Dispersed Camping Rules by National Forest, Colorado
· · By Inglehoff LLC
Key takeaways
- No single stay limit or water setback covers every Colorado National Forest. The federal rule behind them, 36 CFR 261.58, prohibits overstaying or camping in a named place only where a forest order says so, and sets no number of days or feet itself.
- Stay limits come from each forest’s own order or guidance. Most of the sources we found say 14 days in a 30-day period, San Juan National Forest’s guidance says 16, and the distance you must move afterwards differs by forest.
- Distances from water differ too: the forest orders and pages we found give 100, 150 or 200 feet depending on the forest, and some forests publish none.
- Fire restrictions (Stage 1 and Stage 2) are separate orders that can start or end at any time, so check the forest’s alerts page before lighting any fire.
- Each value in the table names its source and whether we have checked it against the current order. On this revision none has been, so confirm with the forest before you rely on one.
Colorado has 11 National Forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2). Each forest sets its own dispersed camping rules by order, and some publish more on their own pages. This guide collects what each forest’s order or page says, names the source for every value, and says plainly where we could not confirm one. Orders expire and fire restrictions change on short notice, so check the forest’s current orders in the days before your trip. New to this style of camping? Start with What Is Boondocking, which covers the basics before you get into forest-specific detail. Colorado camping data lives on the Colorado camping page.
“Dispersed camping is camping that occurs outside of a designated campground. There are no fees, no designated sites, and no services provided … visitors should expect a more primitive experience.”
U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region. Dispersed Camping Overview
Is There One Set of Dispersed Camping Rules for Every Colorado National Forest?
No. The federal regulation most camping rules rest on, 36 CFR 261.58, is a list of acts that are prohibited when a forest order provides for them: camping longer than an order allows, camping in an area an order names, and similar. The regulation sets no number of days and no distance from water. The numbers come from each forest’s own orders, which expire and are reissued.
What does apply on every National Forest is travel management: under 36 CFR 212 Subpart B, motor vehicles may use only the roads, trails and areas shown on that forest’s Motor Vehicle Use Map.
See how to read an MVUM for the map symbols and surface codes.
How Do the Rules Differ Between Colorado’s National Forests?
Each forest sets its own stay limit, and several publish a distance from water in an order or on their own pages. In the sources we found, stay limits run from 14 days in a 30-day period to 16 days on the San Juan, and distances from water are 100, 150 or 200 feet depending on the forest.
The table lists what each forest’s order or page says, links to it, and says whether we have checked it against the current order. On this revision we have not, so treat each value as a lead to confirm rather than as the rule.
Orders that close or limit camping in named places, with their numbers and dates, are tracked in where dispersed camping is restricted. Access difficulty also varies by forest: our Colorado access road analysis and county-level access breakdown show how road surface and clearance differ across the state, and high clearance vs 4WD explains what that means for your rig. Weighing BLM land nearby? See how BLM and National Forest dispersed camping rules compare, and for state land, dispersed camping on state land, state by state.
| National Forest | Stay limit | Distance from water | Other orders | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests | 14 days in any 30-day period, and 30 days in any 365-day period, forest-wide (Order ARP-2024-02). (Forest order: Arapaho and Roosevelt NF alerts) | No source found — ask the ranger district | Inside the areas mapped in Exhibits 1 to 6 of Order ARP-2024-03, camping only at marked sites. (Forest order: Camprtron forest-order tracker) | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests | 14 days at one site, then move at least 3 miles; 28 days in any 60-day period. (Forest guidance: GMUG dispersed camping guidelines (PDF)) | At least 100 ft from rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands. (Forest guidance: GMUG dispersed camping guidelines (PDF)) | Order GMUG-2022-10 limits seven Crested Butte drainages to marked sites, and the Taylor River Canyon to built campgrounds. (Forest order: Camprtron forest-order tracker) | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| Pike and San Isabel National Forests | 14 days in any 30-day period within a 20-mile radius (Pike Order 02-12-00-24-04 and San Isabel Order 02-12-00-24-05; both list an end date of 1 December 2026). (Forest order: Pike NF occupancy and use restrictions) | No camping within 100 ft of a lake, stream, pond or river except at a developed or designated site (same two orders). (Forest order: San Isabel NF occupancy and use restrictions) | On the South Platte Ranger District, Order 2022-08 restricts camping within a quarter mile of the roads listed in its Exhibit B. (Forest order: Camprtron forest-order tracker) | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| Rio Grande National Forest | 14 days in a continuous 30-day period, forest-wide (Forest Order 02-09-04-24-01). (Forest order: Rio Grande NF alerts) | Camp at least 150 ft from water sources. (Forest guidance: Rio Grande NF dispersed camping) | No camping on FR 250 between Horca and Stunner Pass, on FR 360 or FR 410, within 300 ft of Machin Lake, or in the Wheeler Geologic Area. (Forest order: Camprtron forest-order tracker) | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| Routt National Forest | 14 days in a 30-day period, then move at least 3 miles. (Forest guidance: Medicine Bow-Routt dispersed camping FAQ) | No source found — ask the ranger district | None recorded here. | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| San Juan National Forest | 16 days at one dispersed site, and no more than 16 days in any 30-day period; then move at least 5 road miles. An older interagency brochure says 14 days and 28 in 60, so the sources disagree. (Forest guidance: San Juan NF dispersed camping guidelines) | At least 100 ft from any stream or other water source. (Forest guidance: San Juan NF dispersed camping guidelines) | None recorded here. | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
| White River National Forest | 14 days in any continuous 30-day period (Order WRNF 2024-01, listed as in force through 31 December 2027). (Forest order: White River NF camping stay limitations) | Order WRNF-2021-05 banned camping within 100 ft of water or a system trail outside developed sites. Its own end date was 15 March 2026 and we found no successor, so its status is unknown. (Forest order: White River NF: no camping within 100 ft of water and trails) | None recorded here. | Not verified — check the forest’s current order |
What Kind of Rule Is Each One?
- Forest order: An order a Forest Supervisor signs under 36 CFR 261.50. It names the acts it prohibits, the area and the dates, and breaking it is a federal offence. Orders expire and are reissued, so the order number and end date matter.
- Forest guidance: What a forest asks campers to do on its own web pages or brochures. It tells you what the forest expects, but it is not an order unless an order says the same thing.
- Common practice: What many forests do, such as a 14-day stay limit. It is not a rule anywhere until a local order makes it one, and the numbers differ from forest to forest.
- Leave No Trace: An outdoor ethic, not a law: camp on durable ground, keep fires small and pack out what you bring. Follow it everywhere, but do not read it as the forest’s rule.
What Are the Campfire Rules for Dispersed Camping in Colorado?
Fire restrictions are forest orders, usually called Stage 1 and Stage 2. Each order lists exactly what it bans and where. Stage 1 orders commonly ban campfires outside the fire grates of developed sites, and Stage 2 orders commonly ban all fires; stoves that can be switched off are often still allowed under both. Read the order in force rather than relying on the stage name.
With no restriction in force, Leave No Trace practice is to use an existing fire ring, keep the fire small, never leave it unattended, and drown it cold before you sleep or leave. In dry or windy conditions a camp stove is the better choice. Check the forest’s alerts page the morning you depart, not when you planned the trip.
Rocky Mountain Region alerts: fs.usda.gov/alerts/r2.
Where Can You Find Current Forest Orders and Closures?
Each forest publishes its orders on its alerts page, and the Rocky Mountain Region indexes them at fs.usda.gov/alerts/r2. For fire restrictions, the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control links the current state and county restrictions. Camprtron tracks the orders that close or limit camping in named places, with order numbers and dates, in its forest-order tracker. Confirm with the forest directly for any trip-critical decision.
Links: fs.usda.gov/alerts/r2, the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control's Wildland Fire Management page, and our forest-order tracker. The Camprtron app surfaces seasonal access windows from MVUM data; see our data coverage page for what is mapped across Colorado’s National Forests today.