North Fork 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 17 of the next 17 nights read 16:01 UTC
- A night
- $28From, per site
- Sites
- 28All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
North Fork Campground is set in a towering aspen grove on the western slope of the Colorado Rockies at an elevation of 7,800 feet. This is an ideal setting for guests seeking recreation and relaxation. Most sites are widely spaced and open up to the river valley, though a heavy understory of tall grass and wild roses provide privacy. The North Fork of the White River is across from the campground. Keep reading
Recreation
Flowing near the campground is the North Fork of the White River, renowned for its fly fishing. Rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook trout are plentiful in this waterway. The nearby peaks and soothing sounds from the river offer anglers a perfect backdrop to an afternoon of fishing. Other wildlife such as deer, elk and moose, also frequent this area. The North Fork Campground is close to a number of OHV trails. Use caution when riding, as domestic cattle and sheep may be grazing in the area. Hikers, hunters, mountain bikers and equestrians can also find recreational opportunities nearby.
Facilities
North Fork Campground has 28 standard sites able to accommodate tents, trailers, and RVs. The campground is equipped with picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Firewood is available on-site.
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 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. The campground sits above the North Fork White River valley, surrounded by forested mountain peaks.
Nearby Attractions
Fishing Access: many areas alongside County Road 8; Lost Creek Trail Access: Lost Creek Trail #1808, Long Park Trail #1809, Snell Creek Trail #1810, Lily Pond Trail #1811, Big Ridge Trail #1820 Off-Highway Vehicle Access: East Beaver-Yellow Jacket Road #250, Cattle Creek Road #235, Fawn Creek Road #280, Deadhorse Loop Road #230, Pagoda Lake Trail #1804 Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (801) 226-3564.
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 with tow per single site or one vehicle per tent site. Most sites can accommodate 1 extra vehicle that is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
Group site is currently closed at this campground
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment, and tires before using lake or trails
Everything else this campground posts · 10
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.
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.
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.
Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Click here for more information about White River National Forest
Campers must occupy the site the first night at a campsite. This prevents booking the site for Fri-Sun and showing up on Saturday.
Campers may leave the site for 24 hours and must occupy the site otherwise. This allows a camper to say go for an overnight backpack trip in the woods for one night and come back to their campsite the next day.
Check in time is 2:00pm and Check out time is 11:00am It is imperative that you are clear from the site at 11:00am on your check out day so the host can come prepare the site for the next event. Please don't be the group that makes the incoming group have to wait.
Customer Service Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.WhiteRiver.Blanco@AmericanLL.com
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 28
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Firewood is…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Off Highway Vehicle Trails
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 98th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:01 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 14 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 28 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:01 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 · 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.
“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 16:01 UTC · 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
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.
| BLNC | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 168 ft | 854 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 16 ft | 719 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 16 ft | 713 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 16 ft | 650 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 16 ft | 643 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 006 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 87 ft | 655 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 007 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 56 ft | 673 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 008 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 35 ft | 683 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 35 ft | 682 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 010 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 30 ft | 716 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 011 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 30 ft | 711 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 659 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 518 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 28 ft | 482 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 015 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 28 ft | 467 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 491 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 017 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 55 ft | 519 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 018 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 64 ft | 485 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 019 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 31 ft | 434 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 020 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 31 ft | 432 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 021 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 403 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 022 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 13 ft | 426 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 13 ft | 413 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 024 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 42 ft | 458 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 025 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 141 ft | 476 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 026 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 19 ft | 514 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 19 ft | 530 ft | $28 |
| BLNC | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 125 ft | 596 ft | $28 |
25 of 28 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Marvine CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 3.8 miHimes Peak CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 9.6 mi
Shepherds Rim CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 12 miTrappers Lake / Cutthroat CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 12 miTrappers Lake / Horse Thief CampgroundWhite River National Forest · 12 miTake I-70 west of Denver, Colorado, to Rifle. Take Highway 13 to Meeker, and turn on Country Road 8 for 32 miles. Turn left into North Fork Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Meeker, 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
North Fork 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 North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear Jeff Hurd, I’m a constituent in Colorado’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at North Fork Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 14 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. North Fork Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Fork 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 North Fork 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 North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear John W. Hickenlooper, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at North Fork Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 14 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. North Fork Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Fork 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 North Fork 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 North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado
Dear Michael F. Bennet, I’m a constituent in Colorado. I tried to camp at North Fork Campground, White River National Forest, Colorado, and couldn’t. All 28 sites at North Fork Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 14 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. North Fork Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Fork 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 North Fork Campground (White River National Forest, Colorado) via campanac.com