Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
West Chicago Creek
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.67883, -105.65738
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 — West Chicago Creek · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 188.1D (West Chicago Creek Cg), 20 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 188.1D (West Chicago Creek Cg), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 15 – Sep 30. That season ends after Sep 30.
MVUM record for FR 188.1D (West Chicago Creek Cg): “05/15-09/30” 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 West Chicago Creek
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,612 ft.
Fire & smoke — around West Chicago CreekNIFC · 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 West Chicago Creek · 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
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- OOutfitter9 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- HHardware16 mi
- DDump17 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- PPropane22 mi
- AAir-up23 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — West Chicago Creek
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,612 ft
Ground slope
5.9% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~2.9 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~3.0 mi · US Hwy 6
State
CO
Coordinates
39.67883, -105.65738
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around West Chicago Creek · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Chicago Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townGeorgetown · ~3.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~3.0 mi · US Hwy 6
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.0 mi
- FuelShell · ~3.1 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~22.2 mi
- Dump station~17.4 mi
- GroceriesGeorgetown Market · ~3.1 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~9.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicCentura Health Primary Care Idaho Springs · ~8.9 mi
- HardwareEvergreen Ace Hardware & Paint · ~16.0 mi
EV charging — from West Chicago Creek · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.1 mi straight-line NW — ANNEX SITE GEORGETOWN PL4 · 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 reach31 within 25 mi · 263 within 50 · 376 within 100 · 451 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)5.7 mi — 420 E Park Ave, Empire
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.9 mi — Clear Creek County Courthouse, Georgetown, CO · Blink Network · J1772 · 3 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 260651 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around West Chicago Creek · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletWest Chicago Creek · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHells Hole · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWest Chicago Creek · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChicago Forks · ~2.4 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — West Chicago Creek · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Chicago Creek as a perennial stream, 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 5.9% — 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 ~2.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger 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 ~3.0 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 West Chicago Creek elsewhere
Other camps near West Chicago Creek
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Clear Creek County~2.6 mi
- Clear Lake~3.3 mi · fee
- Echo Lake~3.6 mi · fee
- Guanella Pass~5.6 mi · fee
The unit that manages West Chicago Creek
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at West Chicago Creek 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 Echo Lake at 10,660 ft, about 4 miles away. It sits about 1,048 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 — West Chicago Creek
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 2026-08-27: $25 per night for a single site. Confirmed three ways: the Arapaho-Roosevelt NF campground page (updated May 15 2026); the forest-wide Campground Status table (updated Aug 24 2026), which lists 15 sites, a 30-foot maximum spur, Reserve Now, $25, season May 15 to Sept 20; and recreation.gov facility 231859, 0.014 mi from this pin, which charges $25 in peak season. Recreation.gov also publishes a $20 walk-in season rate, so shoulder-season nights can be cheaper. Clear Creek Ranger District. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/recreation/west-chicago-creek-campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/arp/conditions and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/231859.
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 West Chicago Creek
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 — West Chicago Creek
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →