Chris Park
- Right now
- Shut for nowOutside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- Sites
- 3All of them booked ahead
- Season
- – September 30Closes September 30. No opening date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Chris Park is located near Haviland Lake in southwestern Colorado, 18 miles north of Durango. Visitors enjoy the area for its hiking, canoeing and fishing opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
Several trailheads are in the vicinity, including Forebay, Goulding, Elbert Creek and Purgatory Flats. The historic Rico-to-Rockwood Wagon Road passes through Chris Park. Built in the late 1800s, the road was used for six years until the railway opened.
Facilities
The campground offers three group sites. Sites 1 and 2 can accommodate up to 75 people each. Site 3 can accommodate up to 150 people, and includes a picnic shelter with electricity and grills. A volleyball court is located near this site as well. Picnic tables and campfire rings provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a mostly flat, open area, shaded by scattered ponderosa pine trees. Haviland Lake is a short drive from the site.
Nearby Attractions
Beautiful Haviland Lake is less than two miles from the campground. The 80-acre, no-wake lake offers boating, canoeing and fishing. Accessible fishing docks are located on the lakeshore. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Charges & Cancellations
Group Sites Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): A visitor who cancels a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use 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
Check in: 2 pm, Check out: 12 pm (noon)
For general information about the San Juan National Forest, please call (970) 884-2512. Campsite availability is not available at this phone number.
Click here for more information on the San Juan National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 1
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
- 3 · 3 group, 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 1 of 3
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire rings provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…rings provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground is situated in a…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 241st darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 24 km away
- Patchy 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
“Group Sites Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): A visitor who cancels a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes an…” · 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
3 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 3 mapped sitesAll 3 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. 3 of the 3 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CHRI | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 151 ft | 1,918 ft | $140 | ||
| CHRI | 2 | group standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 94 ft | 2,149 ft | $140 | ||
| CHRI | 3 | group shelter electric | 40 ft | 15 amp | yes | 94 ft | 2,061 ft | $280 |
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
Where it is
Haviland Lake CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 1.3 miLower Hermosa CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 5.3 mi
Lower Hermosa (CO)San Juan National Forest · 6.6 mi
Sig CreekSan Juan National Forest · 6.6 mi
Transfer Park CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 7.5 mi
Florida CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 7.8 miFrom Durango, travel north on Highway 550 for about 18 miles to the campground. Turn at Haviland Lake sign, continue for a half-mile, then turn right at the intersection.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Durango, CO
Typical weather
Typical September night 41°F, day 70°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical September night 41°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
Chris Park 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 →