Agency-listedUSFSFeeClosed for the seasonRoad season: open (MVUM)
Idlewild
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.90361, -105.77811
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.
Can I go now? — Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
Closed for the season Season May 22 – Sep 20. Opens May 22.
U.S. Forest Service record: “May 22 - Sept 20” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 150.A (Idlewild Cg Lower Loop North), 20 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 150.A (Idlewild Cg Lower Loop North), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Jun 15 – Nov 15. That season ends after Nov 15.
MVUM record for FR 150.A (Idlewild Cg Lower Loop North): “06/15-11/15” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; 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 Idlewild
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,892 ft.
Fire & smoke — around IdlewildNIFC · 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 Idlewild · 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
- WWater0 mi
- OOutfitter1 mi
- GGrocery1 mi
- FFuel2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- DDump18 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- AAir-up24 mi
- PPropane24 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 1 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 — Idlewild
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
8,892 ft
Ground slope
4.8% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · passing siding
State
CO
Coordinates
39.90361, -105.77811
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFraser River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townWinter Park · ~1.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.0 mi
- FuelConoco · ~1.5 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~24.5 mi
- Dump station~17.5 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~1.1 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~18.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicCentura Health Primary Care Idaho Springs · ~18.0 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~3.7 mi
EV charging — from Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.2 mi straight-line NW — TOWN OF FRASER LIONS PONDS · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach27 within 25 mi · 204 within 50 · 378 within 100 · 437 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)11.3 mi — 420 E Park Ave, Empire
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)1.0 mi — Town of Winter Park - Parking Garage (at a parking garage) · 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 169944 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletIdlewild · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletJim Creek · ~1.5 mi SE · USFS
- Portable toiletMidland · ~3.1 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSt. Louis Creek · ~4.6 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Idlewild · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Fraser River as a perennial river, 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 4.8% — gentle. 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 ~0.1 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 Idlewild elsewhere
Other camps near Idlewild
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Midland~3.1 mi · fee
- St. Louis Creek~4.6 mi · fee
- Robbers Roost~5.0 mi · fee
- Byers Creek~6.6 mi · fee
The unit that manages Idlewild
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Idlewild 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 Fool Creek at 11,130 ft, about 5 miles away. It sits about 2,238 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 — Idlewild
Open season
May 22 - Sept 20
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 2026-08-22: $29 per single site per night. Two Arapaho & Roosevelt NF sources agree: the campground page (updated Jul 10 2026, status Site Open) and the forest-wide campground status table (updated Aug 20 2026: 26 sites, 30-foot spur, first-come first-served and reservable, $29, May 22 to Sep 20). Sulphur Ranger District, near Winter Park. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/recreation/idlewild-campground and https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/conditions.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Idlewild
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
- 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 — Idlewild
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →