Three BLM campgrounds in western Wyoming lose their drinking water on September 29, and the camping fee goes away on the same day. The Kemmerer and Pinedale field offices announced on September 10 that they will winterize Fontenelle Creek in Lincoln County and Scab Creek and Warren Bridge in Sublette County on September 29 and 30, and that crews “may begin earlier if temperatures approach freezing.”
The fee half is the part almost nobody plans around. In the BLM’s words: “The BLM will stop collecting campground fees once the water is turned off and will resume fees when water service returns in spring 2027.”
What you lose, and what stays
Once the water is off, “drinking water and flush restrooms will not be available for the remainder of the season.” Vault toilets stay. The BLM’s own instruction is blunt: “Visitors should bring enough water for their stay.”
The sites do not close on the 29th. Fontenelle Creek and the access to Fontenelle Reservoir “will remain open as long as roads are passable.” Scab Creek and Warren Bridge “will remain open until the end of October or until the first significant snowfall, whichever comes first.”
Read that last clause carefully. It is not a date. It is a weather condition, which means the closing day for two of these three campgrounds has not been decided yet and will not be announced in advance. If you are planning a late October trip into Sublette County, that is the risk you are accepting.
Is a free site with no water a good deal?
Sometimes. This is where the arithmetic matters more than the price tag.
A developed BLM campground with the water off is a numbered site, a table, a fire ring and a vault toilet. That is a fine place to sit out an elk season or a shoulder-season week, and paying nothing for it is a real saving. But you are now hauling every gallon you drink, wash and cook with. If your rig carries 30 gallons and you use 3 a day, you have about ten days before the trip ends for reasons that have nothing to do with the weather. Our water management guide works through how fast that goes.
A winterized campground has no place to dump either. Plan the sanitary stop into the route out, not the route in. Our dump stations and fresh water guide covers finding the ones still open this late in the year.
What to do this week
If you have a trip into these three campgrounds after September 29, decide now whether you are carrying water or moving. And if you were going to pay, do not assume the fee tube is still collecting. The BLM says it is not.
Call before you drive. Kemmerer Field Office, 307-828-4500, for Fontenelle Creek. Pinedale Field Office, 307-367-5300, for Scab Creek and Warren Bridge. Both numbers come off the announcement. Ask about the road, not just the campground, because “open as long as roads are passable” is a judgment somebody at that office is making week by week.
Then read the sign at the entrance. A posted notice and whatever the field office tells you on the phone beat this page or any other website, including ours.
Our Wyoming free camping page covers the land types and what each one allows, and our stay limits guide covers how long you can sit still on each of them.