Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Big Creek Lakes
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 40.93647, -106.61241
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 600.2A (Big Creek Lk Cg N Loops), 40 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 600.2A (Big Creek Lk Cg N Loops), 40 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 600.2A (Big Creek Lk Cg N Loops): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Big Creek Lakes
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,023 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Big Creek LakesNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery19 mi
- WWater21 mi
- LLaundry21 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- @Mail21 mi
- DDump21 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- FFuel21 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- HHardware33 mi
- RxPharmacy33 mi
- OOutfitter33 mi
- EVEV fast charger33 mi
- AAir-up59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 21-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 19 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 33-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Big Creek Lakes
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,023 ft
Ground slope
9.4% · noticeable
State
CO
Coordinates
40.93647, -106.61241
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Creek Lakes · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelRiverside Garage & Cabins · ~21.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.0 mi
- GroceriesColumbine General Store · ~19.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Park Medical Clinic · ~22.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger33.3 mi straight-line S — 910 Yampa St, Steamboat Springs, CO · LOOP · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 115 within 100 · 365 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)56.6 mi — Craig, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Craig
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO34.3 mi — MAVERIK SB SPRINGS PL1, Steamboat Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)19.9 mi — Steamboat Lake State Park, Steamboat Springs, CO (at a public site) · RIVIAN_WAYPOINTS · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$35 monthly service fee; $0.48 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 453140 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBig Creek Lakes · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSeven Lakes Th · ~0.5 mi SW · USFS
- RestroomBeaver Creek · ~2.2 mi W · USFS
- RestroomHelena · ~3.4 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Big Creek Lakes · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Creek Lakes as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 9.4% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Big Creek Lakes elsewhere
Other camps near Big Creek Lakes
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Six Mile~13.5 mi · fee
- Seedhouse~14.0 mi · fee
- Seedhouse~14.1 mi · fee
- Hog Park Cg~14.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Big Creek Lakes
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Big Creek Lakes are set by Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Zirkel at 9,320 ft, about 10 miles away. It sits about 297 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Big Creek Lakes
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-27: $20 per night for a single site; the forest words it '$20/site, exact cash or check only' with payment instructions on the kiosk. Confirmed by two sources: the Medicine Bow-Routt NF campground page (updated May 20 2026) and recreation.gov facility 231864, which charges $20 for standard, tent-only and RV non-electric sites alike and sits 0.039 mi from this pin. Parks Ranger District. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/mbrtb/recreation/big-creek-lakes-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/231864.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Big Creek Lakes
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Big Creek Lakes
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Off-grid communication →All field notes →