Mingus Ranch
1Heads up1 fire 5.5 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:28 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Mingus Ranch is a cabin where guests can step back in time and feel like they're staying on an early 20th century homestead. The cabin was built in 1908 and was operated by the same family for six decades before it became a Forest Service property. In collaboration with the Frontier Pathways Scenic and Historic Byway and the Colorado State Historical Society, the cabin and neighboring barn have been renovated to match their original appearance and filled with period-specific furniture and antiques. Electricity is provided and a horse corral is onsite. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, mountain biking, horse riding, off-road vehicle riding, hunting and wildlife viewing are all enjoyable activities here. An extensive network of hiking trails and roads for biking are nearby.
Facilities
The modest two-story ranch building is an example of a typical high country ranch. The cabin sleeps six and conveniences include electric heat, an electric stove and minimal electric lighting. A vault toilet, picnic table and campfire ring are located outside, as well as a horse corral. Furnishings consist of one bunk bed, two single beds, a queen sized bed, a kitchen sink not equipped with running water, table and chairs and some cooking pots and utensils. No drinking water is available so it's important to bring plenty. Other items to bring include bedding, food, garbage bags, dish soap, sunscreen and other basic camping gear. There are minimal lights at the facility, so visitors please bring additional light sources. The outhouse is several hundred feet from the cabin. Please leave the cabin as clean as you have enjoyed for the next visitor.
Natural Features
The cabin is perched in a sprawling meadow at an elevation of 9,400 feet near the base of Round Top Mountain in the heart of the Wet Mountains. Surrounding the meadow are spruce and other mixed conifers. The scenic Greenhorn Mountain is due south.
Nearby Attractions
Westcliffe, a mountain town is 26 miles northwest of the cabin. The town has grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, banking, a medical clinic, and other amenities. From Mingus Ranch cabin take State Hwy 165 north for 9 miles to the junction of State Highway 96. Then take SH 96 west for 17 miles into Westcliffe. Colorado City, 29 miles south of the cabin on SH 165 has a grocery store, gas stations, and a public golf course.
Charges & Cancellations
Change and Cancellation Policies: To ensure fairness, reservation arrival or departure dates may not be changed outside the 6 or 12 month booking window until 18 days after booking the reservation. Camping/Day Use: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation (including campsites, cabins, lookouts, group facilities, etc.). The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount. Cancel or change reservations through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777.Late Cancellations: Late cancellations are in most cases, those cancelled after 12:00 midnight (Eastern Time) two days before arrival. Individual Campsites: A $10.00 service fee plus the first night’s use fee will be charged (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation) when a reservation is cancelled the day before or the day of arrival, except when the reservation is for a single night, then no service fee applies. Cabins/Lookouts: A $10.00 service fee plus the first night’s cabin or lookout use fee will be charged when a reservation for a cabin or lookout is cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date. Cancellations for single night’s use will not be assessed a service fee. Group Overnight and Day Use Facility: A $10.00 service will be charged plus the first night’s use fee when a reservation for a group overnight facility is cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date. Cancellations for a single night’s use will not be assessed a service fee. Customers cancelling a group day use facility reservation within 14 days of the scheduled arrival date will forfeit the total day use fee (but will not pay a service fee). No Shows:Reserved campsites and group overnight facilities will be held until check-out time on the day following your scheduled arrival. Group day use facilities will be held until check-in time on your scheduled arrival date.Cabins, Lookouts, and Group Day Use Facilities: No shows, early departures, or cancellations after the scheduled arrival date are not entitled to a refund. Campsites and Group Overnight Facilities: If you do not arrive at the campground or group overnight facility and do not cancel your reservation by check out time on the day after your scheduled arrival date, you are considered a no show. A $20.00 service fee applies and you will forfeit the first night’s use fee. Refunds: Refunds must be requested no later than 14 days after your scheduled departure date. Reservation Fee: Some facilities charge a reservation service fee. This non-refundable fee is $10.00 for call center and online reservations.Refunds for Bankcard Purchases: Refunds for bankcard payments will appear on the original bankcard. Please note the charge on your bankcard statement will read "Recreation.gov 888-448-1474".Refunds for Check or Cash Purchases: Reservations paid by cash, check or money order will be refunded by check. A refund check will be processed within 30 days of receipt and approvalRefunds for Emergency Closures: In the event of an emergency closure, Recreation.gov will attempt to notify customers and offer alternate dates and sites (as appropriate). If this is not possible, Recreation.gov will cancel the reservation and refund all fees paid.To request a refund, please contact our Call Center customer service at 1-888-448-1474 or submit your request online. Senior and Access Pass Discounts: Owners of the Interagency Senior and Access Passes (and the Golden Age and Access Passes) may receive a fifty-percent discount on the use fee for individual campsites. This discount does not apply to fees for cabins, lookouts, or group facilities and it may not apply for specific facility amenities such as electricity, water, sewer, or extra fees charged for prime or premium sites. Pass Verification: The pass number must be provided at the time the reservation is made in order to receive the discount, and the pass and one form of identification must be presented upon arrival. If the proper documentation is not provided, the full recreation use fee must be paid to use the facility. If a customer makes more than one reservation for the same location and date(s), the discount will only apply to the site the pass owner occupies.Changes to the Policies and Procedures: Recreation.gov reserves the right, when necessary, to modify reservation policies. Military Discounts:Day Use Fee WaiverThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shall waive day use fees for active service military personnel and their dependents who present the new America the Beautiful (ATB) Military Pass. NOTE: You must have an America the Beautiful Military Pass to receive the day use fee waiver. To get the ATB Military Pass all you need is your Military CAC Card or DOD Form 1173 showing you are an active service military member or dependent. The Military day use fee waiver does NOT apply to DOD (Department of Defense) civilians.Camping Fee WaiverThe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shall waive camping fees for active service military personnel and their dependents who are on mid- or post- deployment leave orders from a Global War on Terror Overseas Contingency Operations. The Military camping fee waiver does NOT apply to other active military personnel or DOD (Department of Defense) civilians.Camping fees are waived on a walk-up and space available basis as well as reservations made through the Recreation.gov call center at 1-877-444-6777.To qualify for the free Military camping waiver you must present the following on arrival/check-in:America the Beautiful Military Pass or proper ID showing you are an active service military member (CAC Card or DOD Form 1173). NOTE: If you do not have an ATB Military Pass you should have one issued to you for future use. To get the ATB Military Pass all you need is your Military CAC Card or DOD Form 1173 showing you are an active service military member or dependent. Copy of your mid- or post- deployment (reintegration) leave orders from a Global War on Terror to Overseas Contingency Operations. For more information: https://store.usgs.gov/faq#US-Military
What the agency tells you
Entry to the cabin, vault toilet, and dumpster is by combination lock, which is provided in the confirmation letter or email, sent after a reservation is made. Call (719) 431-2150 with your confirmation number and arrival date if the combo number is not provided.
Advanced reservations are ALWAYS required. Walk-ups are not available.
No drinking water available; bring an ample amount. Please remove trash and garbage.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
No pets allowed
No tent or RV camping at cabin site
Click here for current alerts and notices, or call the Ranger District at (719) 269-8500.
Click here for more information on the Pike and San Isabel National Forest
As a courtesy to the next visitors, please leave the cabin clean and tidy, in a condition you would wish to find it. Thank You!
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…stove and minimal electric lighting. A vault toilet, picnic table and campfire ring are located…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…and some cooking pots and utensils. No drinking water is available so it's important to bring plenty.…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
1 of 1 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:28 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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
“Camping/Day Use: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation (including campsites, cabins, lookouts, group facilities, etc.). The $10.00 service fee will be deducted from the refund amount.” · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:28 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| MINR | 01 | cabin electric | 3,171 ft | $75 |
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
Ophir Creek Campground (CO)San Isabel National Forest · 2.1 mi
Davenport CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 3.4 mi
La Vista Campground - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 8.0 miPonderosa Group CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 8.0 mi
St Charles Campground - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 8.1 mi
Southside Campground - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 8.1 miFrom Pueblo, CO take State Highway 96 approximately 30 miles to the junction of State Highway 165. Travel south on SH 165 for 9 miles. Turn left (east) onto Forest Service Road 383 (Ditch Creek Rd.) and continue 1.5 miles. The two story cabin is on the right.
From Interstate 25 south of Pueblo, CO take Exit 74 onto State Highway 165. Travel on SH 165 north for approximately 29 miles. Turn right (east) onto Forest Service Road 383 (Ditch Creek Road). Go 1.5 miles to the two story cabin 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 Beulah Valley, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 16°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
Mingus Ranch 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 →