East Elk Creek Group Campsite
1Heads uppark alert
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Invite family and friends to East Elk for an active group camping experience surrounded by rugged and stark mountains. The campground is perched on the tranquil East Elk Creek, which allows for water activities without the commotion of the reservoir. Enjoy time picnicking, kayaking, fishing or exploring wildlife. Keep reading
Recreation
The campground is set just off of the windsurfing area in the Cebolla Basin. It's an ideal location for avid windsurfers. It's also great for canoeing and hiking. Try the Dillon Pinnacles Trail for the nearest hiking trail. Visit Curecanti's hiking web page for details.
Facilities
This is a group campsite accommodating a minimum of 9 people up to a maiximum 50 people. The boat ramp and inspection station are less than a mile away at Elk Creek.
Natural Features
East Elk Creek sits at an altitude of 7,800 feet, just off the Blue Mesa Reservoir in Curecanti National Recreation Area. The reservoir is surrounded by scenic mountains and is home to the largest population of Kokanee land locked salmon in the state of Colorado. The other two reservoirs in the recreation area, Crystal Reservoir and Morrow Point Reservoir, are surrounded by high rising cliffs.
Nearby Attractions
Charges & Cancellations
What the agency tells you
Water to the campground is shut off approximately September 19th each year. If your reservation is after this date please bring all the water you will need. Pit toilets will still be available.
East Elk Creek Campground has no electric hookups.
Upon arrival and before launching, all watercraft must be inspected and certified as Zebra and Quagga Mussel free. Inspection stations are located at the Elk Creek and Lake Fork boat ramps during peak seasons (May through October). Visit Curecanti's Boat Ramps web page for details.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
This is a high elevation (7535 feet/2297 m) facility. Learn about how to "Take it Easy at Altitude" and more on the parks' Safety web page.
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood . CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit the National Invasive Species Information Center .
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
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.
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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 · 12
What you actually pay
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| EAST ELK GROUP SITE | 001 | group standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $120 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Dry Gulch Campground0.9 mi
Elk Creek Campground1.2 mi
Red Creek CampgroundGunnison Field Office · 3.3 mi
Red Creek Group SiteGunnison Field Office · 3.7 mi
Stevens Creek Campground4.1 mi
Gateview CampgroundGunnison Field Office · 8.0 miEast Elk Creek Group campground is located off of US Hwy 50 between Gunnison and Montrose, on the north side of the highway approximately 1/2 mile (.8 km) west of Elk Creek.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Gunnison, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -1°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
Who answers for this land
East Elk Creek Group Campsite 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 →