Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.99489, -107.24288
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 — Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 205.8 (Shepherds Rim Campground), 60 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 205.8 (Shepherds Rim Campground), 60 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Jun 1 – Nov 22. That season ends after Nov 22.
MVUM record for FR 205.8 (Shepherds Rim Campground): “06/01-11/22” 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 Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,779 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Shepherds Rim / Trappers LakeNIFC · 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 Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater1 mi
- GGrocery1 mi
- ShShower1 mi
- @Mail20 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- FFuel21 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- DDump28 mi
- HHardware31 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- RxPharmacy31 mi
- LLaundry32 mi
- +Urgent care32 mi
- PPropane41 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 — Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,779 ft
Ground slope
4.4% · gentle
State
CO
Coordinates
39.99489, -107.24288
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCrescent Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townCarbonate · ~17.9 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.8 mi
- FuelFuel · ~20.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.4 mi
- GroceriesTrappers Lake Lodge General Store · ~0.8 mi
EV charging — from Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.7 mi straight-line NE — Helios Yampa CO (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 32 within 50 · 115 within 100 · 416 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)30.7 mi — Gypsum, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Gypsum
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO28.3 mi — GYPSUM SHOP&HOP #11, Gypsum
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)29.3 mi — ECG SERVICE CTR 2, Gypsum, 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 448020 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomShepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomTrappers Lake/Trapline · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomTrappers Lake/Cutthroat · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomTrappers Lake/Bucks · at this camp · USFS
Coming out here — Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake · White River National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Crescent Lake 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 4.4% — 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.
- 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 Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Trappers Lake/Cutthroat~0.2 mi · fee
- Trappers Lake/Bucks~0.2 mi · fee
- Trappers Lake/Horse Thief~0.2 mi · fee
- Himes Peak~2.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake are set by White River National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Trapper Lake at 9,750 ft, less than a mile 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 — Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
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 2026-08-24: $25 per night for a single site. No recreation.gov listing -- pay on site. Caveat worth knowing: this rests on a single White River NF page whose own timestamp is Jun 6 2025, so it predates the 2026 season; treat $25 as the last published figure rather than a guaranteed 2026 rate. The forest files this camp under Trappers Lake, and its page had to be found this fire at the slug 'trappers-lake-shepherds-rim-campground' -- the obvious 'shepherds-rim-campground' 404s. Blanco Ranger District, Trappers Lake. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/whiteriver/recreation/trappers-lake-shepherds-rim-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 Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
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 — Shepherds Rim / Trappers Lake
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Camping with a dog →All field notes →