Lodgepole (Taylor River Canyon near Gunnison, COLORADO)
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 1513 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 23Opens May 23. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lodgepole Campground is located 22 miles from Gunnison, COLORADO in the Taylor River Canyon. Visitors enjoy the area for its rafting, fishing and trail opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Taylor River can be accessed from the campground, and offers a calm stretch for leisurely rafting and kayaking. Anglers cast for rainbow and brook trout. The Fossil Ridge Wilderness Area lies one mile south of the campground. The Summerville and South Lottis trailheads provide access to the scenic, natural area. A number of off-road trails are found in the surrounding area, including Doctor Park Trail, Taylor River Trail and Taylor Vista Trail.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family campsites, each equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a dense stand of lodgepole pine trees, which provides shade and privacy between campsites. Summertime temperatures are warm during the day and cool at night. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
Nearby Attractions
Taylor Park Reservoir is located within 10 miles of the campground, offering boating, fishing and swimming. A boat ramp and boat rentals are available there as well.
What the agency tells you
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY.
Late Arrivals: campers are not considered a "no-show" until 24 hours after arrival date check in time. Our policy is that your site will not be released before that.
Extra Vehicles: Cannot be paid for in advance - upon arrival coordinate with the host for payment and where to park.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
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.
Click here for more information on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15 · 2 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Natural Features…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER (SEASONAL) on 14 of 16 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 110th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 34 km away
- Peak color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 13 of the 15 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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.
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
23 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 13 mapped sitesAll 23 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 15 of the 23 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.
| LODG | 001 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 223 ft | 167 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 003 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 82 ft | 187 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 173 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 005 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 60 ft | 157 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 006 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 69 ft | 173 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 007 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 171 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 69 ft | 246 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 69 ft | 179 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 77 ft | 261 ft | $18 | |
| LODG | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 77 ft | 266 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 013 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 44 ft | 217 ft | $18 |
| LODG | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 30 ft | 167 ft | $18 | |
| LODG | 015 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 30 ft | 192 ft | $18 |
| MANAGEMENT | 002 | type not stated | 206 ft | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | 012 | type not stated | 238 ft | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX | unnamed record | 40 ft | $18 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX10 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX4 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX5 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX6 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX7 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX8 | unnamed record | $18 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX9 | unnamed record | $18 |
The agency files 8 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It types every one of them MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lottis Creek CampgroundGunnison National Forest · 2.1 miRosy LaneGunnison National Forest · 5.1 miRosy Lane Campground - Gunnison RDGunnison National Forest · 5.1 miNorth Bank Campground - Gunnison RDGunnison National Forest · 5.7 miFrom Gunnison, Colo., travel north on Highway 135 for 10 miles to Almont. Turn right (northeast) onto Taylor Canyon Road and proceed 12 miles to the campground entrance, which is on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pitkin, CO
Typical weather
Typical May night 29°F, day 58°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 29°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 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
Lodgepole (Taylor River Canyon near Gunnison, COLORADO) 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 →