Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirmRoad season: open (MVUM)
Sweetwater Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.79689, -107.16120
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 — Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 607.1 (Sweetwater Campground), 20 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 607.1 (Sweetwater Campground), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 21 – Nov 22. That season ends after Nov 22.
MVUM record for FR 607.1 (Sweetwater Campground): “05/21-11/22” 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 →
What the record says about the site — Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO
- Room for 9 parties
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Sweetwater Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,725 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Sweetwater Lake 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 Sweetwater Lake Campground · 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
- WWater8 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- @Mail15 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- OOutfitter19 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- +Urgent care20 mi
- PPropane28 mi
- DDump32 mi
- AAir-up58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 15 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 — Sweetwater Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,725 ft
Ground slope
23.6% · steep
Nearest rail line
~8.2 mi · main line
State
CO
Coordinates
39.79689, -107.16120
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSweetwater Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Sweetwater Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townCarbonate · ~10.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.7 mi
- FuelFuel · ~15.5 mi
- Propane / LPGLPG · ~17.8 mi
- GroceriesHWY 6 · ~14.9 mi
- PharmacyDowntown Drug · ~19.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicValley View Hospital · ~20.1 mi
- HardwareHeartwood Custom Woodworks · ~20.3 mi
EV charging — from Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.9 mi straight-line SE — GYPSUM SHOP&HOP #11 · 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 reach11 within 25 mi · 42 within 50 · 127 within 100 · 435 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)17.9 mi — Gypsum, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Gypsum
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.9 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 184904 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSweetwater Lake · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSweetwater Lake Recreation Area · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSweetwater Lake · at this camp · USFS
- Portable toiletUte-Sweetwater · ~0.3 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Sweetwater Lake Campground · White River National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Sweetwater Lake as a perennial lake or pond, 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 23.6% — steep. 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 ~8.2 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.
- 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 Sweetwater Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Sweetwater Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Deep Lake~7.5 mi
- Deep Lake~7.7 mi · fee
- Trappers Lake/Cutthroat~14.2 mi · fee
- Trappers Lake/Bucks~14.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages Sweetwater Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Sweetwater Lake Campground 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 Bison Lake at 10,950 ft, about 11 miles away. It sits about 3,225 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 — Sweetwater Lake Campground
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)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Sweetwater Lake 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 — Sweetwater Lake Campground
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Camping near a reservoir →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →