Crow Valley
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 23 of the next 23 nights; a database flag says not open read 16:39 UTC
- A night
- $17–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Crow Valley Recreation Area is set in the Pawnee National Grassland, a very popular site with bird enthusiasts. Over 200 species can be found in the area. Hiking and star gazing are favorite activities in this remotely located campground. Keep reading
Recreation
Birding, exploring nature trails, viewing wildlife and star gazing are popular activities at Crow Valley. A volleyball court, horseshoe pit and ball field are available. The Lee and Dorothy Rhoads Farm Implement Museum is located within the recreation area. The collection of tools, donated by the descendants of homesteaders, can help one imagine what life was like in pioneer days.
Facilities
Crow Valley Recreation Area contains four types of sites: a family campground, group overnight sites (Hawk, Plover and Lark), a group picnic area and an educational site (EDU). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Each family site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. The group overnight sites can be reserved separately or together. Picnic tables and a campfire circle form a common area at each site. Tent pads are arranged around each common area. Parking is adjacent to each site. These sites have very little shade. The group picnic area can accommodate up to 200 people for day-use. It includes a lighted, covered shelter with several electrical outlets, 31 tables and a large barbeque grill. The Steward J. Adams Educational Site is accessible and can accommodate up to 100 people for overnight or day-use. It includes a three-sided covered shelter with electrical outlets and tables.
Natural Features
Crow Valley sits at an elevation of 4,800 feet. Cottonwood and elm trees dot the landscape, providing pleasant shade in the family campground. However, the group campsites have little to no shade. Short grass prairie surrounds the recreation area. The Pawnee National Grassland sits east of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Eroding creek drainages crisscross the area. Elevations range from 4,375 feet on the prairie to 5,685 feet. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 529-0578.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is within driving distance from both the east and west units of Pawnee National Grassland and the Pawnee Pioneer Trails Scenic Byway, a 128-mile route through wide-open terrain studded by the towering Pawnee Buttes.
Charges & Cancellations
Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777 PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.
What the agency tells you
No RV water connections are available.
This is bear country! For bear and human safety, keep a clean campsite and do not place food or other attractants in your tent. For more information about visiting bear country, contact Colorado Parks and Wildlife at http://wildlife.state.co.us
Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within campground
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Shooting, archery and fireworks are prohibited
Extra parking is not available
Sites may be available on a first-come, first-served basis outside the reservation season
Fees at the educational site and the group picnic site are calculated by the number of people using the site.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp to learn more about the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland.
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.
All campsites must be occupied within 26 hours of the beginning of the reservation. If not present the site will be rented by first come first serve basis.
EXTRA VEHICLE FEES: One vehicle is included in your reservation. Any additional vehicles will be charged $8.00 per vehicle per night and will be collected by the camp host if you did not pay for the Extra Vehicle Add On. One vehicle consists of one camper being towed by vehicle, or any other vehicle towed behind camper. One van or one truck with camper attached counts as one vehicle. Extra vehicles must fit on the parking spur at your site.
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.
Maximum Vehicle Length: 35' on single units, 30' at the Lark group site.
Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.
Check-Out is at 12 P.M. Check-In is at 2 P.M.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14 · 4 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 81 ft
- Accessible sites
- 6
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…area and an educational site (EDU). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Each family site…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…site (EDU). Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Each family site is equipped with a…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Birding
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Scenic drives
- Stargazing
- Night sky · 450th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 8 days ago, 33 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 16:39 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 7 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 9 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:39 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“Any additional vehicles will be charged $8.00 per vehicle per night and will be collected by the camp host if you did not pay for the Extra Vehicle Add On.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $17–$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.
“Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777 PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.” · 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 · 7
recreation.gov availability, read 16:39 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 15 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 15 of the 15 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. 13 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CROW | EDU | group standard area nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 440 ft | 2.8 mi | 248 ft | |
| CROW | PICNIC | day use | 20 ft | yes | 2.9 mi | 195 ft | ||
| FAMILY CG | 001 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 137 ft | 2.9 mi | 416 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 002 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 104 ft | 2.8 mi | 308 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 003 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 91 ft | 2.8 mi | 213 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 004 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 91 ft | 2.8 mi | 138 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 005 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | yes | 103 ft | 2.9 mi | 146 ft | $17–$25 |
| FAMILY CG | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 97 ft | 2.9 mi | 203 ft | $17–$25 |
| FAMILY CG | 007 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 97 ft | 2.9 mi | 293 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 008 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 157 ft | 2.9 mi | 348 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 009 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 157 ft | 2.9 mi | 210 ft | $17–$25 | |
| FAMILY CG | 010 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 187 ft | 2.9 mi | 381 ft | $17–$25 | |
| HAWK | HAWK | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 236 ft | 2.9 mi | 200 ft | $77 |
| LARK | LARK | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 257 ft | 2.8 mi | 551 ft | $77 |
| PLOV | PLOVER | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 236 ft | 2.9 mi | 295 ft | $77 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. 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 · the phone number
Where it is
Ansel WatrousRoosevelt National Forest · 53 mi
Stove PrairieRoosevelt National Forest · 56 miNarrows Campground: Upper and LowerRoosevelt National Forest · 58 mi
Narrows (CO)Roosevelt National Forest · 58 mi
Dutch George CampgroundRoosevelt National Forest · 58 mi
Mountain ParkRoosevelt National Forest · 60 miFrom Ault, Colorado, at the intersection of US Hwy 85 and Colorado State Hwy 14, take Colorado State Hwy 14 east for 22.7 miles, then take Weld County Road 77 north for 0.3 mile.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Briggsdale, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 9°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Crow Valley is in Colorado’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Lauren Boebert (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyLauren BoebertU.S. Representative · Colorado’s 4th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn W. HickenlooperU.S. Senator · Colorado
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMichael F. BennetU.S. Senator · Colorado
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado
Dear Lauren Boebert, I’m a constituent in Colorado’s 4th district. I tried to camp at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 14 sites at Crow Valley are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 7 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Valley keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Valley. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crow Valley (Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado
Dear John W. Hickenlooper, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 14 sites at Crow Valley are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 7 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Valley keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Valley. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crow Valley (Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado
Dear Michael F. Bennet, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at Crow Valley, Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 14 sites at Crow Valley are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 7 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crow Valley keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crow Valley. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crow Valley (Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado) via campanac.com