Campgrounds · Red Feather Lakes, Roosevelt National Forest

Dowdy Lake campground: reservations and cancellations

Lakeside sites at Red Feather Lakes, with fishing, paddling and electric hookups.

Watch Dowdy Lake
  • Sites70, including 10 walk-in tent sites
  • HookupsElectric at 60 sites
  • Openings we logged, Oct 1–28153

When do Dowdy Lake reservations open?

Neither the Forest Service page nor the campground's recreation.gov page states a booking window. Check which dates are on sale on its recreation.gov page before you plan around a release day.

The Forest Service lists peak and non-peak fee seasons for Dowdy Lake but no dates, and recreation.gov notes the drinking water runs until Sept 30. Sites were still opening up on recreation.gov in late October.

Rules verified Oct 29, 2026 against the Forest Service page and recreation.gov. Rules change: check before you book.

How often does Dowdy Lake open back up?

Between Oct 1–28, 2026, a site-night at Dowdy Lake came back as available 153 times, across 140 different site-nights. The median opening was for a night 10 days out, so the best odds are for trips in the next week or two.

What time openings showed up

12 a.m.: 0 openings12a1 a.m.: 0 openings2 a.m.: 0 openings3 a.m.: 0 openings4 a.m.: 0 openings5 a.m.: 2 openings6 a.m.: 44 openings446a7 a.m.: 4 openings8 a.m.: 6 openings9 a.m.: 12 openings10 a.m.: 4 openings11 a.m.: 14 openingsnoon: 7 openings12p1 p.m.: 14 openings2 p.m.: 4 openings3 p.m.: 6 openings4 p.m.: 10 openings5 p.m.: 2 openings6 p.m.: 3 openings6p7 p.m.: 1 opening8 p.m.: 4 openings9 p.m.: 9 openings10 p.m.: 5 openings11 p.m.: 2 openings11p

Busiest stretch: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., with 35% of openings. Peak hour: 6 a.m. (44).

  • Median lead time10 days before arrival
  • Nights within a week35% of openings
  • Friday and Saturday nights46% of openings

Want Dowdy Lake for your dates?

Pick your nights and we’ll email you when a site opens. You book it yourself on recreation.gov. Setting a watch is free.

Watch Dowdy Lake
Where these numbers come from

Our census checks the campgrounds we cover on recreation.gov on a regular schedule and logs each time a site-night switches to available. These counts cover Oct 1–28, 2026. A site someone cancelled and someone else booked before our next check isn’t counted, so the real number is higher. The census can’t tell a cancellation from a site released for the first time. Sites recreation.gov marks as first-come (“Open”) aren’t counted. More in our cancellation data.

Common questions

When do Dowdy Lake reservations open?

Neither the Forest Service page nor the campground's recreation.gov page states a booking window. Check which dates are on sale on its recreation.gov page before you plan around a release day.

What is the season at Dowdy Lake?

The Forest Service lists peak and non-peak fee seasons for Dowdy Lake but no dates, and recreation.gov notes the drinking water runs until Sept 30. Sites were still opening up on recreation.gov in late October.

Do Dowdy Lake sites open up after it sells out?

Yes. Between Oct 1–28, 2026 we counted 153 times a site-night at Dowdy Lake came back as available on recreation.gov, across 140 different site-nights. Most were for nights close in: the median was 10 days before arrival.

Can Campsite Ranger book Dowdy Lake for me?

No. Campsite Ranger never books for anyone and never asks for your recreation.gov login. It emails you when a site for your dates opens, and you book it yourself on recreation.gov.