Summit Springs Guard Station
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Summit Springs Guard Station is located a couple of miles off the Sheep Creek Geological Loop southwest of Flaming Gorge in the high Uinta Mountain Range. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the complex in 1931 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. It was one of 11 guard stations built in the area to serve as homes for rangers who patrolled the forest on horseback prior to the modern age of vehicles. The complex includes the guard station, bunkhouse, parking area, and fenced yard. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ashley National Forest has chosen to rehabilitate and rent this guard station and bunkhouse to the public so that guests can enjoy a rustic experience similar to that of the first rangers. It is available from mid-May through mid-September. Keep reading
Recreation
During the summer months, numerous hiking, biking, horse-riding, and ATV trails are found nearby. Fishing at Sheep Creek Bay, one of the "arms" of Flaming Gorge, is a short 12 mile drive.
Facilities
A cabin and bunkhouse are located within the complex. The cabin will sleep eight and has a furnished sitting area, kitchen stocked with pots and pans, and bathroom (two flush toilets and two showers). Propane is provided for the fridge, stove, water heater, and heater. The bunkhouse will sleep 12 on bunk beds with heat provided by a wood burning stove. There is a large area for up to four RVs or tents with access to a double vault toilet. There is a group gathering/eating area off the kitchen of the cabin with tables and fire ring. The maximum capacity for the complex is 40 people. Bring your own linens, dishes, silverware, cups, and glasses. Water is available from May 15 through September 15 depending upon weather. Limited power for lights only. Pets are not allowed in the cabin or bunkhouse. When booking the site, small groups (1-8 people) may book at a reduced rate, but will only have access to the cabin. The bunkhouse becomes available when booked for 9-40 people at the higher rate.
Natural Features
The facilities are located at Summit Springs, at an elevation of 8,278 ft. It is set in a rolling pasture, surrounded and interspersed with aspen and pine trees. Wildlife and summer flowers are abundant during the use season.
Nearby Attractions
Flaming Gorge Recreation Area is known not only for its beautiful red cliffs, but also for its world -class fishing for lake, brown, and rainbow trout. Boating, water skiing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and scuba diving are popular activities on the reservoirs. The dam is about 23 miles east of the complex. Sheep Creek Loop Scenic Backway (Geological Loop) is a 10 mile drive through spectacular canyon scenery and back in time. Millions of years of geologic history can be seen in a 20 minute drive, thanks to the Uinta Crest Fault and other rock features. The town of Manila is about 15 miles away, off the north end of Sheep Creek Loop where visitors can find grocery stores and other amenities.
What the agency tells you
Due to a fire in 2021, there is no generator for electricity. Please bring your own generator and non flammable light sources. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Bring your own linens, dishes, silverware, cups, and glasses. (Pans are provided.)
The lighting is very limited. No outlets are available for any other electronic appliances or items.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
CHECK IN: Begins at 2 PM. CHECK OUT: By 11 AM.
Pets are only allowed outdoors. No pets in the buildings.
The cabin has 1 bedroom, 8 beds and 4 rooms. Propane heating and showers are provided. When booking fo 1- 8 persons, you may book at a lower rate, but the bunkhouse will remain locked during your stay.
The bunkhouse has 1 bedroom, 12 beds and 1 room and heated with a wood stove. When booking for 9-40 persons, you will have access to both the bunkhouse and the cabin. You may also pitch tents in the yard and/or have RVs in the parking area.
Off-road vehicles are allowed only on authorized roads, trails and routes as identified on the Ashley National Forest Vernal Ranger District Travel Map.
Staff reside onsite and will provide access upon arrival.
Any accepted senior passes must be entered for the discount at the time of booking for single sites only.
Customer Service Please Contact 801-226-3564 or Help.Ashley.SummitSprings@AmericanLL.com
Due to current weather conditions drinking water is not available. Plan to bring all drinking water for the duration of your stay.
If there is no water during your stay please contact the 877-444-6777 to submit a refund request of 20% off of your camping fees, you may also submit refund requests on your account history online. https://mobile.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…with pots and pans, and bathroom (two flush toilets and two showers). Propane is provided for the… / …RVs or tents with access to a double vault toilet. There is a group gathering/eating area off the…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “The cabin will sleep eight and has a furnished sitting area, kitchen stocked with pots and pans, and bathroom (two flush toilets and two showers).”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…dishes, silverware, cups, and glasses. Water is available from May 15 through September 15 depending upon…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Coast
- Biking
- Boating
- Climbing
- Fire Lookouts/Cabins Overnight
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 140th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 2
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 · 10
What you actually pay
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
| SUMMIT SPRINGS GUARD STATION | GA01 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 1,285 ft |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Deep Creek CampgroundAshley National Forest · 1.9 mi
Browne Lake Group SitesAshley National Forest · 3.5 mi
Willows CampgroundFlaming Gorge National Recreation Area · 3.5 mi
Navajo CliffsFlaming Gorge National Recreation Area · 3.6 mi
Carmel CampgroundFlaming Gorge National Recreation Area · 3.6 mi
Browne Lake CampgroundAshley National Forest · 4.0 miFrom Manila, UT at the intersection UT 43 and UT 44: Turn south on UT 44 (between Forest Service Office and Brownings restaurant). Drive 13 miles to the upper (second) road to Sheep Creek Geological Loop. Turn right onto the Loop, drive 2 miles to FS 364, and turn left onto the drive into Summit Springs.
From Vernal, UT turn north on US 191. Drive 34.8 miles to Greendale Junction. Continue onto UT 44. Drive 14.7 miles to the upper (first) road to Sheep Creek Geological Loop. Turn left onto the Loop, drive 2 miles to FS 364, and turn left onto the drive into Summit Springs.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Manila, UT
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
Summit Springs Guard Station is in Utah’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Mike Kennedy (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →