Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lake Irwin Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 38.88087, -107.10765
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 — Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 7826.1A (Lake Irwin Cg), 170 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 7826.1A (Lake Irwin Cg), 170 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Jan 10 – Nov 23. That season ends after Nov 23.
MVUM record for FR 7826.1A (Lake Irwin Cg): “01/10-11/23” 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 Lake Irwin Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 10,395 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lake Irwin CampgroundNIFC · 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 Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- OOutfitter6 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- WWater7 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- LLaundry21 mi
- EVEV fast charger22 mi
- DDump23 mi
- RxPharmacy25 mi
- PPropane36 mi
- ShShower44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Lake Irwin Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
10,395 ft
Ground slope
11.7% · noticeable
State
CO
Coordinates
38.88087, -107.10765
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (recreation.gov, read 2026-09-18)
Nearby & resupply — around Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Irwin · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townCrested Butte · ~6.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.9 mi
- FuelExxon · ~6.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.1 mi
- GroceriesMountain Earth Organic Grocer · ~6.7 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~24.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicSelect · ~6.6 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~24.5 mi
EV charging — from Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger22.0 mi straight-line N — Redstone General Store, Redstone Historic District, CO · INTERTIE · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 27 within 50 · 114 within 100 · 437 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)26.1 mi — Aspen, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Aspen
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.4 mi — GCEA EV STATION CB EV STATION, Crested Butte, CO · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 455094 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLake Irwin · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomLake Irwin Parking · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLake Irwin · ~0.2 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomOld Irwin Cemetery · ~2.2 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Lake Irwin Campground · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Irwin 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 11.7% — 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.
- 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 Lake Irwin Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Lake Irwin Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Kebler Pass Designated Camping Area~2.0 mi
- Splains Gulch Designated Camping Area~2.6 mi
- Musicians Camp Designated Camping Area~4.7 mi
- Lost Lake Campground~5.5 mi
The unit that manages Lake Irwin Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lake Irwin Campground are set by Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Butte at 10,190 ft, about 8 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 — Lake Irwin Campground
Fee note
$24 a night per the Recreation.gov page, read 18 Sep 2026: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232153
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232153
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there) | Fee 2026-09-18: $24 per night, by site type and season (Recreation.gov rates table). Source: https://www.recreation.gov/api/camps/campgrounds/232153/rates (fee_backfill, figure verified on that 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 Lake Irwin Campground
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 — Lake Irwin Campground
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Getting unstuck →All field notes →