Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Pickle Gulch
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.84191, -105.52471
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 — Pickle Gulch · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 177.2A (Pickle Gulch Campground), 50 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 177.2A (Pickle Gulch Campground), 50 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 15 – Oct 15. That season ends after Oct 15.
MVUM record for FR 177.2A (Pickle Gulch Campground): “05/15-10/15” 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 Pickle Gulch
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,096 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pickle GulchNIFC · 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 Pickle Gulch · 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
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- EVEV fast charger4 mi
- DDump4 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- OOutfitter7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- PPropane19 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 — Pickle Gulch
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,096 ft
Ground slope
7.1% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~4.9 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~6.1 mi · US Hwy 6
State
CO
Coordinates
39.84191, -105.52471
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Pickle Gulch · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMissouri Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBlack Hawk · ~3.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~6.1 mi · US Hwy 6
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.0 mi
- FuelShell · ~3.5 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~19.0 mi
- Dump station~4.5 mi
- GroceriesTaggerts · ~3.5 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~7.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicCentura Health Primary Care Idaho Springs · ~6.9 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~8.2 mi
EV charging — from Pickle Gulch · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.7 mi straight-line NE — GILPIN COUNTY GILPIN LIB L3B, Black Hawk, CO · 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 reach63 within 25 mi · 267 within 50 · 385 within 100 · 434 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)6.9 mi — Idaho Springs, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Idaho Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.9 mi — CENTRAL CITY CENTURY 1 · 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 420257 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pickle Gulch · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPickle Gulch · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPickle Gulch · ~0.3 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCold Springs · ~1.5 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCold Springs · ~1.7 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Pickle Gulch · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Missouri Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 7.1% — 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 ~4.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak service on it. 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.
- US Hwy 6 is mapped ~6.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Pickle Gulch elsewhere
Other camps near Pickle Gulch
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cold Springs~1.5 mi · fee
- Columbine~2.2 mi · fee
- Gilpin County~6.2 mi
- Kelly Dahl~6.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages Pickle Gulch
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pickle Gulch 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 7 miles away. It sits about 604 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 — Pickle Gulch
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: $69 to $92 per night for the group site. This is a GROUP-ONLY campground -- there is no single-site rate. Confirmed twice: the campground page (updated Aug 11 2026) and the Arapaho & Roosevelt NF campground status table, which lists Pickle Gulch as 'Group', $69/92, season May 15 to Oct 11. recreation.gov charges $69 for the group walk-to campsite over the 2026 season (May 15 to Oct 10) and separately lists a group PICNIC area at $193 -- that $193 is a day-use picnic site, not a camping rate, do not quote it as one. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/recreation/pickle-gulch-group-campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/conditions and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/231858.
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 Pickle Gulch
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 — Pickle Gulch
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →