House Creek
- Right now
- OpenListed open; its database flags it not open
- A night
- $32–$65Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4923 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1 – October 31Open May 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
House Creek Campground is located on the shores of McPhee Reservoir near the town of Dolores in southwestern Colorado. Visitors enjoy the area for its boating, water skiing and fishing opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
McPhee Reservoir, the largest within the San Juan National Forest and second largest in Colorado, has 50 miles of shoreline. Boating, water skiing, swimming and fishing are popular activities. A boat ramp is located within the campground.
Facilities
The campground offers group and single-family sites, some of which have electric hookups. Several sites have shelters for shade. Picnic tables, campfire rings and grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a gently sloping meadow near the reservoir's high-water line. The is no shade and the area is hot during summer. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
Southwestern Colorado, part of the Four Corners region, contains more than 4,000 archaeological sites and more than 600 cliff dwellings. Many sites offer glimpses of the ancient Anasazi culture, for which this area is known. Anasazi Heritage Center is 30 minutes northwest of Dolores. Mesa Verde National Park is an hour and a half drive south of the campground. Canyon of the Ancients is an hour and a half hours southwest. Hovenweep National Monument is an hour and 45 minutes west.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
A/O 6/17/2025 the Dump Station has been closed by the USFS and is no longer available.
Nearest RV Dump Stations: Speedway Convenience Store, 20453 Hwy 160, Durango, CO 81301 Cortez RV Dump, 110 West Progress Circle, Cortez, CO 81321, 970-565-7320, Open May 1 to October 30
Check out the forest's campground description for specific information to Fish Your National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 4
This campground has first-come, first-served sites available
Click here for more information on the San Juan National Forest
Aquatic Nuisance Species inspections at House Creek will be available Friday through Monday. Boat Ramp will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 49 · 1 group
- Hookups
- 11 electric
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…rings and grills are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are provided, as are vault toilets and drinking water. Natural Features The campground is situated in a…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek, Beach, Meadow
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 305th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 23 of the 49 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 · 17
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $32–$65 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.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · this campground’s own no-show 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
49 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 49 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 27 of the 49 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. 48 of the 49 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Bald Eagle | 017 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | $43–$65 | |||
| Bald Eagle | 018 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 104 ft | 95 ft | 1,143 ft | $43–$65 |
| Bald Eagle | 020 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 101 ft | under 10 ft | 1,253 ft | $43–$65 |
| Bald Eagle | 022 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | $43–$65 | |||
| Golden Eagle | 001 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50 amp | 124 ft | 103 ft | 724 ft | $43–$65 |
| Golden Eagle | 002 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 124 ft | 126 ft | 824 ft | $43–$65 |
| Golden Eagle | 003 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 125 ft | 40 ft | 865 ft | $43–$65 |
| Golden Eagle | 004 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | $43–$65 | |||
| Golden Eagle | 005 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | $43–$65 | |||
| Group | Great Horned Owl | group standard area nonelectric | ||||||
| Loop Bald eagle | 021 | standard electric | 35 ft | 111 ft | 52 ft | 1,159 ft | $43–$65 | |
| Loop Bald Eagle | 019 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 101 ft | under 10 ft | 1,245 ft | $43–$65 |
| Loop Osprey | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 111 ft | under 10 ft | 1,069 ft | $32 | |
| Loop Osprey | 007 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 111 ft | 12 ft | 1,180 ft | $32 | |
| Loop Osprey | 008 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 131 ft | under 10 ft | 1,308 ft | $32 | |
| Loop Osprey | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 140 ft | 37 ft | 1,275 ft | $32 | |
| Loop Osprey | 010 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | ||||
| Loop Osprey | 011 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | ||||
| Loop Red Tail Hawk | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 379 ft | 212 ft | 802 ft | $32 | |
| Loop Red Tailed Hawk | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $32 | ||||
| Loop Red Tailed Hawk | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $32 | ||||
| Loop Red Tailed Hawk | 015 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $32 | ||||
| Loop Red Tailed Hawk | 016 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $32 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 001 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 006 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 007 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 009 | type not stated | 396 ft | 548 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 010 | type not stated | 102 ft | 1,146 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 011 | type not stated | 90 ft | 1,030 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 012 | type not stated | 301 ft | 745 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 013 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 014 | type not stated | 222 ft | 939 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 015 | type not stated | 278 ft | 970 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 016 | type not stated | 169 ft | 906 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 017 | type not stated | 267 ft | 954 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 018 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 019 | type not stated | 441 ft | 955 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 020 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 021 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 022 | type not stated | 131 ft | 1,062 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 023 | type not stated | 552 ft | 962 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 024 | type not stated | 540 ft | 1,059 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 025 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 026 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 027 | type not stated | $32 | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | 028 | type not stated | 260 ft | 1,265 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 029 | type not stated | 184 ft | 1,215 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 030 | type not stated | 136 ft | 1,142 ft | $32 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 043 | type not stated | $32 |
25 of 49 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
McPhee Recreation ComplexSan Juan National Forest · 1.8 mi
McPhee CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 2.0 mi
Mavreeso CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 16 mi
Morefield CampgroundMesa Verde National Park · 16 mi
West Dolores CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 17 mi
Transfer CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 18 miFrom Colorado Highway 145, turn at 11th Street, continue on Country Road 31, which becomes Forest Road 526 at the Forest Boundary. Continue 6 miles and turn left at Forest Road 528. The road dead-ends at the complex.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Dolores, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 66°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 36°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
House Creek 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 →