Deerlodge Park Campground
1Heads up1 fire 24 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $12–$14Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 87 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Deerlodge Park Campground is located 51 miles (85 km) east of the Canyon Visitor Center and 80 miles (129 km) from the Quarry Visitor Center. The campground sits on the Yampa River by the boat ramp at the head of Yampa Canyon. Deerlodge Park Campground is open year-round, but winter access can be very difficult due to snow. When the Yampa River exceeds an 18,000 cfs flow rate, the campground will flood. This is typically during the late spring runoff. Keep reading
Before you camp at Deerlodge Park, check the USGS current Yampa River flow rates and the NOAA Yampa river predicted flow rates The campground has seven shady walk-in sites suitable for tents. The sites have tables and fire pits. There is drinking water and vault toilets available seasonally, but no showers. This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Once on-site, you can pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app . Download the free Recreation.gov mobile app on Android or iOS prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service.
Recreation
Dinosaur National Monument covers over 210,000 acres (84984 ha). Visitor Centers . The monument features two visitor centers - one in Colorado and one in Utah. Quarry Exhibit Hall. You can see over 1,500 dinosaur fossils still in the rock inside the Quarry Exhibit Hall (Jensen, Utah). History & Culture. Numerous cultural sites reveal stories of the people who lived here before and include Fremont petroglyphs, homestead cabins and former ranches. Hiking trails allow in-depth exploration. Hiking. There are miles of trails for hiking and cross-country travel. River Rafting & Boating. Whitewater rafting, both commercial and private, is popular on the Green and Yampa Rivers. The Yampa River multi-day rafting trips begin at Deerlodge Park. The Yampa rushes downstream 44-miles (71 km) to join the Green River at Echo Park. Boaters continue downstream on the Green River to the take-out at the Split Mountain boat ramp. The Yampa is the largest free-flowing tributary within the Colorado River system. As such, it has a shorter season marked by fluctuations in water level resulting from snow received in the winter. It is characterized by famous rapids such as Teepee, Big Joe and Warm Springs. Raft trips must be arranged in advance. For more information, visit Dinosaur's Commercial Guided River Trips page. Private River Trips require a permit. Scenic Drives. Several roads provide access to key destinations and scenic sites. Scenic drives allow the windshield visitor to see spectacular geology.
Facilities
Deerlodge Campground has seven shady walk-in sites suitable for tents. The campground has vault toilets and drinking water spigots available seasonally, but no showers. All campsites have picnic tables and campfire rings.
Natural Features
Deerlodge Park campground is in a large flat open area underneath large cottonwood trees along the Yampa River Charges & Cancellations This is a Scan & Pay campground. There are no refunds, changes, cancellations, or other fee changes allowed with Scan and Pay payments. San & Pay is similar to putting payment into a fee tube at the campground that cannot be retrieved.
What the agency tells you
This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Once on-site, you can pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app . Download the free Recreation.gov mobile app on Android or iOS prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service.
All campers must pay the monument's entrance fee in addition to the fees for camping. Entrance Passes can be purchased at the monument's entrance station or visitor center. Valid National Park passes are also accepted. Digital passes are available to purchase in advance on Recreation.gov .
These are walk in sites. Tent-camping only. Each site is limited to 25 people. Vehicles & trailers must stay on gravel roads and parking areas. Digging, leveling, clearing plants, and other site modifications are prohibited. UTVs, OHVs, and ATVs are prohibited. Stays are limited to 14 consecutive days.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
CAUTION: Dinosaur National Monument is home to black bears along with many other animals. Proper food storage is required in campgrounds. Don’t feed or approach wildlife.
Pets must be kept on a leash (6 feet maximum). Pets are allowed at campsites and within 100 feet of roads and parking lots. Don’t leave pets unattended and/or tied to an object. Pets aren’t allowed on nearby hiking trails, on the river, or in the backcountry.
Fireworks of any kind are prohibited.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. Build campfires only in fire grates provided. Never leave fires unattended. Ensure fire is completely out and cold before leaving. Collecting wood from the ground or breaking it off trees/plants is prohibited. Use local firewood. Only burn wood, nothing else.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 8 · 7 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…fire pits. There is drinking water and vault toilets available seasonally, but no showers. This location…”
- Showers
- None at this campground
- “There is drinking water and vault toilets available seasonally, but no showers.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…have tables and fire pits. There is drinking water and vault toilets available seasonally, but no…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:34 UTC
recreation.gov lists 7 of the 8 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $12–$14 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.
“This is a Scan & Pay campground. There are no refunds, changes, cancellations, or other fee changes allowed with Scan and Pay payments. San & Pay is similar to putting payment into a fee tube at the campground that cannot be retrieved.” · 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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:34 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
8 sites
All 8 sites
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Echo Park CampgroundDinosaur National Monument · 26 mi
Gates of Lodore CampgroundDinosaur National Monument · 28 miIrish Canyon CampingLittle Snake Field Office · 29 mi
Big Pine I River Camp35 mi
Rainbow Park CampgroundDinosaur National Monument · 35 miCottonwood River CampJohn Wesley Powell National Conservation Area · 35 miTo reach Deerlodge Park Campground, drive west from Craig, Colorado 59 miles (95 km) or east of Dinosaur, Colorado 51 miles (95 km) on Highway 40. At the Dinosaur National Monument sign turn north on to Deerlodge Road (or labeled Dinosaur Park Service Rd on some maps) and drive 17 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Maybell, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 35°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°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
Deerlodge Park Campground 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 →