U.S. Forest Service · Gunnison National Forest · CO

Quartz Campground - Gunnison RD

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
A night
$14From, per site
Season
May 23Opens May 23. No closing date published.
Drawn from the record · 9,840 ft · 50% tree cover · North Quartz Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
9,840 ftElevation
159 ftWater · North Quartz Creek
20.6 miSW of Buena Vista, CO
50%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 127th darkest of 522 in CO
Opens May 23. No closing date published.Today

The place

the agency’s own description

In the agency’s own words

Quartz Campground lies west of the Sawatch Mountain Range in the southern part of the mineral belt that extends north to Leadville, CO. It is a popular area for four-wheel driving. Most of the roads, that are used for recreation today, were created by mine owners over 100 years ago. Quartz Campground lies on Cumberland Pass Road, which is improved dirt and usually passable by two-wheel drive vehicles. There are 10 campsites.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $14 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$14Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$28DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 7

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$14
Night per camping unit$14
Day for day use/picnic use in a campsite$6
Firewood bundle .$10
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$14
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$28

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($14), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight27°Clear
Saturday52°Sunny
Saturday Night30°Mostly Clear1% rain
Sunday49°Partly Sunny5% rain

NWS forecast for Pitkin, CO

Typical weather

Typical May night 29°F, day 58°F.

Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 29°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

80°32°-20°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season

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.

Measured at: TAYLOR PARK, CO (USC00058184), 15 miles away and 661 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
Romley8,307 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
South Tin Cup Pass6,940 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Canyon Creek12,602 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 16, 2026

Who answers for this land

Jeff Hurd, official portrait

Quartz Campground - Gunnison RD 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: Today falls inside the season the agency publishes, and it has posted nothing else. That reading is ours. The U.S. Forest Service’s own database, though, flags it not open with no reason or date; the flag is named under How we know all this.
Season: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Pitkin, CO, 2.7 mi NE. Straight line.