Echo Lake
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 1817 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Echo Lake Campground is located on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in central Colorado near its namesake lake at the base of Mount Blue Sky along Hwy 103. Visitors enjoy hiking, fishing and taking scenic drives along Mount Evans Road. Keep reading
Recreation
Activities in the area include hiking in the Mount Evans Wilderness, fishing, scenic driving and wildlife viewing. Several trails leave directly from the campground.
Facilities
The campground offers 11 sites more suited to RV camping and seven sites designated for tent camping only. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Also, there are vault toilets, hand pumps with potable water and trash service.
Natural Features
Echo Lake sits in a spruce forest near the shores of Echo Lake. The campground's 10,600' elevation creates cool to chilly nights, even in summer, and its location on a mountain pass makes for windy conditions year-round. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland on the foothills and slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The forests and grassland cover 1.5 million acres and extend north to the Wyoming border, south to Mount Evans and west across the Continental Divide. The area encompasses mountains, lakes and five scenic byways, designated by Congress for their scenery, wildlife or history, including the highest road in North America. Mount Evans Road, also known as Colorado Highway 5, allows visitors to drive from 10,500' to 14,130' above sea level in just 14 miles. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (530) 529-0578.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby Idaho Springs, a former mining town, makes for a nice outing. History buffs will appreciate the Argo Gold Mine and Mill Museum. The City and County of Denver Mountain Park, Echo Lake and Echo Lake Lodge are located adjacent to the campground.
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.
Limited sites available on a first-come, first-served basis
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
Everything else this campground posts · 11
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.
You must stay on the site you reserved. This is a busy place and site swapping is not allowed.
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.
Tents must fit on the pads provided.
RVs, trailers or other vehicles must fit on the parking spur. Driving or parking off road is not permitted. The parking length ranges from 20 to 55 feet.
Pets must be on a hand-held leash.
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
- 18 · 4 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…table and campfire ring. Also, there are vault toilets, hand pumps with potable water and trash service.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…ring. Also, there are vault toilets, hand pumps with potable water and trash service. Natural…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Scenic drives
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 491st darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 33 km away
- Peak color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 17 of the 18 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 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 rate for this season, $26 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 17 mapped sitesAll 18 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 18 of the 18 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. 17 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| ECHO | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 1,487 ftBeaverdam Creek | 117 ft | $26 | |
| ECHO | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 52 ft | 1,475 ftBeaverdam Creek | 116 ft | $26 | |
| ECHO | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 69 ft | 1,417 ftBeaverdam Creek | 98 ft | $26 | |
| ECHO | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 1,458 ftBeaverdam Creek | 86 ft | $26 | |
| ECHO | 005 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 83 ft | 1,340 ftBeaverdam Creek | 61 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 16 ft | 1,258 ftBeaverdam Creek | 121 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 16 ft | 1,242 ftBeaverdam Creek | 136 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 008 | type not stated | 1,121 ftBeaverdam Creek | 253 ft | |||
| ECHO | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 27 ft | 982 ftBeaverdam Creek | 110 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 010 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 27 ft | 966 ftBeaverdam Creek | 85 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 011 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 95 ft | 835 ftBeaverdam Creek | 166 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 13 ft | 926 ftBeaverdam Creek | 94 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 013 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 13 ft | 932 ftBeaverdam Creek | 104 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 014 | rv nonelectric | 55 ft | 56 ft | 929 ftBeaverdam Creek | 160 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 015 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 33 ft | 1,256 ftBeaverdam Creek | 296 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 016 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 20 ft | 1,288 ftBeaverdam Creek | 279 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 017 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 20 ft | 1,306 ftBeaverdam Creek | 267 ft | $26 |
| ECHO | 018 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 91 ft | 1,392 ftBeaverdam Creek | 239 ft | $26 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
West Chicago CreekArapaho National Forest · 3.6 mi
Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire LookoutArapaho National Forest · 5.7 mi
Clear Lake CampgroundArapaho National Forest · 6.0 mi
Guanella PassArapaho National Forest · 7.1 miDeer Creek CampgroundPike National Forest · 11 miMeridian CampgroundPike National Forest · 11 miTake I-70 westbound, Idaho Springs exit #240 - Hwy 103. Go south 14 miles to the intersection of Hwy 103 and Hwy 5 (Mt Evans Road). Turn right on Hwy 5 then turn left to enter the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Idaho Springs, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 50°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February 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
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
Echo Lake is in Colorado’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Joe Neguse (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →