U.S. Forest Service · Roosevelt National Forest · CO

Kelly Flats Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
6,780 ftElevation
296 ftWater · Cache la Poudre River
16.1 miW of Laporte, CO
0%Tree cover
Bortle 4Night sky · 424th darkest of 522 in CO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Kelly Flats is a first-come, first-served campground located adjacent to Colorado Highway 14 and the Cache La Poudre River. There are 29 sites available including four walk-in tent sites. This is primarily an open conifer forest setting but there is a variety of vegetation found along the riparian zone of the river. Each site contains a tent pad, fire grate and picnic table. The primary activities in this area include stream fishing and enjoying the ambience of the river as it flows through the campground.

Around the campground

On the water
River, Creek
Fall color · reported 2 days ago, 31 km away
No change
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (31 km) · Oct 15, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe agency’s record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 3

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4

rules read Sep 7, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight36°Clear
Saturday70°Sunny
Saturday Night42°Clear
Sunday69°Mostly Sunny

NWS forecast for Red Feather Lakes, CO

Typical weather

Typical October night 36°F, day 57°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical February night 20°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: BUCKHORN MTN 1 E, CO (USC00051060), 11 miles away and 620 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Cache La Poudre Adjacent Area3,198 acres · 2 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
White Pine Mtn.10,217 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
North Lone Pine9,466 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Joe Neguse, official portrait

Kelly Flats 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (31 km) · Oct 15, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Red Feather Lakes, CO, 8 mi SSE (a census designated place). Straight line.