Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
OHV / 4×4 · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.98030, -105.57807
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 site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,963 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Caribou Dispersed Camping AreaNIFC · 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 Caribou Dispersed Camping Area · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- PPropane17 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
Access
OHV / 4×4
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
9,963 ft
State
CO
Coordinates
39.98030, -105.57807
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Caribou Dispersed Camping Area · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHorseshoe Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townEldora · ~2.1 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.8 mi
- FuelGasamat · ~3.8 mi
- Propane / LPGAmeriGas · ~23.7 mi
- Dump station~9.9 mi
- GroceriesKwik Mart · ~3.8 mi
- PharmacyPharmaca · ~16.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicMiddle Park Health - Fraser Campus · ~11.8 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~3.8 mi
Nearby restrooms — around Caribou Dispersed Camping Area · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRainbow Lakes · ~2.1 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRainbow Lakes · ~2.1 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSourdough · ~4.3 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKelly Dahl · ~5.4 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Caribou Dispersed Camping Area · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: Horseshoe Creek (stream). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Caribou Dispersed Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — Boulder County, CO~0.9 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — CO~1.1 mi
- Rainbow Lakes~2.1 mi · fee
- West Magnolia~3.9 mi
The unit that manages Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Caribou Dispersed Camping Area are set by Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Lake Eldora at 9,700 ft, about 3 miles away. It sits about 263 ft lower 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 — Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day limit)
Source
public land records
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
USFS Recreation Area Activities, activity 'Dispersed Camping', pulled 2026-09-19: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/arp/recarea/?recid=28226 | agency openstatus: none || REVIEW 2026-09-24 (nightshift-verified): The recid URL above now 301s to the forest's recreation landing page (a made-up recid does the same). Live page https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/recreation/caribou-dispersed-camping-area (read 2026-09-24): 'There are 11 numbered, designated campsites located along the National Forest System Road 505'; 'Camping is permitted in designated campsites only'; 'Camp only at clearly marked campsites within 50 feet of a numbered marker'; 14-day limit then move 3 miles, 28 days in 60; 'A four-wheel drive high clearance vehicle is recommended'; 'There are no facilities'; much private land -- do not trespass. Road open seasonally. APPROVED: agency page confirms 11 designated free-standing sites within 1.5 mi of Five Points; the pin is 177 m from MVUM road 505.1. Two individual sites are already published from OSM (#306 at 1.4 km, #349 '#9' at 1.7 km); this pin is the entry to the other nine, not a duplicate of either. camp_type set to ohv (4WD HC recommended). No fee stated on the page, so fee left unpriced. ARP alerts: fire road closures are on the Cameron Peak / East Troublesome / Williams Fork areas, not the Boulder RD.
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 Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Caribou Dispersed Camping Area
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →How to read this page →All field notes →