Dispersed camping · Colorado
What the Rio Grande National Forest actually allows for dispersed camping — how far off a road you may drive, which roads that applies to, and the closure orders that override it. Every figure below is sourced; the primary documents are linked at the bottom.
| Rule | This forest | |
|---|---|---|
| How far off the road you may drive | 300 ft | from the road centerline |
| Where that applies | Only along roads marked on the MVUM | |
| Distance to keep from water | 150 ft | guidance |
| Stay limit | 14 days | per the forest order |
The corridor applies ONLY where the map carries the dispersed-camping symbol (usually dots beside the road line). An unmarked open road is not a camping corridor, and this is the rule most often misread.
Marked routes only, forest-wide (consistent on Divide West and Conejos Peak West MVUM sheets, both 2022 edition; East sheets carry no legend). Dot symbols ('Dispersed Camping, Left/Right/Both Sides') indicate the specific road/trail segments where limited cross-country motor vehicle use for dispersed camping is permitted, up to 300 ft from the road centerline, same vehicle class and season as the route, no resource damage, and no driving parallel to the road beyond the corridor. Roads without dots have no camping corridor. The forest's dispersed-camping page confirms: use the MVUM 'to learn where dispersed camping is allowed' and 'All vehicles must stay within 300 feet of the center line of a designated road.'
The RGNF legend heading for the dot symbol is 'Dispersed Camping/Game Retrieval'. Dots = dispersed camping corridors. Separately hatched 'Areas Open to Cross Country Travel for Game Retrieval' allow ATV cross-country travel solely to retrieve legally harvested big game, authorized noon–5:00 pm daily during hunting season when no resource damage would result. 'Special Vehicle Designation' on the same legend means a route open to vehicle classes other than the standard ones (see Seasonal and Special Designation Table).
1) Conejos Canyon: FSR 250 (Hwy 17 to Stunner Pass) — order RG-92-13 (9/28/1992, still listed as current) limits camping to designated areas (Trail Creek and Upper South Fork designated areas per the forest's dispersed-camping page). 2) Beaver Creek Recreation Area (Rd 360, Hwy 160 to Beaver Creek Reservoir): order 02-09-04-24-02 (5/24/2024) restricts camping/parking; page lists the corridor as closed to dispersed camping. 3) Big Meadows Recreation Area (Rd 410 to Big Meadows Reservoir): order 02-09-04-24-01 (5/24/2024) prohibits camping. 4) Dispersed camping also prohibited within 300 ft of Machin Lake, at North Crestone Trailhead, and in Wheeler Geologic Area per the official dispersed-camping page.
Stay limit: order 02-09-00-23-01 (signed 5/16/2023 by Acting Forest Supervisor Andrew Kelher; alert page states in effect 5/16/2023 12:01 a.m. through 4/30/2028 11:59 p.m. — valid summer 2026): 14 days in the same location per continuous 30-day period; no move-distance rule appears in this order. Water setback: 150 ft is guidance on the official dispersed-camping page (last updated 3/30/2026); no forest-wide water-setback order found on the alerts/orders list — enforceable setbacks are area-specific (e.g., 300 ft at Machin Lake; 100 ft of any lake/stream inside Weminuche and South San Juan Wilderness under order SJRG-99-05, plus stricter per-lake rules). MVUM legend quote verified visually against a rendered image of the PDF (raw pdftotext output had font-spacing artifacts; wording confirmed exactly as quoted). MVUM sheets are 2022 edition per sheet text; the MVUM web page was last updated 3/25/2026 and still links these files.
Open the map for Colorado — forest roads, boundaries and closures are on the map; scored campsite locations are built for Wyoming and Idaho so far.
Confidence in this summary: high. Forest orders change mid-season and districts differ — this is a research summary, not legal advice. Check the sources above before you drive out.