Matterhorn
1Heads up1 fire 18 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $26–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 28All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Matterhorn Campground is located along the San Juan Skyway (Colorado Highway 145), near the quaint town of Telluride, at an elevation of 8,500 feet. Visitors enjoy the area for its beautiful scenery, hiking and off-road opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Galloping Goose Trail #449 can be accessed from the campground. This 8.4-mile trail leads past a restored train trestle, over two trail bridges and along segments of the historic Rio Grande Southern Railway. The trail is open to hiking, biking and horseback riding. Many scenic driving routes, both paved and off-road, can be found in the area. Additional hiking trails crisscross the surrounding mountains. Lizard Head Wilderness is about 3 miles from the campground.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites, each equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Some sites are accessible and some have full RV hookups. Flush and vault toilets, drinking water, showers and trash collection are provided.
Natural Features
Most sites on the outer edge of the campground are wooded. Sites on the inside are more open. Most sites have pleasant views, especially the walk-to tent sites, which have unobstructed and panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.
Nearby Attractions
The charming and historic town of Telluride is just 7miles away, offering dining and lodging options, live music, shopping, museums, galleries and plenty of summer activities. A free, scenic gondola connects Telluride with nearby Mountain Village, a small town with additional shopping and dining opportunities. On the gondola, visitors are awarded a panoramic view of the town and surrounding mountains. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
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-Gunnison National Forests
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 28 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- 4 electric, 4 water, 4 sewer
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- 17 of 28
- Accessible sites
- 8
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and some have full RV hookups. Flush and vault toilets, drinking water, showers and trash collection are…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…RV hookups. Flush and vault toilets, drinking water, showers and trash collection are provided. Natural…”
Around the campground
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 82nd darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 13 km away
- Patchy 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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $26–$40 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
28 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 28 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 28 of the 28 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. 28 of the 28 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.
| MATTERHORN | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 274 ft | 140 ft | 812 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 36 ft | 134 ft | 543 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 18 ft | 155 ft | 503 ft | $26 | |
| MATTERHORN | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 18 ft | 137 ft | 509 ft | $26 | |
| MATTERHORN | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 150 ft | 454 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 006 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 87 ft | 120 ft | 415 ft | $26 | |
| MATTERHORN | 007 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 36 ft | 139 ft | 339 ft | $40 |
| MATTERHORN | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 36 ft | 141 ft | 313 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 009 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 30 ft | 238 ft | 165 ft | $26 | |
| MATTERHORN | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 30 ft | 226 ft | 194 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 297 ft | 51 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 105 ft | 315 ft | 137 ft | $26 | |||
| MATTERHORN | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 111 ft | 261 ft | 234 ft | $26 | |||
| MATTERHORN | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 105 ft | 411 ft | 141 ft | $26 | |||
| MATTERHORN | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 352 ft | 56 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 016 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 31 ft | 386 ft | 126 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 12 ft | 374 ft | 151 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 12 ft | 387 ft | 155 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 019 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 51 ft | 364 ft | 227 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 020 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 38 ft | 363 ft | 306 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 021 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 39 ft | 345 ft | 277 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 38 ft | 333 ft | 336 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 47 ft | 311 ft | 401 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 024 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 45 ft | 307 ft | 449 ft | $40 |
| MATTERHORN | 025 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 25 ft | 290 ft | 494 ft | $40 |
| MATTERHORN | 026 | standard electric | 30 ft | 30 amp | yes | 25 ft | 287 ft | 519 ft | $40 |
| MATTERHORN | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 329 ft | 487 ft | $26 | ||
| MATTERHORN | 028 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 46 ft | 279 ft | 565 ft | $26 |
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Matterhorn CabinUncompahgre National Forest · 0.1 miSunshine Campground - Norwood RDUncompahgre National Forest · 3.1 miSunshineUncompahgre National Forest · 3.1 miAlta Lakes Campground (Designated) - Norwood RD3.2 mi
South MineralSan Juan National Forest · 6.4 mi
Cayton CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 7.3 miFrom Telluride, travel approximately 7 miles south on Highway 145. Watch for campground signs; the turn off from the road is on the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ophir, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 23°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 0°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
Matterhorn 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 →