Elk Creek Campground (Rio Grande NF)
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $29–$58Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 38All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Elk Creek Campground is located in Conejos County, approximately 23 miles west of Antonito, Colorado. Located in the lower portion of the Conejos Canyon a short distance from Highway 17, it is an easily reached destination for visitors to the area. Elk Creek runs alongside the campground. The elevation of the campground is 8,500 ft. Keep reading
Recreation
Consider a day trip to the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (steam) which offers a 64-mile journey through abandoned mining towns. One access to the train is in Antonito, CO, about 23 miles from the campground. Fishing, hunting, hiking, scenic driving and wildlife watching are some of the popular activities in the area. Elk Creek and Duck Lake trailheads are a short distance away, both of which are access points to the South San Juan Wilderness Area.
Facilities
This campground contains a variety of campsites including single and double sites which can accommodate RVs or tents. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Most sites are equipped with accessible tables, grills and fire rings.
Natural Features
The campground is lightly wooded with spruce and some ponderosa pine trees. The understory is grass with some campsites located next to Elk Creek. The campground is conveniently located within close proximity to the South San Juan Wilderness Area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (805) 434-1996.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby Elk Creek has fishing, including brown and rainbow trout. Two hiking trails are also nearby and lead into the south San Juan Wilderness. These trails access Dipping Lakes and Duck Lake and are an easy to intermediate hike.
What the agency tells you
PMC & Recreation.gov policy states we will keep your reserved site until check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. If you haven't occupied it at any time during this period, your reservation is null and void and we will give it to first come first serve folks. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
Please fill your trailer prior to arriving. Trailers are not allowed to fill at any hydrants as it might contaminate the entire water system.
No off-road vehicles permitted.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Livestock and horses are not permitted.
All single campsite reservation fees are good for 6 people and 1 vehicle. The maximum number of people per site is 8 ($10.00 additional charge after 6 people). The maximum number of vehicles per site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle). Any extra people/vehicle fees will be charged at the campground ( $10/night per person/vehicle).
All double campsite reservation fees are good for 12 people and two vehicles. The maximum number of people per double site is 16 ($10.00 additional charge after 12 people). The maximum number of vehicles per site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for over 2 vehicles) Any extra people/vehicle fees will be charged at the campground ($10/night per person/vehicle).
First-come, first-served campsites may be available but not guaranteed.
The camp host at this location cannot modify your reservation. Before your check-in date, you may cancel or modify your reservation online. After your check-out date, you have a 7 day period to request a refund online.
The 14 day stay limit is strictly enforced. Camping for a period longer than 14 days during any 30-consecutive day period is prohibited. If you have booked back-to-back reservations, you will be asked to cancel all days after the first 14.
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.
Weather conditions can change rapidly; please check prior to arrival
The Rio Grande National Forest continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and evaluate potential impacts and adjustments to reservations and our reservation policies through Recreation.gov. Reservation holders will be notified via email and/or cell phone text messages if there are any changes affecting their reservation. In the event of delayed openings of some, part or all of the campgrounds and cabins to ensure safe social distancing, you will receive a full refund for your reservation. Please remember to review current recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and focus on recreating safely while protecting yourself, Forest Service employees and our volunteers.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 38
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…which can accommodate RVs or tents. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Most sites are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…RVs or tents. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Most sites are equipped with…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 74th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
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.
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 · 16
What you actually pay
“The maximum number of vehicles per site is 2 ($10.00 additional charge for 2nd vehicle).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $29–$58 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking, plus the agency’s published $2 weekend rate on Friday and Saturday. 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.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
38 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 38 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. 38 of the 38 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.
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 01 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 109 ft | 100 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 02 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 197 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 03 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 116 ft | 200 ft | $29–$58 | |
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 04 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 58 ft | 267 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 05 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 58 ft | 319 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 06 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 115 ft | 322 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 07 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 103 ft | 269 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 08 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 103 ft | 291 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 09 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 102 ft | 255 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 10 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 146 ft | 115 ft | $34 | |
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 120 ft | 91 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 12 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 105 ft | 183 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 13 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 63 ft | 93 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 14 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 63 ft | 139 ft | $29–$58 | |
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 15 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 87 ft | 226 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 16 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 103 ft | 233 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 17 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 102 ft | 300 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 18 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 115 ft | 380 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 19 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 123 ft | 389 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 20 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 114 ft | 508 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 21 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 114 ft | 476 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 22 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 117 ft | 477 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 23 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 316 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 24 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 98 ft | 378 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 26 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 231 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 27 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 95 ft | 337 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 28 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 95 ft | 416 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 29 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 139 ft | 327 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 30 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 151 ft | 419 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 31 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 107 ft | 539 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 32 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 112 ft | 475 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 33 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 107 ft | 609 ft | $29–$58 | |
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 34 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 92 ft | 548 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 35 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 93 ft | 680 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 36 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 87 ft | 615 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 37 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 93 ft | 751 ft | $29–$58 | |
| ELK CREEK CAMPGROUND (RIO GRANDE NF) | 38 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 87 ft | 679 ft | $29–$58 | ||
| HOST | 25 | standard nonelectric | 106 ft | 235 ft | $29–$58 |
25 of 38 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Aspen Glade (Rio Grande National Forest, CO)Rio Grande National Forest · 6.4 miTrujillo Meadows CampgroundRio Grande National Forest · 7.4 mi
MogoteRio Grande National Forest · 8.5 miFrom Antonito, CO, take US 285 south 0.3 miles to Hwy 17. Continue straight on Hwy 17 and go 22.6 miles to campground sign. Turn right onto dirt road and go 0.1 miles to a "T" intersection. Turn left, go 0.4 miles to a "Y" intersection. Bear right and turn into campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Capulin, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 7°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
Elk Creek Campground (Rio Grande NF) 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 →