BurnDates

Dispersed camping · Colorado

BLM Tres Rios Field Office dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days in any 30 on this field office's land, with some corridors limited to marked sites. 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

BLM Colorado statewide camping rules, published by this field office as its own Camping and Occupancy Regulations sheet: "You must not camp longer than 14 days in any 30-day period, at any one location"; after 14 days "you must move at least 30 air miles away" (43 CFR 8365.1-6; 75 FR 32968). The 2024 TRFO/GFO supplementary rule adds day-use areas and 7-consecutive-night limits in specific RMAs it lists.

Where you can camp

Designated sites in some areas

"Most BLM lands allow dispersed camping unless an area is posted 'Closed to Camping' or has specific restrictions" (BLM camping program page). Per the 2024 TRFO/GFO supplementary rule: "in the Cortez SRMA, the Phil's World and Mud Springs areas are designated as day-use areas. Camping is available elsewhere within the Cortez SRMA. The Durango SRMA is in the urban interface with the City of Durango, and dispersed camping is available on BLM-managed public lands within a short distance from the Durango SRMA" - with the Animas City Mountain, Skyline and Grandview zones closed overnight and to campfires. source

Keep your distance

  • 100 ft — Archuleta, La Plata and Montezuma counties (TRFO Travel Area 1): "You must not park or use a motorized or mechanized vehicle more than 100 feet from the edge of a designated travel route (e.g., for such uses as camping, picnicking, or firewood cutting)" (2024 TRFO/GFO supplementary rule). source
  • 20 ft — Tighter corridor in two areas: "You must not park a motorized vehicle more than 20 feet from the edge of a designated travel route or in a manner that causes resource damage in the Chutes and Ladders portion of the Cortez SRMA or the Mahan area within La Plata County." source
  • Recommended: 200 ft — BLM's national camping guidance recommends camping "at least 200 feet from lakes, rivers, and streams." No field-office-wide numeric water setback appears in the supplementary rule. source

Roads and vehicle access

Ask the district which roads allow camping

BLM travel-management equivalent of the MVUM rule: mechanized/motorized use only on designated routes (TRFO TAP-1 and travel maps), with the 100-ft (20-ft in Chutes and Ladders/Mahan) off-route parking corridor for camping access. Travel maps are available for public inspection at the Tres Rios Field Office.

Fires right now

We don't watch this office's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything, and the drive out runs on county rules — the Colorado burn ban page has those.

Closures and special orders

  • Final Supplementary Rule - Tres Rios FO and Gunnison FO (effective Jan 18, 2025) For TRFO: Phil's World and Mud Springs day-use only (no entry 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise, hunter exception); Durango SRMA Animas City Mountain/Skyline/Grandview zones closed overnight and to campfires; winter wildlife closures Dec 1-Apr 30 in listed Cortez/Durango zones and Perins Peak (raptor closure Mar 15-Jul 31); Dolores River corridor river camping requires registration, fire pan and portable toilet, no driftwood fires.
  • TRFO Camping and Occupancy Regulations (fact sheet) The field office's own sheet: "14-day Camping Limit within a 30-day period. After 14 days, must move at least 30 air miles." Also lists day-use (no camping/campfire) areas: Durango SRMA Animas City Mountain/Skyline/Grandview zones; Cortez SRMA Phil's World RMZ incl. Simon Draw and Cash Canyon trailheads; Canyons of the Ancients NM visitor sites, pueblos and Sand Canyon-Rock Creek SRMA.

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 Tres Rios Field Office, Dolores at (970) 882-1120 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.

On BLM land the travel maps play the same role a national forest's motor vehicle use map plays: they show which routes are open to vehicles, and camping access usually means staying on those routes and pulling into already-used sites just off them.

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. 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 office's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is Bureau of Land Management, Colorado.

Before you go