St Charles Campground - Lake Isabel
1Heads up1 fire 2.7 mi away
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 1514 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Nestled among aspen and tall Douglas fir trees, St. Charles Campground is in a quiet part of the Lake Isabel Recreation Area. Located on the banks of St. Charles Creek, the campground is popular with campers who enjoy the sounds of water tumbling through the shaded boulders. Keep reading
Recreation
Lake Isabel is stocked with brown and rainbow trout. The accessible lakeshore path provides ample fishing spots. Brook trout can be found in St. Charles Creek. Several trails begin at the recreation area. Hiking opportunities include the Snowslide Trail and the Cisneros Trail. Both trails are also open to motorcycles, and Cisneros is a challenging ATV route.
Facilities
Campsites can accommodate small trailers; tent pads are provided for tent campers. Each campsite contains a bear-proof food locker, picnic table, fire ring and fire pedestal. Campground amenities include accessible vault toilets, drinking water from a hand pump, and bear-proof trash dumpsters. Firewood is sold by the on-site campground host.
Natural Features
The campground sits a mile west of Lake Isabel in the Wet Mountains, a beautiful range in the San Isabel National Forest. At an elevation of 8,600 feet, Lake Isabel was designed and constructed in the 1930s as a recreational haven from the dusty plains far below. Rugged mountain peaks in the area provide water for the abundant wildlife and fish populations. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (719) 489-2034.
Nearby Attractions
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
This Campground has a limit of 8 people; either 2 tents and 2 vehicles OR 1 RV in each campsite.
Be BEAR AWARE; please keep a clean campsite. When not eating or cooking, lock up all food and cooking utensils in vehicles or in the provided bear-proof food lockers.
This is a high altitude facility. Use caution when traveling from lower elevations. Stay hydrated and drink more water than you might normally.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
For more information on the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, click here
All fireworks are prohibited. No shooting is allowed in or near campgrounds
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.
Due to the remoteness of the campground, real time information is not available. For further information contact the San Carlos Ranger District at (719) 269-8500.
"Guests can operate ATVs, UTVs, motorbikes, motorcycles, or other motor vehicles entering or leaving their site and CG only while going to or coming from a designated trail. Driving around within the CG loops is not permitted. All posted speed limits must be followed."
Two vehicles included in the camping fee. $10 for additional vehicles.
Cell phone service may not work at this location.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15 · 1 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Campground amenities include accessible vault toilets, drinking water from a hand pump, and bear-proof…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…include accessible vault toilets, drinking water from a hand pump, and bear-proof trash dumpsters.…”
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Night sky · 344th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 14 of the 15 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“$10 for additional vehicles.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $25 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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 15 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 15 of the 15 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. 13 of the 15 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.
| LAKE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 112 ft | 83 ft | 461 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 112 ft | 95 ft | 351 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 92 ft | 118 ft | 152 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 004 | type not stated | 40 ft | 92 ft | 75 ft | ||
| LAKE | 005 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 40 ft | 90 ft | 58 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 006 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 17 ft | 117 ft | 166 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 89 ft | 132 ft | 222 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 107 ft | 117 ft | 128 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 009 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | 35 ft | 31 ft | 124 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 010 | walk to | 35 ft | 55 ft | 104 ft | ||
| LAKE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 134 ft | 41 ft | 201 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 17 ft | 132 ft | 174 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 40 ft | 113 ft | 79 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 014 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 92 ft | 114 ft | 62 ft | $25 |
| LAKE | 015 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 103 ft | 145 ft | 255 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
La Vista Campground - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 0.4 mi
Southside Campground - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 0.5 miPonderosa Group CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 0.5 mi
Lake Isabel CabinSan Isabel National Forest · 0.8 mi
Ponderosa Group - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 0.9 mi
Spruce Group - Lake IsabelSan Isabel National Forest · 0.9 miFrom Pueblo, go 25 miles south on I-25 to exit 74. Drive west 18 miles on state Highway 165. Turn into the main entrance at Lake Isabel Recreation Area and drive to Forest Road 374, the second left. Follow signs 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 Beulah Valley, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 17°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
St Charles Campground - Lake Isabel 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 →