Trout Creek Guard Station
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 16 nights read 15:20 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Trout Creek Guard Station is located in the Trout Creek area, approximately 21 miles west of U.S. Highway 191 near Vernal, in eastern Utah. It is part of the beautiful Ashley National Forest. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the complex in 1934 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal instituted during the Great Depression. It was a residence for rangers who patrolled the forest on horseback prior to the age of modern vehicles. The Ashley National Forest Vernal Ranger District has chosen to rent this guard station to the public so guests can enjoy a primitive experience similar to that of the first rangers. The cabin is open for reservations all months of the year except November, April and May. Keep reading
Recreation
In summer months, numerous hiking, biking and off-road trails crisscross the area. In winter months, endless snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing opportunities are right out the door.
Facilities
The cabin can sleep two to four people on one twin-sized bunk bed. No linens, bedding or pillows are provided. The kitchen contains basic amenities including a sink, propane stove, refrigerator, table and four chairs. Very limited cookware is provided. Guests are required to bring their own cooking supplies. The cabin remains locked; call the Vernal Ranger District office, at (435) 789-1181, three business days prior to arrival, to confirm the combination lock code. COMBINATION CODE REQUIRED to enter cabin. (Some combination locks used have off-set entry lines. If code is not working, try off-setting entry line). The cabin has a wood stove inside for heat, and a campfire ring with a grill outside. A vault toilet is provided outside the cabin. Solar lights are provided, however, due to varying weather conditions, they are not reliable. Please be prepared with battery powered lanterns or flashlights. From approximately mid-September to mid-June (winter), most amenities are shut off, including the refrigerator. The operable amenities during this time are an outdoor vault toilet, propane stove for cooking and a wood-burning stove for heat. Click here to view a video of the details about Trout Creek Guard Station.
Natural Features
The charming red cabin sits at the edge of a meadow, just above Trout Creek. A scenic forest of pines and aspens surrounds the expansive meadow. Wildlife and summer wildflowers are abundant. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (435) 789-1181.
Nearby Attractions
Numerous scenic driving routes on maintained dirt roads crisscross the area, providing miles of trails for off-road enthusiasts, hikers and mountain bikers. Trails lead to Oaks Park, East Park and Long Park Reservoirs, as well as smaller lakes, overlooks, forests, meadows and historic sites. The Ashley-Karst National Geologic Recreation Area offers dramatic canyons, densely forested backcountry areas, and vast networks of caves.
What the agency tells you
Trout Creek Guard Station is secured with a combination lock, which is provided upon reservation; call the District Office at (435) 789-1181 three business days prior to your reservation to confirm combination. COMBINATION REQUIRED to enter guard station. (Some combination locks used have an off-set entry line. If combination doesn't work, try off-setting the code.)
A maximum of 12 people are allowed within the guard station complex per reservation
Wheeled vehicle traffic is allowed access to the yurt from approximately June 1 to Oct. 31 - though inclement weather can delay access to site opening. Snowmobile is the only viable way of reaching the Guard Station during the winter season from December 1 to March 31.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Level parking is provided for a maximum of two RVs or camp trailers; no hookups are available
No trash collection is provided; this is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility
Off-road vehicles are allowed only on authorized roads, trails and routes as identified on the Ashley National Forest Vernal Ranger District Travel Map
Click here for more information on the Ashley National Forest, or call (435) 789-1181
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE PIT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 16 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Picnicking
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 15:20 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:26 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:20 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 12
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 · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:26 UTC
- Paradise Guard StationAshley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area · 14 mi · 1 of 1 site-night open
- Green River Float-in CampsitesFlaming Gorge National Recreation Area · 22 mi · 7 of 17 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:20 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
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.
| TRCGS | 001 | cabin nonelectric | yes | 1,348 ft | 2,395 ft | $60 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Kaler Hollow CampgroundAshley National Forest · 4.8 mi
Carter Military Trail YurtAshley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area · 5.1 miFollow the mileage indications below and look for signs on the ground when traveling to Trout Creek Guard Station. Leave with plenty of time to arrive at the guard station before dark.
From Vernal, travel north on U.S. Highway 191/Vernal Avenue for approximately 20 miles. Turn left (west) on Forest Road 020/018; a paved parking lot with a restroom is located at this intersection. Follow paved Forest Road 020 northwest approximately 9 miles. The pavement ends and the road turns to gravel after the East Park Campground junction. Continue on gravel Forest Road 020 (locally called White Cloud Loop after pavement ends) approximately 10 miles. Trout Creek Park will be in the foreground and Trout Creek Guard Station will be visible to the northwest. Turn right (north) to Trout Creek Guard Station (red building). If you reach the intersection with Forest Road 018 (Red Cloud Loop), you have gone too far.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Flaming Gorge, UT
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
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
Trout Creek 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyMike KennedyU.S. Representative · Utah’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn R. CurtisU.S. Senator · Utah
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMike LeeU.S. Senator · Utah
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah
Dear Mike Kennedy, I’m a constituent in Utah’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Trout Creek Guard Station are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Trout Creek Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Trout Creek Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Trout Creek Guard Station (Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah
Dear John R. Curtis, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Trout Creek Guard Station are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Trout Creek Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Trout Creek Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Trout Creek Guard Station (Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah
Dear Mike Lee, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Trout Creek Guard Station, Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Trout Creek Guard Station are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Trout Creek Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Trout Creek Guard Station. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Trout Creek Guard Station (Ashley Karst National Recreation And Geologic Area National Recreation Area, Utah) via campanac.com