U.S. Forest Service · White River National Forest · CO

Sweetwater Lake Campground

The agency doesn’t say how you get a siteIts record carries no access type, so treat it as a place to phone before you drive.
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Drawn from the record · 7,740 ft · 19% tree cover · Sweetwater Lake within reach · Bortle 2 sky
7,740 ftElevation
181 ftWater · Sweetwater Lake
11.2 miNW of Dotsero, CO
19%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 214th darkest of 522 in CO

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Seeking comments on Sweetwater Lake Recreation Management On May 6, the White River National Forest began the 90-day public scoping period for Sweetwater Lake Recreation Management and Development Project Environmental Impact Statement. Provide comments here . Sweetwater Lake The Forest Service recently acquired the 488-acre Sweetwater Ranch, which greatly expands the public access in this area. More Information Sweetwater Lake Campground, elevation 7,740 feet, is on the south end of 72 acre, Sweetwater Lake. The vegetation surrounding the campground and the sites is scrub oak, serviceberry, wild rose and willow. Keep reading

High limestone cliffs tower above the area on two sides. FACILITIES: Sweetwater Campground has 9 partially shaded campsites with picnic tables, food lockers and fire rings. This campground has small sites. Six of the sites can accommodate vehicles up to 30 feet long. There is one vault toilet. ATTRACTIONS: TRAILS - There are three popular hiking and horseback riding trails beginning at the end of the campground. The Ute Trail, #2031, (9.4 miles) travels toward Deep Lake on the Flattops. ​The Cross Creek Trail, #1855, (6.5 miles) travels through sagebrush flats full of wildflowers and aspen forests to the Sweetwater Trail. Sweetwater Nature Trail, #2031.1A. This short scenic trail (500 yards) has nice views of the lake and a waterfall. FISHING - Sweetwater Lake offers good fishing from the lake surface with non-motorized water craft allowed (5 h.p. electric motors only) and very limited access from the shoreline due to the geography of the area. LAKE ACCESS/BOATING - Canoes and rowboats are popular on this lake and offered for rental at the site. Only electric motors 5 h.p. or less are allowed on the lake. No gas powered motors are allowed. There is a new floating boat dock along the north shore of the lake. Please ensure your boat/watercraft is cleaned, drained, and dry before you launch at Sweetwater Lake to prevent introduction of aquatic nuisance species. PARKING : Please park in the hardened, graveled areas available above the dock or at the day-use parking area at the campground. Please leave the boat dock area clear to allow loading/unloading access. DOGS: Please keep your dog on a leash due to the high number of horseback riders who use this area. View Dates and Fees

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…up to 30 feet long. There is one vault toilet. ATTRACTIONS: TRAILS - There are three popular…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Waterfall, Lake, River, Creek, Beach
Source: Stated in the agency description

Phone before you drive

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.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 3

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
We hold no recreation.gov booking record for this campground, so we can’t say whether a booking fee applies.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
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

Today58°Sunny
Tonight30°Clear
Saturday63°Sunny
Saturday Night32°Mostly Clear

NWS forecast for Carbonate, CO

Typical weather

Typical October night 27°F, day 57°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 7°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

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: YAMPA, CO (USC00059265), 28 miles away and 117 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
Sweetwater B4,308 acres · 2 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Sweetwater A11,931 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Red Dirt A10,246 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Jeff Hurd, official portrait

Sweetwater Lake Campground 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: 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.
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: Carbonate, CO, 9.6 mi ENE. Straight line.