Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Blacktail Creek
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 40.06721, -106.57956
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 — Blacktail Creek · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 216.1 (Blacktail Cg), 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 216.1 (Blacktail Cg), 40 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 216.1 (Blacktail Cg): “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 Blacktail Creek
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,027 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Blacktail CreekNIFC · 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 Blacktail Creek · 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
- FFuel10 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- DDump21 mi
- WWater29 mi
- OOutfitter30 mi
- +Urgent care30 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- LLaundry31 mi
- AAir-up39 mi
- PPropane41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 29-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 10 mi out.
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 — Blacktail Creek
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,027 ft
Ground slope
10.7% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~6.2 mi · passing siding
State
CO
Coordinates
40.06721, -106.57956
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Blacktail Creek · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBlacktail Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townKremmling · ~10.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.2 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelKremmling Mercantile · ~9.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.0 mi
- GroceriesKremmling Mercantile · ~9.6 mi
- PharmacyKremmling Mercantile · ~9.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicUCHealth Urgent Care · ~30.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~10.2 mi
EV charging — from Blacktail Creek · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.1 mi straight-line E — Kremmling, CO - Park Avenue - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 327 within 100 · 440 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO29.3 mi — RWEPOA TOPAZ VILLAGE MARKET, Edwards
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.9 mi — Town of Kremmling - Town Park (at a park) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-11-06 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- 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 165579 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Blacktail Creek · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBlacktail Creek · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRock Creek · ~2.4 mi W · USFS
- RestroomLagunita Lake · ~5.9 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomLynx Pass · ~6.1 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Blacktail Creek · Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Blacktail Creek as a perennial stream, under 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 10.7% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~6.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Blacktail Creek elsewhere
Other camps near Blacktail Creek
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Rock Creek~2.4 mi
- Lynx Pass~6.1 mi · fee
- Upper Colorado River Recreation Area~6.8 mi · fee
- Red Dirt Reservoir~7.7 mi
The unit that manages Blacktail Creek
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Blacktail Creek 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 Lynx Pass at 8,910 ft, about 5 miles away. That is about the height of this camp, so it is a fair proxy. 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 — Blacktail Creek
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 2026-08-20: $20 per site per night, paid at the kiosk -- exact cash or check only, no credit cards and no change given. The forest page also flags that this site was approved for a fee change, so the amount may move. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/mbrtb/recreation/blacktail-creek-campground.
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 Blacktail Creek
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 — Blacktail Creek
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →How to read this page →All field notes →