U.S. Forest Service · White River National Forest · Colorado

Meadow Lake Campground

Meadow Lake Campground is located 35 miles north of New Castle via the Buford-New Castle Road (County/Forest Road 245). The campground offers 10 campsites, all of which are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. These campsites are suitable for tent camping and small trailers, with parking spurs of up to 16 feet in length. Facilities at the campground include picnic tables, fire grates, trash disposal, secure food storage, and a vault toilet. The campground includes several handicap accessible sites. This is a fee use area. Meadow Lake Campground is located just north of Meadow Lake. The campground is also a short distance from the Meadow Lake Picnic Area.

First-come, first-served

More like this: first-come in Colorado

Season & status

ForestWhite River National Forest
FeesRifle Ranger District 0094 County Road 244 Rifle, CO 81650 (970) 625-2371

White River National Forest recreation page ↗

Weather by month

NOAA climate normals →
Weather by month near Meadow Lake Campground20°30°40°50°60°70°80°January: 0.93 inches of precipitation, 6.9 inches of snowFebruary: 0.80 inches of precipitation, 5.5 inches of snowMarch: 0.93 inches of precipitation, 1.8 inches of snowApril: 1.23 inches of precipitation, 1.1 inches of snowMay: 1.32 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJune: 0.80 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowJuly: 1.16 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowAugust: 1.27 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowSeptember: 1.42 inches of precipitation, 0.0 inches of snowOctober: 1.45 inches of precipitation, 0.9 inches of snowNovember: 0.74 inches of precipitation, 2.7 inches of snowDecember: 0.71 inches of precipitation, 7.9 inches of snowJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanuary: 23.5°F averageFebruary: 28.5°F averageMarch: 38.3°F averageApril: 45.1°F averageMay: 54.1°F averageJune: 63.9°F averageJuly: 70.2°F averageAugust: 67.4°F averageSeptember: 59.5°F averageOctober: 47.0°F averageNovember: 34.7°F averageDecember: 24.3°F average0 in2 in4 in6 in8 inTemp °FInches
The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at Rifle 3Ene, 20 miles from the campground at 5,469 feet, station USC00057033 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 13 inches a year. The dotted line is average snowfall, about 27 inches a year on the same inches scale.

Getting there

From New Castle, travel north on the Buford-New Castle Road (County Road 245), starting from the northwest edge of town. Follow this road north for 28 miles to Hiner Spring; along the way, you will pass the White River National Forest boundary and the West Elk Trailhead parking lot.

Coordinates39.8172° N, 107.5428° W · Directions ↗

Supplies & services

Outdoor gearGearhead Outfitters ↗21.7 mi

Locations © OpenStreetMap contributors. Call ahead; hours change seasonally.

Limited data for this unit

No site-by-site records, no amenities, no fee schedule or photos in the Recreation.gov record. What is here comes from the agency's own listing. The rest lives there.

Checked nightly. Modules appear as soon as the record fills in.

Explore

Worth a stop

Trails nearby

Forest Service trail data →
  • 0.9 mi
    Deep Creek Ridge East
    0.5 mi trail · hiking, horse, bike, ATV and 2 more
  • 1.3 mi
    Ute - Meadow ↗
    1.1 mi trail · hiking, horse
  • 1.3 mi
    Deep Creek Ridge ↗
    4.7 mi trail · hiking, horse, bike, motorcycle and 3 more
  • 1.4 mi
    Fayville OHV ↗
    14.4 mi trail · hiking, horse, bike, motorcycle and 2 more
  • 1.6 mi
    Cliff Lakes
    2.5 mi trail · hiking, horse
  • 3 mi
    Spring Cave
    0.6 mi trail · hiking, horse

Trailheads within three miles

Trail and trailhead records are the Forest Service's. Distances are straight-line to the nearer trail end. Trail conditions are not tracked here.

Public land it sits in

On Wilderness Atlas →

White River National Forest begins about 3.7 miles away, and it is the closest of these.

Each unit is published as a centre point and an acreage rather than a boundary, so this section stands it in for a circle of the same area. Whether a campground is inside, and how far it is from one it is outside, are both approximate.

Guidebooks for Colorado

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Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

Do I need a reservation at Meadow Lake Campground?

No. Meadow Lake Campground is first-come, first-served. Sites are taken on arrival and paid at the fee station.

Source: Forest Service

How much does it cost to camp at Meadow Lake Campground?

Rifle Ranger District 0094 County Road 244 Rifle, CO 81650 (970) 625-2371

Source: Forest Service

What if Meadow Lake Campground is full?

The nearest public campgrounds are Meadow Ridge Campground (0.5 mi, first-come), South Fork (3.5 mi), and Deep Lake Campground (13.5 mi).

Source: Campgrounds nearby