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Dispersed camping · Colorado and Wyoming

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests & Thunder Basin National Grassland dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days in any 30 on this forest, anywhere that isn't posted closed. The card below is the whole rule set — every line links the order or page it came from, and all of it was checked on .

14 days in any 30

The forest's dispersed-camping guide: "Dispersed camping is limited to 16 days in the Medicine Bow Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland and 14 days in the Routt Forest in a 30 day period. If you continue camping after 30 days, you must move at least 3 miles from your current site." 14 is shown as the headline number because the Routt (Colorado) side is stricter; the Medicine Bow and Thunder Basin (Wyoming) sides allow 16.

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

"Dispersed camping is allowed, except where the area is posted closed, within 200 feet of any developed road, trail, picnic area, water source and trailhead, as well as 1/4 mile from campgrounds. Please consult the Motor Vehicle Use Map for areas where you can park up to 300 feet from the established road." source

Keep your distance

  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of any water source (forest dispersed-camping guide - the same sentence that allows camping "except where the area is posted closed"). source
  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of any developed road; the same 200-foot buffer applies to picnic areas and trailheads. source
  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of any trail. source
  • 1,320 ft — No dispersed camping within 1/4 mile (1,320 ft) of campgrounds. source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

"Please consult the Motor Vehicle Use Map for areas where you can park up to 300 feet from the established road." Do not create new roads or use undesignated access points to reach a campsite.

Fires right now

Stage 1 fire restrictions — since June 18 last checked August 18, 2026

Whether you can have a fire at your site runs on the forest's fire order, not on camping rules — see the live fire restrictions page for this forest and what each stage still allows before you light anything.

Rules checked against the pages linked above — the full list is below the card.

Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the Forest Supervisor's Office, Laramie, WY at (307) 745-2300 before you go.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. This forest's fire restrictions page carries the current stage with the date it took effect. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.

Where these rules come from

Every rule above was read on the forest's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region (R2).

Before you go