The Routt National Forest Service is asking visitors and locals planning on using the Dry Lake Campground and Trailhead to plan ahead before arriving this summer.
“We really want to encourage visitors to be thinking about when they should go, and then make a backup plan,” said Aaron Voos, public affairs specialist for Routt National Forest Service. “They should consider alternative locations, carpooling and those kinds of things when you’re accessing that trailhead this year.”
Dry Lake Campground and Trailhead, located eight miles northeast of downtown Steamboat Springs on Buffalo Pass Road, is scheduled to undergo an improvement project this summer that will result in a temporary campground closure and limited trailhead parking.
Voos said the parking lot trailhead improvements will be done before the winter with an expected completion sometime this fall. He said the entire improvement project is expected to be complete around the same time, but that the Forest Service is not likely to reopen that camp ground area until 2025.
During the temporary closure alternate Forest Service campgrounds include Granite and Summit Campgrounds, which are farther up Buffalo Pass Road, as well as Meadows and Dumont Lake Campgrounds on Rabbit Ears Pass. The Dry Lake/Buffalo Pass area trails will not open until June 15 due to an elk calving closure in the area. Dry Lake Campground and Trailhead are managed by the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District.
The Forest Service said the existing campground is undersized for desired public use, and improvements will triple the number of campsites from eight sites to approximately 23. There will also be a new campground host site, and additional planned improvements including redesigned sites, improved parking and traffic flow, picnic tables, vault toilets, trash services, fire rings and bear boxes. Once completed, and because of the recent unit-wide recreation site fee changes the cost per site, per night will be $26.
Parking improvements will include one-way directional traffic to improve safety for visitors and to improve trailer parking opportunities. New this year, day-use fee at the trailhead will be $5 a day, or $30 a year.
Voos said closures of the parking areas will be phased and implemented while work is being performed. However, a full parking area closure is not anticipated. Thanks to a solarpowered web camera installed last year at the busy Dry Lake Trailhead parking area on the road to Buffalo Pass those planning on heading to the area can see how busy the area is beforehand. The webcam is viewable via SteamboatChamber. com/webcams.
“We’ve requested that the contractor try and minimize the loss to parking there as much as possible,” Voos said. “That’s going to be something where our staff is going to be working with the contractor all summer long” He said the forest service may suggest ways to free up a few more spaces, or how it can keep certain portions opens as the project progresses.
He said when completed, the improvements to the camp sites and the parking areas that are heavily used will benefit visitors in both the summer and the winter. “A big part of it is truck and trailer parking up there,” Voos said. “The trailhead isn’t just a summer trailhead, it’s also a winter trailhead as well, so these improvements will benefit visitors year-round.”