Palisades Horse Camp
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $32–$64Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 12All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Palisades Horse Camp is located 30 miles north of Pagosa Springs, high in the San Juan National Forest. This beautiful area has excellent horseback riding and hiking trails and an abundance of wildlife. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking and horseback riding trails are the main attraction at Palisades. The Williams Creek Trail leads directly from the campground into the Weminuche Wilderness, crossing the Continental Divide.
Facilities
This equestrian campground offers single- and double-family campsites to campers with horses. Corrals with feeding bins are provided. The corrals are divided into two sections with room for two to three horses on each side, depending on horse temperaments. Hitching racks are set up throughout the campground and a water tank is on-site. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host is on-site, and is very knowledgeable about the area.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled in a stand of pine, spruce and fir trees, and sits at an elevation of 8,300 feet. The area provides panoramic views of the surrounding meadows and mountains. Williams Creek flows nearby. The surrounding forest provides a prime wildlife habitat. Bears, deer, elk and moose frequent the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
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
Campground allows Horses and Mules Only; no exceptions. No llamas or other livestock. Campground is for equestrian campers only
Grazing is not allowed in the campground; bring adequate certified weed-free feed
Campers are responsible for keeping their corrals clean throughout their stay and when they depart
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Double sites have a divided corral for a maximum of 4 to 6 horses; single sites not sharing a corral can accommodate a maximum of 4 to 6 horses; single sites sharing a corral can accommodate a maximum of 2 to 3 horses
This is bear country; practice safe food storage techniques.
Click here for more information on the San Juan National Forest
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.
Sites 6 and12 share a corral/stall. The corral is divided down the middle so the horses are separated, but will be in the same corral. Each site has a capacity of 2-3 horses.
The summer season here closes on 9/27/2026. This campground is open from 9/28/2026 for its Fall/Winter Season until 11/15/2025 or until the weather changes, whichever comes first. On 9/28/2026 the camping fee is half-price at $16.00/night. The restroom will remain open and the campground will become a "Pack it in -Pack it Out" with no trash dumpster available for your use. There will be no water available during this time. It will become First Come First Served, no reservations accepted.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12 · 12 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…campground and a water tank is on-site. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…water tank is on-site. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. A campground host is on-site, and is…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Meadow
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 25th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 34 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $32–$64 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 12 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 12 of the 12 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. 12 of the 12 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Loop A | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | 45 ft | 106 ft | 759 ftWilliams Creek | 535 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 002 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 106 ft | 757 ftWilliams Creek | 635 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 619 ftWilliams Creek | 635 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 21 ft | 554 ftWilliams Creek | 560 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 21 ft | 532 ftWilliams Creek | 561 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 480 ftWilliams Creek | 418 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 446 ftWilliams Creek | 395 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 008 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 57 ft | 413 ftWilliams Creek | 342 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 009 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 426 ftWilliams Creek | 285 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 010 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 481 ftWilliams Creek | 272 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 011 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 55 ft | 536 ftWilliams Creek | 294 ft | $32–$64 |
| Loop A | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 583 ftWilliams Creek | 352 ft | $32–$64 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Cimarrona (CO)San Juan National Forest · 0.9 mi
TealSan Juan National Forest · 3.1 mi
Williams Creek CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 3.9 mi
BridgeSan Juan National Forest · 5.6 mi
Thirty MileRio Grande National Forest · 13 mi
River HillRio Grande National Forest · 13 miFrom Pagosa Springs, at the intersection of Highway 160 and Piedra Road/County Road 600, turn north and drive approximately 23 miles to Williams Creek Road/Forest Road 640. Turn right and drive approximately 7 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Piedra, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -4°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
Palisades Horse Camp 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 →