Ansel Watrous
October 2026
About
Overview
Ansel Watrous Campground is located on the Cache la Poudre River, 22 miles northwest of Fort Collins, Colo., along Highway 14. Visitors enjoy the area for its great rafting, fishing and hiking opportunities.
Recreation
The Cache la Poudre River offers whitewater rafting and fishing. Anglers cast for brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout, among other species of fish.
Hiking, biking and horseback riding trails are in the surrounding area, including the 4-mile Young Gulch Trail.
Other popular activities enjoyed by visitors to the campground include birding and wildlife viewing.
Facilities
The campground offers accessible single-family sites, each equipped with a 12-by-15 tent pad, a picnic table and a campfire ring with grill.
Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Dead and downed firewood may be gathered in the forest or purchased from the campground host.
Natural Features
The canyon's vegetation varies from dense forests to open meadows and the campground is surrounded by steep mountains. The campground is situated among Ponderosa pines on the banks of the Cache la Poudre River, Colorado's first river designated as a National Wild and Scenic River.
Contact Info
For facility specific information, please call (530) 529-0578.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees.
Modifications for this campground must be made through Recreation.gov or by calling the call center at 1-877-444-6777 PRIOR to your reservation start date. Customers and contact center agents cannot modify reservations on or after the check-in date.
Amenities
Phone: 970-295-6700
Is ANSEL WATROUS fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches ANSEL WATROUS in Morrison, CO for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching ANSEL WATROUS for cancellations is the paid part.