Established Camping
Oh Be Joyful Recreation Area
Closed For the Season
This campground is closed for the season from October 1, 2023 through May 26, 2024.
Closed For the Season
This campground is closed for the season from October 1, 2023 through May 26, 2024.
About
Bureau of Land Management
Gunnison
Overview
Approximately 5 miles from Crested Butte, Colorado, Oh Be Joyful Campground is a 30-unit campground along the Slate River. The campground itself gets its name from nearby Oh Be Joyful Creek that features massive waterfalls and colorful wildflowers in the summer months. The campground is located at approximately 9,000 feet in elevation and the views are spectacular.____
Recreation
This premier area is known for camping, fishing, horseback riding, sight-seeing, hiking/walking, water play, kayaking, mountain biking, wildflower viewing, and motorized recreational uses. A foot bridge allows visitors to access the west side of the Slate River to hike along Oh Be Joyful Creek and into the Raggeds Wilderness.
Facilities
This 30-unit campground was recently renovated and has 14 RV campsites, 15 walk-in tent campsites, one walk-in group campsite and 3 vault restrooms. This campground is normally full and not available unless you have a reservation. Each campsite has a parking space, metal fire ring, picnic table, tent pad and bear proof food storage locker. Drinking water, electric hook-ups and trash service are not available at Oh Be Joyful so bring your own water and plan to take your own trash with you when you leave.______ Parking is available for day use visitors who come to Oh Be Joyful to hike, play in the water, picnic, etc.______ The access road (BLM Road 3220) into Oh Be Joyful Campground is steep and can be rough. The campground can accommodate RVs but the rough road down to the campground may not be suitable for larger low clearance rigs.____
Natural Features
The campground sits directly on the east bank of the Slate River and is nestled in a valley with mountains on either side of the valley. Due to the abundance of moisture in the spring and early summer, wildflowers are abundant. Look for our State flower the Columbine and other species including Indian Paintbrush and Avalanche Lilies.
Nearby Attractions
Fee Info
Access
- Drive-InPark next to your site
- Walk-InPark in a lot, walk to your site.
Stay Connected
- WiFiUnknown
- VerizonUnknown
- AT&TUnknown
- T-MobileUnknown
Site Types
- Tent Sites
- RV Sites
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Group
Features
For Campers
- Trash
- Picnic Table
- Phone Service
- Toilets
- Alcohol
- Pets
Beautiful rustic campground
We arrived at 2:00 PM and there was one site left for first come first served. It was a quiet place with some wonderful walks. Several hunters camping here, so next time I’ll bring orange.
Busy but beautiful
Beautiful setting, but very popular so you'll not have much solitude. The road coming of the main road is a bit rough and uneven. Low ground clearance vehicles can make it but go slow. I managed fine with my Honda Odyssey but you could see evidence on some of the rocks and boulders where some vehicles had scraped bottom.
Cattle roam freely as this is open range, so don't be surprised to find that you might be sharing your site with some livestock. Watch your step!
Great spot, close to town
We stayed at site #1 for 2 nights at the start of off season Oct 1 - Oct 3. The site was right next to the river and you could hear the water running from our camper. The road was very muddy when we came in and a little rough. But we were able to get our 28’ camper down the road pretty easily. We did wake up to cows in our campsite the last morning. Kind of cute.. The fall leaves were beautiful and the campsite was complete with a great view of the snow-capped mountains and groves of aspens changing color. It took us about 10 minutes to get to downtown CB from the site. There was a trailhead pretty near the site (oh be joyful trail) which had beautiful fall scenery. Would definitely stay here again!
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Location
Oh Be Joyful Recreation Area is located in Colorado
Directions
From the town of Crested Butte, drive north on Gothic Road. (County road 317) towards Mount Crested Butte. Cross the Slate River and turn left on Slate River Road (County Road 734). Follow this up the valley for approximately 5 miles to BLM Road 3220. Turn left onto BLM Road 3220 and continue for approximately 0.3 miles to a Oh Be Joyful Campground. BLM Road 3220 is steep and rough, low clearance vehicles and larger RVs may want to scout the road before driving down to the campground.______
Coordinates
38.914376 N
107.032762 W