The greatly expanded and improved Dry Lake Campground that reopened this summer along Buffalo Pass Road seems to be the best kept campground secret in Routt County following extensive work last year.

“I think it looks fantastic. It’s a great place to camp,” said Michael Woodbridge, U.S. Forest Service district ranger in Steamboat Springs, of one of the closest federal campgrounds to the city.

The campground, which was closed throughout the 2024 season for improvement work, was enlarged from eight to 23 sites including a new camp host site and two large double sites. This year, the campground is expected to stay open, weather dependent, into the first two hunting seasons in October with the 22 sites remaining on a first come, first served basis.

Dry Lake Campground host Ronald Ramsdell said the campground that opened for use at the end of June has only been completely full once on a Saturday evening so far this summer. In 2026, a majority of the campground sites will become reservable through Recreation.gov starting approximately June 15, added Woodbridge.

The campground located eight miles northeast of Steamboat Springs on U.S. Forest Road 60 now has a new upper loop, two vault toilet buildings, bearproof storage boxes, tent pads, picnic tables, metal fire rings, and lots of room after some tree removal. The campground connects to the nearby biking, hiking and horseback trail system where trail signage also has been upgraded.

Routt National Forest staff determined the previous campground was undersized for desired public use and partnered with the National Forest Foundation to implement and complete the project. Woodbridge said the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District received funding from the Great American Outdoors Act in order to utilize the partnership with the National Forest Foundation to manage the project work.

“The overall cost of the campground and trailhead project was roughly $1.2 to $1.5 million,” Woodbridge noted. “That includes the contract with the contractor (GCS in Grand Junction) as well as the engineering work by USFS and bear boxes, etc.”

Woodbridge encourages campers to utilize the expanded campground to help decrease damage caused by use of multiple unsustainable dispersed campsites along Buffalo Pass Road. He said Forest Service staff continues to evaluate, close and rehabilitate some of those unsustainable campsites, especially the user-created sites in meadow areas that are wet and marshy in the spring and early summer.

Jim Fried, National Forest Foundation program coordinator, spent 78 nights camping at the Dry Lake Campground during the project work that ran from June through early November 2024 and during June this year.

“Using developed recreation sites is going to absolutely reduce impact on the forest,” Fried advised. “Some funding generated there goes back to that ranger district to help manage the forest.”

The fees at Dry Lake Campground increased to $26 per night, or $50 per night for the double sites, with trash service but no water spigots.

Woodbridge said another advantage to campers using the official campground is the ability to have campfires in the metal rings at the sites during Stage 1 fire restrictions, which are not allowed in dispersed camping during Stage 1.

As of Thursday afternoon, Forest Service lands remained at Stage 2 fire restrictions with no campfires at any type of site. Woodbridge said the level of fire restrictions is analyzed weekly through testing of fuel moisture levels.

A Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. crew and volunteers with the Routt Recreation and Conservation Roundtable helped with some of the final campground upgrade work such as assembling picnic tables to get the campground open before the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Fried said the foundation was awarded a $64,000 Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant to purchase large bear boxes that were installed by Youth Corps. crews.

In other project news, Woodbridge said improvement work on the bumpy and rocky Buffalo Pass Road was completed last week to within a few miles of Summit Lake. The district ranger said the project was completed to a point of available funding, and the final few miles will be improved when more funding is available.

In addition, the nearby day use parking for the Dry Lake area was improved last year and now requires a $5 per day fee at the trailhead, or use of yearly pass options.

Camp host Ramsdell from Granbury, Texas, who volunteered as a campground host at Hahns Peak Lake Campground last summer, said his wife is commuting to work from the campground as a traveling nurse at Casey’s Pond. Ramsdell said he primarily sees campers visiting from the Front Range or travelers passing through Steamboat. He has encountered at least three bears so far this summer and has several noise makers and bear spray ready.