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

South Fork Group Site - Arapaho NF (CO)

ReservableOut of season, no booking; December 4 opens June 4.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
30 ftLongest rig
8,970 ftElevation
191 ftWater · South Fork Williams Fork
8.2 miNE of Silverthorne, CO
0%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices

In the agency’s own words

South Fork Group Campground is located in north central Colorado in the Williams Fork Valley next to South Fork Creek. Many mountain streams and creeks nearby offer good fishing opportunities. South Fork is the only facility in the area designated for horse camping. Keep reading

Recreation

The South Fork Trail begins at the campground and is one of the most popular trails in the valley. The 26-mile loop trail is open to hiking and horseback riding, and provides access to other trails in the area, including Ptarmigan Pass, Ute Peak and Jones Pass Trails. Mountain biking opportunities also exist in the valley. The Byers Peak Wilderness can be accessed nearby. Anglers enjoy trout fishing on the South Fork Creek and numerous additional streams and creeks in the surrounding area. Wildlife viewing opportunities abound.

Facilities

The campground offers one reservable, accessible group site that can accommodate up to 25 people. Individual sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Picnic tables, campfire rings and tents pads are provided, as are flush and pit toilets and drinking water. A small corral, for one or two horses, is located in the campground.

Natural Features

The campground is located in the Williams Fork Valley next to South Fork Creek at an elevation of 8,962 feet. A cool mountain climate with frequent afternoon thunderstorms should be expected. Due to the pine beetle infestation and hazardous tree removal, shade has been reduced throughout the campground. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland sit on the foothills and peaks of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The forests and grassland cover 1.5 million acres and extend north to the Wyoming border, south to Mount Evans and west across the Continental Divide.

Charges & Cancellations

Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777 PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.

What the agency tells you

Rule

No RV water connections are available.

Rule

This is bear country! For bear and human safety, keep a clean campsite and do not place food or other attractants in your tent. For more information about visiting bear country, contact Colorado Parks and Wildlife at http://wildlife.state.co.us

Rule

https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp for more information on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests

Everything else this campground posts · 5
Rule

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.

Rule

Tents must fit on pads provided. RVs, trailers and other vehicles must fit on the parking spur. Driving or parking off road is not permitted. Maximum Vehicle Length is 23 feet.

Rule

Pets must be on a hand-held leash at all times

Rule

Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.

Rule

Check-Out is at 12 P.M. Check-In is at 2 P.M.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 group
Hookups
None
Longest rig
30 ft
Accessible sites
1
Pets
Allowed
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Pit Toilets
“…pads are provided, as are flush and pit toilets and drinking water. A small corral, for one or two…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…as are flush and pit toilets and drinking water. A small corral, for one or two horses, is located…”
Camp host
On site
recreation.gov lists “Host”

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Biking
Fishing
Hiking
Wildlife viewing
Night sky · 418th darkest of 522 in CO
Bortle 4
Fall color · reported 7 days ago, 23 km away
Peak color
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (23 km) · Oct 10, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On December 4, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through June 4, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Sites, a night, from$70From the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate we can read.derived by CAMPANAC
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservation; this campground publishes its own terms toorecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Fri, Jun 4 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$70
Derived by CAMPANAC from the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate for this campground that we can read, only per-site rate templates its own record matches to each site’s own type.
Group area, a night$70
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jun 5, 2026 to Oct 10, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

“Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777 PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.” · 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

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Group1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes aUp to

Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 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. 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.

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.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Coordinate39.79405, -106.03063
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Granby, Colorado, take State Highway 40 west toward Parshall, Colorado. Two miles before Parshall, turn left on County Road 3. Go approximately 18 miles on County Road 3. Turn south onto County Road 30 and travel 12 miles. Drive through a large culvert. Continue south for a half-mile and turn right into the campground.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight25°Clear
Saturday62°Sunny
Saturday Night27°Mostly Clear
Sunday62°Mostly Sunny1% rain

NWS forecast for Silverthorne, CO

Typical weather

Typical October night 21°F, day 54°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 2°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

80°32°-10°

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.

Measured at: DILLON 1 E, CO (USC00052281), 12 miles away and 95 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless
Ptarmigan B1,805 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Ptarmigan C909 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Byers Peak10,148 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Joe Neguse, official portrait

South Fork Group Site - Arapaho NF (CO) is in Colorado’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Joe Neguse (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. 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: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (23 km) · Oct 10, 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.