West Dolores Campground
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $32–$43Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 18All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
West Dolores Campground is located on the West Dolores Road (Forest Road 535), which branches north from Colorado Highway 145 about 20 miles northeast of Dolores. It is a great place to relax and enjoy the outdoors by hiking, biking and fishing. Keep reading
Recreation
The West Dolores River offers fishing for brown, rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout. A day-use parking area is available on-site. Several parcels of private property are found along the river. Visitors are asked to stay on the trail and not trespass. Mountain biking is allowed on Forest Roads 532 and 535. Forest Service Trail 624 begins three miles south of the campground.
Facilities
West Dolores Campground, located approximately a mile north of Mavreeso Campground, has 18 campsites on 10 acres near the river. Most campsites are shady and level. There are 10 reservable campsites, 7 campsites with electrical hookups and several that are suitable for large RVs. A site near the restroom is designated for wheelchair access and has electricity. The campground also has 2 picnic areas.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the banks of the West Dolores River, which has its headwaters in the nearby Lizard Head Wilderness. A shady forest of spruce, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir covers the campground. The campground is at an elevation of 7,800 feet. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
Southwestern Colorado, part of the Four Corners region, contains more than 4,000 archaeological sites and 600 cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde National Park is an hour and a half south of the campground, close enough for a day trip. Other sites within the region include the Anasazi Heritage Center in Delores, Canyon of the Ancients and Hovenweep National Monument. Burro Bridge campground is loacated 19 miles north of the campground offering Horse camping and a trail from the campground into the Lizard Head Wilderness.
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 facility has additional first-come, first-served sites
Click here for more information on the San Juan National Forest
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 18
- Hookups
- 6 electric
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 66th darkest of 522 in CO
- 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $32–$43 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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 18 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 18 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Loop A | 01 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 164 ft | 183 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 03E | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | 105 ft | 72 ft | $43 |
| Loop A | 04E | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 40 ft | $43 |
| Loop A | 05E | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 96 ft | 127 ft | $43 |
| Loop A | 07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 14 ft | 88 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 08 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 14 ft | 74 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 09 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 115 ft | 106 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 10E | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | $43 | ||
| Loop A | 11 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | |||
| Loop A | 12 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | |||
| Loop A | 12A | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | |||
| Loop A | 13 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | |||
| Loop A | 14E | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | $43 | ||
| Loop A | 15 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 122 ft | 290 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 16 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 42 ft | 330 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 17 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 42 ft | 341 ft | $32 | |
| Loop A | 18 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | $32 | |||
| Loop A | 6E | standard electric | 38 ft | 30 amp | $43 |
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
Where it is
Mavreeso CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 1.3 mi
Jersey Jim Fire TowerSan Juan National Forest · 12 mi
Aspen Guard StationSan Juan National Forest · 13 mi
Transfer CampgroundSan Juan National Forest · 14 miBurro BridgeSan Juan National Forest · 14 mi
House CreekSan Juan National Forest · 17 miFrom Dolores, travel 21 miles north on Highway 145 and Forest Road 535 to the campground entrance, 1 mile from Mavreeso Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Rico, CO
Typical weather
Typical May night 35°F, day 70°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 35°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
West Dolores 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 →