Painted Rocks
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $28From, per site
- Sites
- 18All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Painted Rocks Campground is located a short distance from Manitou Lake Picnic Area and the Centennial Bike Trail in central Colorado. The rustic campground is named for the sandstone outcroppings in the area that resemble colorful streaks from an artist's paintbrush. Keep reading
Recreation
The paved, accessible Centennial Bike Trail is a half-mile from the campground. It connects to nearby Colorado and South Meadows Campgrounds, and leads to 5-acre Manitou Lake. Visitors enjoy riding bicycles on this trail to Manitou Lake for fishing and bird watching. Waterfowl and songbirds are often seen in the area. The nearby Rainbow Falls OHV Trail System and North Divide OHV Trail System are recommended for off-road vehicle enthusiasts.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites on two loops. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. Roads and parking spurs are gravel.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled on the edge of a grassy meadow at an elevation of 7,800 feet. Most sites on the west loop are shaded by ponderosa pines, while sites on the east loop are more open and less shady.
Nearby Attractions
The town of Woodland Park is located approximately 7 1/2 miles south of Painted Rocks Campground, where campers can find gas, groceries, dining and shopping. Colorado Springs is about 30 miles southeast of the campground and offers many services. Garden of the Gods is a popular attraction just outside of town. This free City of Colorado Springs park offers hiking trails, rock climbing routes, a visitor center and cafe. Pikes Peak lies west of Manitou Springs, which is about 25 miles from the campground. Visitors can hike, bike, or drive to the summit of this beautiful mountain.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a campsite. Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. No-Shows A no-show visitor is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night's rate, taxes and applicable add-on for a campsite. Refunds Visitors may submit a refund request through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Refunds will not be issued after the 7 days has ended. Refunds for debit or credit card payments will be issued as a credit to the original bank or credit card used to pay. For check or cash purchases, Recreation.gov will mail a Treasury check for refunds of cash, check, or money order payments to the address associated with the reservation. Treasury check refunds may take up to 6-8 weeks to arrive. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile.
What the agency tells you
• Check-In time is 2 p.m. and check-out time is 12 p.m. • SPECIAL NOTE: Colorado State regulations prohibit attaching hoses to hydrants to fill RV’s. Please come prepared. • For cancellations before arrival, call reservations at 877-444-6777 (Toll-Free), 606-515-6777 (International), or 877-833-6777 (TDD) from 10 a.m. -- 12 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone) • Please check-in with host upon arrival. • RV or trailers over 36 feet will have a very tough time making it through the campground because of tight corners and trees. • All vehicles including campers must fit in parking spur (not on grass) without blocking road. • Do not feed the wildlife. This includes bird feeders of any kind. • Don’t Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information. • 10 mph speed limit in all campgrounds and day use areas. • Discharging any weapon is prohibited including paintballs, bow & arrow, BB guns, airsoft guns. Fireworks and explosives are prohibited. Target shooting is prohibited. • Thunderstorms are common; take extra precautions for lightning. • Be bear aware; keep all food out of sight in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating. • This is a high elevation facility; please use caution when traveling from lower elevations. • No hookups available. • No horses allowed. • ATVs prohibited. • Click here for more information on Pike and San Isabel National Forests. • USE OF DRONES PROHIBITED.
Two vehicles or one RV/Trailer with tow vehicle per site is included in the camping fee. $11.00 for a third vehicle.
Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 18 · 5 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 59 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…table and campfire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. Roads and…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 500th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 25 km away
- Peak 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 · 13
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.
“Cancellations Individual Campsites: Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee. A visitor who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee including tax and applicable add-on for a cam…” · 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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 18 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. 18 of the 18 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.
| PAIN | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 61 ft | 2,110 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 002 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 61 ft | 2,137 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 83 ft | 2,198 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 004 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 45 ft | 2,282 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 005 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 34 ft | 2,285 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 34 ft | 2,305 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 007 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 58 ft | 2,351 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 38 ft | 58 ft | 2,364 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 2,313 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 2,260 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 46 ft | 94 ft | 2,175 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 36 ft | 112 ft | 2,015 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 46 ft | 20 ft | 1,933 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 014 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | 20 ft | 1,913 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 015 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 157 ft | 1,760 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 016 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 39 ft | 1,649 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 017 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 39 ft | 1,671 ft | $28 |
| PAIN | 018 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 170 ft | 1,889 ft | $28 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Colorado CampgroundPike National Forest · 0.7 mi
Pike CommunityPike National Forest · 1.5 mi
South Meadows - Pike San Isabel NF (CO)Pike National Forest · 1.5 mi
South Meadows CampgroundPike National Forest · 1.6 mi
Red Rocks Group CampgroundPike National Forest · 3.1 miSpringdalePike National Forest · 7.4 miFrom the I-25 and Highway 24 intersection in Colorado Springs, Colorado, travel west on Highway 24 for about 18 miles to the junction with Highway 67 in Woodland Park. Turn right (north) on Highway 67 and drive about 7 miles to Painted Rocks Road and turn left (west). Take the gravel road about 1/2 mile to campground entrance 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 Woodland Park, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January 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
Painted Rocks 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 →