Marvine Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 29 nights read 16:44 UTC
- A night
- $23–$52Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2322 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Marvine Campground is set in a towering grove of mixed conifer and aspen trees on the western slope of the Colorado Rockies at an elevation of 8,200 feet. This is an ideal setting for guests seeking recreation and relaxation. Hikers, hunters, anglers and equestrians can also find recreational opportunities nearby. This is a good base for hiking and horseback riding in the Flat Tops Wilderness. Enjoy elk hunting amidst one of the largest elk herds in North America. Keep reading
Recreation
This popular campground is located 36 miles east of Meeker along Marvine Creek. It offers access to a number of trails and lakes for hiking, fishing and hunting. Fishing is available in Marvine and East Marvine Creeks, and in the Flat Tops Wilderness at Marvine Lakes. Marvine Trail #1823 and East Marvine Trail #1822 both begin near the campground.
Facilities
Marvine Campground has five horse campsites. The only corrals available for public use are the ones at the horse camp sites in the campground. The corrals at the Marvine Trailhead are for Outfitter and Guide use only. Additional facilities at the campground include tables, fire grates, vault toilets and hand pump drinking water. Trash service is provided. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Livestock may be watered in the stream, about 200 yards from the 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 8 wilderness areas, 4 defined seasons, and 10 peaks surpassing 14,000 feet in elevation. Wildlife in the area abounds. Bighorn sheep navigate rocky ridges, moose graze along the streams and bull elk bugle at dusk. 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. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
Nearby Attractions
East Marvine Trail #1822: The trail leads up East Marvine Creek, through the Flat Tops Wilderness to Johnson Lake. At the summit Big Marvine Peak offers a panoramic view of the Flat Tops Wilderness and the surrounding area. Marvine Trail #1823: The Marvine Trail begins at the end of County Road 12 right outside the campground. It accesses Marvine Creek and Marvine Lakes providing a great opportunity to fish. Marvine Lake and Slide Lake: These two lakes cover 135 surface acres and offer rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout fishing. West Marvine Trail #1868 Papoose Creek Trail #2248: leads up Papoose Creek past several short waterfalls, to Papoose Basin. It then climbs onto the Flat Tops Plateau where it intersects the Oyster Lake Trail 1825. Ute Creek Trail #1824 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 per single site, two RV’S per double site, or one vehicle per single tent site or two vehicles per double tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. An extra vehicle will be charged a per-night fee and collected at the campground. Trucks with livestock trailers are considered one vehicle; any additional vehicles with the same party would be an extra vehicle and subject to a fee. Extra vehicles may be required to park in a designated overflow area if both vehicles can not safely fit within the designated parking spur of the camping site.
Livestock corrals are only available for those who have a livestock site reservation. If you intend to use a regular camping site but want to keep your livestock in a corral, you must reserve both sites for your desired visit dates and pay the site fees. Corrals may not be rented out for a day use fee; they are designated as full fee sites, and all fees associated with the site are required for their use. This may require you to keep a vehicle or a sleeping unit at the site to show occupancy, per usage rules.
Check-in time is 2:00 pm, and check-out time is 11:00 am You must be clear from the site at 11:00 am on your checkout day so the host can come and prepare the site for the next guests. Please don't be the group that makes the incoming group have to wait.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
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.
Any accepted pass must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Campers may leave the site for 24 hours and must occupy the site otherwise. This allows a camper to go for an overnight backpack trip in the woods for one night and come back to their campsite the next day. If possible, notify a camp host that you are intending to return to your site to fulfill your reserved stay dates. This will help to prevent unauthorized use of your site while you are on your overnight outing.
Campers must occupy the site on the first night of their reservation. This prevents booking the site for Fri-Sun and showing up on Saturday.
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. Please do not leave any food or cooking devices unattended at your sites, per forest service order.
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. Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment, and tires before using the lake or trails.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.WhiteRiver.Blanco@AmericanLL.com
Click the link for more information about White River National Forest: White River National Forest
Pets are welcome but need to be on a leash and accompanied by the owner at all times.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 23 · 5 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campground include tables, fire grates, vault toilets and hand pump drinking water. Trash service is…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…tables, fire grates, vault toilets and hand pump drinking water. Trash service is provided.…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek
- Backpacking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 87th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:44 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
Every one of the 11 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 22 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:44 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $23–$52 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
23 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 22 mapped sitesAll 23 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. 22 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.
| 1 | 1 | type not stated | 35 ft | 620 ft | ||
| 1 | 10 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 80 ft | 349 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 2 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 29 ft | 473 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 3 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 445 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 4 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 140 ft | 409 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 5 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 86 ft | 278 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 6 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 244 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 7 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 241 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 8 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 260 ft | $23–$52 |
| 1 | 9 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 36 ft | 272 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 53 ft | 349 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 12 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 33 ft | 307 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 13 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 33 ft | 303 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 14 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 72 ft | 327 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 43 ft | 385 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 16 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 425 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 17 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 42 ft | 596 ft | $23–$52 |
| 2 | 18 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 42 ft | 630 ft | $23–$52 |
| 3 | 19 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 37 ft | 168 ft | $29 |
| 3 | 20 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 37 ft | 155 ft | $29 |
| 3 | 21 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 28 ft | 194 ft | $29 |
| 3 | 22 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 28 ft | 203 ft | $29 |
| 3 | 23 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 61 ft | 236 ft | $29 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
North Fork CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 3.8 miHimes Peak CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 8.3 mi
Shepherds Rim CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 9.8 miTrappers Lake / Cutthroat CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 9.8 miTrappers Lake / Bucks CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 9.9 miThe Marvine Campground is located 35 miles east of Meeker. From Meeker, take Colorado Highway 13 east for 1 mile, then turn east on Rio Blanco County Road 8 and follow this for 28 miles. Turn south (right) at Fritzlans' Guest Ranch, cross the bridge and turn east (left) on Rio Blanco County Road 12. Follow this 6 miles to the Marvine Campground.
Elevation: 8,200 Ft
Address: 32201 County Rd 8, Meeker, Colorado 81641
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Carbonate, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 57°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 · a letter you can send
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
Marvine Campground 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJeff HurdU.S. Representative · Colorado’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn W. HickenlooperU.S. Senator · Colorado
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMichael F. BennetU.S. Senator · Colorado
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear Jeff Hurd, I’m a constituent in Colorado’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Marvine Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Marvine Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Marvine Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Marvine Campground (White River National Forest, Colorado) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear John W. Hickenlooper, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Marvine Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Marvine Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Marvine Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Marvine Campground (White River National Forest, Colorado) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear Michael F. Bennet, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at Marvine Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 22 of the 23 campsites the agency files at Marvine Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 11 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Marvine Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Marvine Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Marvine Campground (White River National Forest, Colorado) via campanac.com