White Star
1Heads up1 fire 11 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $29–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 49All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Picturesque White Star Campground lies at the foot of Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest peak, among fragrant ponderosa pines. The campground provides convenient access to Twin Lakes Reservoir for plenty of water recreation opportunities. It also works as a base camp for hikers and mountain bikers who love to explore nearby trails such the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the Mount Elbert Trail. Keep reading
Recreation
The Continental Divide Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico, passes by the White Star Campground. The hiking trail is open to mountain bikes in the section from Halfmoon Road South to Twin Lakes. About 300 miles of the trail is within Colorado's borders. Twin Lakes are Colorado's largest natural glacial lakes, and sailing and water skiing are among the popular activities there. Fishing includes lake, rainbow and Mackinaw trout.
Facilities
White Star Campground is comprised of three loops. Sage Loop has limited shade, and Ridge and Valley Loops have a greater density of ponderosa pine and spruce trees. Vault toilets and trash collection are provided. Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Firewood is for sale at the Host site. A boat ramp, parking, and angler fishing areas are located just down the road from the campground.
Natural Features
The campground, at an elevation of 9,200 feet, sits on the north side of the Twin Lakes Reservoir near the base of Mount Elbert. The Twin Lakes Reservoir spans 2,805 acres and Mount Elbert stands tall at 14,433 feet. Nearby is the Mount Massive Wilderness area, a stretch of 30,540 acres that encompass Mount Massive, Colorado's second highest peak at 14,421 feet. Much of the wilderness is above timberline with many alpine plant communities and permanent snowfields. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
Drive on the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway to Independence Pass, one of the highest paved passes in Colorado. Or continue over the pass for a day trip to the town of Aspen, a well-known ski resort town.
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
Please note that the Ridge Loop is entirely First Come First Served and has 16 campsites.
THE RV DUMP STATION AT WHITE STAR IS CLOSED!
Check in: 2 pm, Check out: 12 pm (noon)
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Two (2) vehicles are included with each campsite reservation. RVs and their tow vehicle, as well as vehicles towing camper trailers, are considered one vehicle when they arrive as a single unit. Vehicles beyond that would be subject to the additional vehicle fee ($11.00/night) collected at the campground upon arrival. Boat/ATV trailers are considered an additional vehicle and will be charged the extra vehicle fee per night. Please note that all vehicles must fit in the parking spur. Please no parking on the grass.
Maximum of 8 people are permitted to occupy 1 site.
3 tent maximum per site, or 1 RV and 2 tents
Dogs, including service and therapy dogs, must be leashed at all times
Generators may not be operated after 10 PM. CPAP machines and other medcial equipment are not exempt
Be bear aware. Do not leave any food unattended at your site. Lock inside your vehicle or RV
OHVs, ATVs, and dirt bakes are not permitted to operate in any campground
Firearms and fireworks are not permitted
This is a high elevation facility, please use caution when traveling from lower elevations
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.
For more information on Pike and San Isabel National Forests, click here
Firewood is available for sale at the camp host site for $10.00/bundle.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 49 · 3 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- 21
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…of ponderosa pine and spruce trees. Vault toilets and trash collection are provided. Each site is…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Night sky · 289th darkest of 522 in CO
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 7 days ago, 29 km away
- Peak color
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 · 15
What you actually pay
“Extra Vehicle Fee $10.00” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $29–$30 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
67 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 49 mapped sitesAll 67 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 49 of the 67 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. 49 of the 67 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| MANAGEMENT | XXX | unnamed record | 99 ft | |||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX1 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX10 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX11 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX12 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX13 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX14 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX15 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX16 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX17 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX2 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX3 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX4 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX5 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX6 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX7 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX8 | unnamed record | ||||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX9 | unnamed record | ||||||
| SAGE | 001 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 172 ft | 1,107 ft | 204 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 29 ft | 1,117 ft | 104 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 29 ft | 1,121 ft | 97 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 004 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 70 ft | 1,034 ft | 189 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 005 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 70 ft | 969 ft | 250 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 110 ft | 870 ft | 283 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 007 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 19 ft | 802 ft | 108 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 19 ft | 821 ft | 118 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 009 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | yes | 60 ft | 798 ft | 57 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 108 ft | 769 ft | 68 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 57 ft | 842 ft | 206 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 57 ft | 811 ft | 235 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 013 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 67 ft | 837 ft | 300 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 014 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 50 ft | 748 ft | 325 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 015 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 50 ft | 731 ft | 275 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 79 ft | 657 ft | 231 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 79 ft | 697 ft | 166 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 018 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 103 ft | 645 ft | 77 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 40 ft | 750 ft | 83 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 020 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 40 ft | 711 ft | 46 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 66 ft | 809 ft | 147 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 022 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 45 ft | 894 ft | 231 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 023 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 45 ft | 891 ft | 223 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 024 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 23 ft | 931 ft | 301 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 025 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 23 ft | 950 ft | 324 ft | $29–$30 | |
| SAGE | 026 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 50 ft | 993 ft | 352 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 20 ft | 1,033 ft | 350 ft | $29–$30 |
| SAGE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 20 ft | 1,013 ft | 333 ft | $29–$30 |
| VALL | 046 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 141 ft | 1,827 ft | 687 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 047 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 1,739 ft | 493 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 048 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 60 ft | 1,674 ft | 466 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 049 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 40 ft | 1,662 ft | 406 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 050 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 40 ft | 1,646 ft | 369 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 051 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 31 ft | 1,591 ft | 289 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 052 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 31 ft | 1,616 ft | 268 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 053 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 124 ft | 1,581 ft | 101 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 054 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 124 ft | 1,694 ft | 54 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 055 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 100 ft | 1,768 ft | 189 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 056 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 100 ft | 1,835 ft | 289 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 057 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 107 ft | 1,874 ft | 390 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 058 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 102 ft | 1,936 ft | 501 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 059 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | 1,995 ft | 603 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 060 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 66 ft | 2,029 ft | 734 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 061 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 66 ft | 1,964 ft | 688 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 062 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 157 ft | 2,003 ft | 861 ft | $29–$30 | |
| VALL | 063 | tent only nonelectric | 101 ft | 1,899 ft | 742 ft | $29 | ||
| VALL | 064 | tent only nonelectric | 101 ft | 1,908 ft | 717 ft | $29 | ||
| VALL | 065 | tent only nonelectric | 133 ft | 1,910 ft | 702 ft | $29 | ||
| VALL | 066 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 141 ft | 1,798 ft | 734 ft | $29–$30 |
The agency files 18 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It types every one of them MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 67 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lakeview CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 0.7 miDexterSan Isabel National Forest · 2.3 miParry PeakSan Isabel National Forest · 2.8 miTwin Peaks CampgroundSan Isabel National Forest · 3.4 miTwin Peaks (CO)San Isabel National Forest · 3.4 miFrom Leadville, travel 15 miles south on Highway 24 to Highway 82. Turn right and go west 5.5 miles on Highway 82, turn left into the White Star Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Twin Lakes, CO
Typical weather
Typical October night 26°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 5°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
White Star 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 →