Devils Head Parking/Camping Situation

Hey Folks,

Drove down RRR this past weekend - for those unaware, camping at a "designated dispersed" campsite at Devil's Head now comes with a fee. By my counts, all but 6 of the previous designated parking areas are now considered "designated dispersed", including the large parking that's used as access for Chickenhead Ranch/Radio Wall/etc. 

Does anyone know if day-use of these parking areas incurs a fee as well? Or am I good to park in those lots as long as I'm not camping/staying overnight? Can't find anything conclusive online and the ranger stations aren't answering phones so I can't get an answer there either. I know the DH Campground requires a day-use fee but I wasn't sure if that extended to the dispersed sites as well.

What are the camping fees? Is it online or a pay station?

mike h wrote:

What are the camping fees? Is it online or a pay station?

I believe a few reservations are available online but there's a pay station at the north RRR entrance as well as one near Jackson Creek I believe (though I didn't actually see it when I was driving Jackson Creek road, but to be fair I was not looking)

Think it's like $18 a night or something

The large lot just past MM10 is not a fee camping site.   (This is the lot used for access to the Lower West Side, ie Wypeyur Buttress, etc.)  Camp sites #74 (used for parking for Devils Gate) and #75 (used for parking for Recovery Wall and DHR) are fee sites.  

Camp Sites are $15 per night for single sites/$25 for group sites.  The camping is run by a concessionaire, not the FS.  More info can be found here:  https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/psicc/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD913573

Do not know if they will allow day use of a campsite without paying.  Another potential point of conflict is the number of cars allowed (only 3 per individual site).  There were more cars than that on a regular basis last year at Site #74

Thanks Derek, super helpful as always. Kind of blows for people coming from the Springs until the extra stations are added. Guess you gotta pre-pay before entering the road and hope you find something, otherwise you're looking at a 20 mile extra trip just to pay? Bummer but I guess it'll keep the riff raff down.

Thanks Derek and Tal. I knew changes were coming and that they would complicate things, but this seems more complicated than expected. 

So do you have to find an empty site, then drive back to the start of RRR to pay and get your stub? That's a lot of washboardy back and forth. 

Can't find any of the designated dispersed sites on recreation.gov. Anyone have luck with that?

Mike, I have not camped yet, but supposedly the concessionaire has folks driving the road and accepting payments.  The FS also has plans to add more pay tubes but who knows how long that will take.

Hey Derek, thanks for the clarification on the MM10 parking - it had a sign that looked similar to those on the designated dispersed sites so I assumed it was one and didn't take a closer look. Glad to hear it's not. Do you know if it's similar for the big parking pull off down on Jackson Creek for access to the southern crags? There were too many cars in that lot by the time I got to it for me to tell myself. I know there's some small parking spots on jackson creek rd that are definitely not designated dispersed, but they're few and far between. 

Mike, I don't think you pay for a campsite specifically, but rather a more generic permit. So you'd get your permit and then pick whatever site is open - I believe they're first come first serve. As for online reservations - it looks like only Devil's Head Campground is available online so far, though they mentioned they plan to move more to online in the future. Rocky Mountain Recreation Company (comically based out of california) is the concessionaire running it all.

Noted some sites are now limited to online reservations only, here's the reservation link

Recreation.gov reservations

For parking reference:

We parked at an unsigned pull-out on Jackson Creek Rd near the approach trail to the Devil's Gate sector. A ranger came by and told us that parking in this spot warranted a $150 fine because it was not a designated parking area. This pull-out was off the road and not obstructing anything, it simply did not have a parking sign, meaning it was illegal to park there. This was unobvious to us so I wanted to give others a heads up that you can only park in signed pull-outs--it's not enough to simply avoid the 'no parking' signs.

The ranger said that if we wanted to park for crag access, we needed to have booked a nearby campsite (worth noting every campsite was full). There is also a small lot/camping area at the base of Recovery Wall, about a mile from Devil's Gate access, but it is not really appropriate for large vehicles. Planning for the lack of parking is probably important if you plan to climb at Devil's Head during the closure through 2021.

We were told they hope to open the old Jackson Creek campground to parking eventually but the subtext was: don't hold your breath. FWIW, I think it's completely ridiculous that there are ATV parking areas all over and 99 campsites, but a huge pull-out at the base of the approach trail which could fit a dozen cars has been designated a campsite (naturally, it was occupied by ATVers not climbers). The ranger indicated that we should coordinate with other climbers to book this site for the day if we want to climb there...it seemed like he thought every climber knew each other or something   

Alissa Doherty wrote:

For parking reference:

We parked at an unsigned pull-out on Jackson Creek Rd near the approach trail to the Devil's Gate sector. A ranger came by and told us that parking in this spot warranted a $150 fine because it was not a designated parking area. This pull-out was off the road and not obstructing anything, it simply did not have a parking sign, meaning it was illegal to park there. This was unobvious to us so I wanted to give others a heads up that you can only park in signed pull-outs--it's not enough to simply avoid the 'no parking' signs.

The ranger said that if we wanted to park for crag access, we needed to have booked a nearby campsite (worth noting every campsite was full). There is also a small lot/camping area at the base of Recovery Wall, about a mile from Devil's Gate access, but it is not really appropriate for large vehicles. Planning for the lack of parking is probably important if you plan to climb at Devil's Head during the closure through 2021.

We were told they hope to open the old Jackson Creek campground to parking eventually but the subtext was: don't hold your breath. FWIW, I think it's completely ridiculous that there are ATV parking areas all over and 99 campsites, but a huge pull-out at the base of the approach trail which could fit a dozen cars has been designated a campsite (naturally, it was occupied by ATVers not climbers). The ranger indicated that we should coordinate with other climbers to book this site for the day if we want to climb there...it seemed like he thought every climber knew each other or something   

Oh wow, that is RIDICULOUS. That little campsite at the base of Recovery Wall/Devil's Head Rock is only good for 3 or 4 cars, and it's easy to block each other in at the entrance if you don't have high clearance. Climbing at Devil's Head this summer just sounds more and more like a hassle than it's worth.

If you have high clearance there's marked parking spots that aren't campsites a bit past that area further down jackson creek road. Probably only space for 4 total cars amongst the spots, but just some beta since a lot of folks never go that far down.

Yeah this is pretty wild. Any folks who have been climbing longer than I - are there any case studies out there of climbers successfully advocating for more of a say in the management plan of an area that just does not seem to give a shit about them at all? Unfortunately in my experience the PPCA doesn't seem to be very active in stuff like this and the BCC doesn't really cover as far down at DH typically. I mean, hell, is this something climbers need to start partnering with the RRMMC on? I feel like they can't be stoked about it either.

DH Crew - I know a lot of you guys still trawl the MP forums. How are you guys feeling about the situation? Any contact with the powers that be?

Isn't government wonderful?

The No Parking allowed unless marked  <P> has always been the case.  There are signs on Hwy 67 (at the FS boundary) and at the north end of Rampart Range Rd that state such and they have been there as long as I have been going down there.  Last year the FS actually marked a few more pullouts as parking further down Jackson Creek Rd which provide legal parking for Brookside, etc.  Its encouraging to hear that they mentioned re-opening the old Jackson Creek campground for parking as that has been the main feedback to them for more than a year.

Does anyone have a rough estimate at how much free parking there is that would be reasonably occupied by climbers on a full-capacity day? Between the fire lookout, MM10, the Chickenhead ranch little spot, the spots on Jackson creek. I haven't spent as much time at the fire lookout but I feel like MM10/CHR/and Jackson creek you'd be lucky to get 50 cars in considering you'd have to share with folks who use those lots as well and don't climb. 

Dealing with the Forest Service on the parking issue has been completely frustrating.  Months of unanswered emails and phone calls not returned. A SIMPLE easy solution ( using the old Jackson Creek Campground or Site 74) has been proposed multiple times, but OMG they can’t seem to move the bureaucracy to give up one fucking campsite or unlock one gate. The scooter trash have several football field sized Parking lots that were built for them that sit empty even on July 4th weekend. Might be time to get a senator or congressman involved. In the meantime if anyone is willing to reserve site 74 for climbers on weekends that would be great. 

FWIW - the designated parking at the trail head for Recovery Wall isn’t very far from the trail to Devils Gate. It’s maybe a 200 yard walk back up Jackson Creek Road. There is room in there for quite a few cars so long as no one blocks the entrance. Coincidentally it’s right across the road from the Jackson Creek Campground that would easily hold 50 cars with no problem. 

I love the area too much so I made the following reservations: Aug 7th, 14th. Sep 3-5th (Labor Day meet up anyone??), Sep 11th and 18th. 

Mostly just Saturday nights to save money, feel free to reserve Friday nights if you're so inclined. All are welcome to use, max 3 cars. Obviously don't be a tool and be good stewards to the land.

If someone wants to repost this to the DH Facebook page on my behalf, go for it.  PM me for reservation orders (doubt the host checks?) or help out with Venmo.

Cheers, Adam

Thanks Adam, I'll go in and get the Friday nights to the extent that they are available.  Friday the 13th and September 24th reserved.

Tzilla Rapdrilla wrote:

FWIW - the designated parking at the trail head for Recovery Wall isn’t very far from the trail to Devils Gate. It’s maybe a 200 yard walk back up Jackson Creek Road. There is room in there for quite a few cars so long as no one blocks the entrance. Coincidentally it’s right across the road from the Jackson Creek Campground that would easily hold 50 cars with no problem. 

My fault, I accidentally used the wrong coordinates to calculate a mile! Thanks for the correction, it is indeed closer than that. We were in a non-4x4 van which couldn't make it up into that area or the four pull-offs mentioned a little ways down Jackson Creek Road. Unless you've booked site #74, I wouldn't plan to bring a large vehicle. Stoked to see a bloc and Tzilla have snagged #74 for climbers!

Does anyone have an accurate map detailing the sites on RRR? The USFS released this one but it is woefully inaccurate and even if it was accurate it's not wildly helpful.