Kenosha Pass Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $28From, per site
- Sites
- 24All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Kenosha Pass Campground is a small, conveniently-located campground heralded by backpackers on the Colorado Trail and by those looking for a scenic, mountain family getaway. Across the road from the campground entrance is the Kenosha Pass Interpretive Area, with an accessible interpretive trail showcasing wetlands and remnants of the South Park and Pacific Railroad. Kenosha Pass, the campground's namesake, is one of the nation's highest mountain passes, weaving over the spine of the Front Range from Jefferson to Grant. The route provides one of the primary access points to South Park, and boasts tremendous views of Mount Evans and Mount Bierstadt. Keep reading
Recreation
Excellent hiking, biking and horseback riding are available on the lengthy Colorado Trail, a 471-mile trail that extends from Denver to Durango. For a scenic drive, take in the views of the Kenosha Mountain Pass, then head to Guanella Pass for even more picture-perfect scenery.
Facilities
Kenosha Pass includes vault toilets and drinking water from a hand pump. Each site has a campfire ring and picnic table. Parking aprons are dirt and gravel. This campground has 25 campsites at an elevation of 10,000 feet with parking spurs 16-30 feet long. Camping season begins in May and continues to early September. Facilities include water, tables, vault toilets and fire rings. All dates are weather dependent. Visitors may expect full service from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. The area also has an extended season when services such as water, trash or a host may not be available through in the fall.
Natural Features
At a 10,000 foot elevation, the region is commonly referred to as the High Country. Campsites are situated among lodgepole pine and aspen trees. Summer temperature are generally mild and cool, but the high elevation may cause very chilly nights.
Nearby Attractions
Jefferson Lake, known for its great fishing, is 10 miles north. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (303) 647-2366.
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
Thunderstorms are common; take extra precautions for lightning
This is a high elevation facility, please use caution when traveling from lower elevations
Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Vehicles must fit on parking spur
No firearms or fireworks
No RV hookups
For more information on Pike and San Isabel National Forests, click here
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
- 24
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Facilities Kenosha Pass includes vault toilets and drinking water from a hand pump. Each site has…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…Kenosha Pass includes vault toilets and drinking water from a hand pump. Each site has a campfire ring and…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 435th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 26 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $28 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
25 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 25 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 25 of the 25 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. 24 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.
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 001 - HOST | host pad | 35 ft | 910 ft | 1,599 ft | |||
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 124 ft | 884 ft | 1,640 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 79 ft | 717 ft | 1,628 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 61 ft | 640 ft | 1,641 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 13 ft | 606 ft | 1,687 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 13 ft | 596 ft | 1,677 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 37 ft | 553 ft | 1,762 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 37 ft | 560 ft | 1,798 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 66 ft | 529 ft | 1,841 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | yes | 14 ft | 503 ft | 1,930 ft | $28 |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 14 ft | 500 ft | 1,939 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | yes | 19 ft | 564 ft | 2,069 ft | $28 |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 19 ft | 569 ft | 2,086 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 16 ft | 682 ft | 2,164 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 16 ft | 668 ft | 2,151 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 13 ft | 703 ft | 2,003 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 13 ft | 715 ft | 2,005 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 32 ft | 759 ft | 1,923 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 24 ft | 788 ft | 1,923 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 24 ft | 798 ft | 1,909 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 60 ft | 890 ft | 1,875 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 66 ft | 894 ft | 1,935 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 023 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 39 ft | 918 ft | 1,838 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 38 ft | 909 ft | 1,800 ft | $28 | |
| KENOSHA PASS CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 906 ft | 1,763 ft | $28 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Timberline CampgroundPike National Forest · 1.3 mi
Aspen (CO)Pike National Forest · 4.6 miLodgepole CampgroundPike National Forest · 4.6 mi
Lodgepole (Jefferson Lake, Fairplay Colorado)5.0 miHandcartPike National Forest · 5.3 miFrom Denver, travel south on Highway 285 through Pine Junction and Bailey. Continue 17.5 miles past Bailey on Highway 285 to Kenosha Pass Campground at the summit of Kenosha Pass. The campground is on the right side of the highway.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Montezuma, 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
Kenosha Pass Campground is in Colorado’s 7th congressional district. Its representative, Brittany Pettersen (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →