAL | 019 | standard nonelectric | yes | 33 ft | 114 ft | 2,726 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cascade (Colorado)San Isabel National Forest · 0.6 mi
Mount PrincetonSan Isabel National Forest · 0.6 miCascade CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 0.6 miBootlegSan Isabel National Forest · 2.1 miIron CitySan Isabel National Forest · 5.5 miCottonwood Lake - PSICC (Co)San Isabel National Forest · 5.7 miFrom Buena Vista, Colorado, take Highway 285 south to Nathrop. Turn west on County Road 162 and travel 8 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Buena Vista, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 11°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
Chalk Lake 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 →