U.S. Forest Service · Gunnison National Forest · CO

Cold Spring Campground - Gunnison RD

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
A night
$14From, per site
Season
May 23Opens May 23. No closing date published.
Drawn from the record · 8,950 ft · 41% tree cover · Taylor River within reach · Bortle 2 sky
8,950 ftElevation
362 ftWater · Taylor River
18.3 miSE of Crested Butte, CO
41%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 112th darkest of 522 in CO
Opens May 23. No closing date published.Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

This rustic campground is located in the Taylor Canyon along the Taylor River. This site provides access to gold-medal fishing in the Taylor River. Rafting and kayaking are also supported by the Taylor River. This site lies at the northern boundary of the Fossil Ridge Wilderness. This wilderness area supports hiking, backpacking and horseback riding in a pristine natural setting. The landscape is mostly aspen and spruce. There are 6 campsites.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River
Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 35 km away
Peak color
Source: Stated in the agency description
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (35 km) · Oct 3, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $14 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$14Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$28DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 7

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$14
Night per camping unit$14
Day for day use/picnic use if in a campsite$6
Firewood bundle .$10
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$14
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$28

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($14), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight28°Clear
Saturday56°Sunny
Saturday Night31°Mostly Clear1% rain
Sunday54°Partly Sunny4% rain

NWS forecast for Pitkin, CO

Typical weather

Typical May night 29°F, day 58°F.

Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

80°32°-20°

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.

Measured at: TAYLOR PARK, CO (USC00058184), 4 miles away and 229 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
Matchless34,068 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Crystal Creek68,549 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Boston Peak46,696 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 16, 2026

Who answers for this land

Jeff Hurd, official portrait

Cold Spring Campground - Gunnison RD 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: Today falls inside the season the agency publishes, and it has posted nothing else. That reading is ours. The U.S. Forest Service’s own database, though, flags it not open with no reason or date; the flag is named under How we know all this.
Season: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (35 km) · Oct 3, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Pitkin, CO, 12.8 mi NNW. Straight line.