Gore Creek Campground
1Heads up1 fire 29 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $29From, per site
- Sites
- 25All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gore Creek Campground is situated six miles east of Vail, Colorado, at an elevation of 8,700 feet and centrally located for recreation and relaxation in the White River National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
The Gore Creek campground is located along Gore Creek in a forested setting near the boundary of the Eagles Nest Wilderness. This is the closest campground to the town of Vail and there are several trailheads nearby into the Eagles Nest Wilderness; all wilderness regulations must be observed when traveling in the wilderness (foot and horse travel only). The campground is also located at the west end of the paved Vail Pass/Tenmile Canyon recreation trail open to foot traffic and bicycles.
Facilities
The campground offers 16 back-in sites, eight walk-in tent sites; number 18 is a fully accessible tent site, four handicapped accessible bathrooms and bear-resistant food lockers. Parking spurs for campsites are up to 35 feet long. RVs longer than this would not fit in this campground.
Natural Features
In the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the 2.3 million acre White River National Forest is a place of serenity and adventure, boasting eight wilderness areas, four defined seasons, and 10 peaks surpassing 14,000 feet in elevation. Wildlife in the area abounds. Bighorn sheep navigate rocky ridges and bull elk bugle at dusk. Black bear and mule deer are common. Scenic rivers sustain populations of cutthroat, rainbow, and brown trout. Alpine regions provide habitat for pika and ptarmigan. These species, along with many others, depend on surrounding undeveloped wilderness, clean streams, and diverse forests to live.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby town of Vail is a popular destination for visitors to the area. From downhill skiing and world-class fly fishing, to dining and resorts, there are a multitude of outdoor and indoor opportunities in this resort mountain town. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
Please Note: One RV with tow per single site or one vehicle per tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
Black bears are prevalent in the area and all food or other attractants must be properly stored (per the White River National Forest regulation). All food, beverages, trash and scented items must be properly stored when not attended. Bear-proof food lockers are provided at each site and bear-proof trash receptacles are provided at the campground.
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment, and tires before using lake or trails
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (ELEVEN) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
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.
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.
Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Click here for more information about White River National Forest
Campers must occupy the site the first night at a campsite. This prevents booking the site for Fri-Sun and showing up on Saturday.
Campers may leave the site for 24 hours and must occupy the site otherwise. This allows a camper to say go for an overnight backpack trip in the woods for one night and come back to their campsite the next day.
Check in time is 2:00pm and Check out time is 11:00am It is imperative that you are clear from the site at 11:00am on your check out day so the host can come prepare the site for the next event. Please don't be the group that makes the incoming group have to wait.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.WhiteRiver.HolyCross@AmericanLL.com
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 25 · 9 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 412th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 22 km away
- Peak color
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $29 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.
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 25 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. 25 of the 25 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.
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 137 ft | 343 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 85 ft | 327 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 81 ft | 322 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 323 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 76 ft | 264 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 06 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 235 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 88 ft | 244 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 88 ft | 188 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 100 ft | 73 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 113 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 71 ft | 169 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 118 ft | 57 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 121 ft | 49 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | 144 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | 214 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 16 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 84 ft | 167 ft | $29 |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $29 | ||
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 18 | tent only nonelectric | 70 ft | 445 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 19 | tent only nonelectric | 61 ft | 376 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 20 | tent only nonelectric | 232 ft | 736 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 97 ft | 686 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 22 | tent only nonelectric | 97 ft | 611 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 23 | tent only nonelectric | 110 ft | 578 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 117 ft | 491 ft | $29 | |
| GORE CREEK CAMPGROUND | 25 | tent only nonelectric | 110 ft | 470 ft | $29 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Blue River Campground (CO)White River National Forest · 10 mi
Heaton BayWhite River National Forest · 11 mi
Tigiwon Community HouseWhite River National Forest · 11 miHornsilver CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 11 miPine Cove CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 11 mi
Peak OneWhite River National Forest · 11 miTravel east on I-70 to Exit 180 for East Vail. Turn right and follow the south frontage road (Bighorn Road) east to the road closure gate at about 2 miles. The campground is on the left just before the gate.
For more White River National Forest on the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District information visit www.fs.usda.gov/whiteriver or call 970-827-5715.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Vail, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 54°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
Gore Creek Campground 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 →