Pelican Lake Campground | Utah

Overview

This Campground is on a First Come - First Serve Basis, vistors are required to physically be at the campground to purchase and claim a site. You must also occupy the area the day you pay for it, no advance payments. We encourage our visitors to download the recreation.gov app to take advantage of the Scan & Pay Option. There is also an Iron Ranger on site that you can pay with cash or check

Pelican Lake Campground is located at 4,800 feet and has 11 individual campsites and two group sites. Pelican Lake is well known for the outstanding bluegill and bass fishing. Bird watching is also a popular pastime in the spring, when the waterfowl come to live and rear their downy young.

Recreation

Pelican Lake is well known for the outstanding bluegill and bass fishing. Bird watching is also a popular pastime in the spring.

Facilities

11 individual sites and two group sites are available. Sites include picnic tables and fire rings. Vault toilets are available within the campground community. Please bring your own water.

Campsites are first-come first-served.

Natural Features

Pelican Lake has been a nationally-renowned bluegill fishery since the 1970’s when Jim Zumbo published an article in Outdoor Life on the potential for daily bag limits of 1.5 pound bluegill. Since then, anglers have held high expectations for Pelican Lake. Unfortunately, in 2008 and 2009, adult carp entered Pelican Lake in large numbers and turned the lake from a clear waterbody dominated by largemouth bass and bluegill to a lake dominated by carp. The carp’s ability to outcompete bluegill for food eventually led to a decline in bluegill condition and a few years later, a decline in largemouth bass condition.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and avid Pelican Lake anglers anticipated this decline and convened a working group that developed a management plan for the lakes future success.

Nearby Attractions

Ouray National Wildlife Refuge

Ouray National Wildlife Refuge lies along the Green River in the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. The Refuge provides diverse habitat types supporting over 350 fish and wildlife species and offers numerous wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities.

Photos

Pelican Lake Campground, Host site

BLM

Pelican Lake, Spring

BLM

Welcome to Pelican Lake

BLM

Pelican Lake

BLM

Spring at Pelican Lake

BLM

Accessibility Description (ABA/ADA)

View images of accessibility features in a new window.

All parking and road surfaces, both at the boat ramp and the nearby campground, are a hard natural surface. The parking spots are appropriate for accessible parking, even though they aren’t striped or signed, i.e., designated for accessible vehicles.

Two accessible unisex vault toilets are near the boat ramp, and one double vault toilet is centrally located in the campground. These toilets are designed to be accessible, but due have a 3 inch lip off the front edge of the concrete pads they sit on, and this may present challenges for visitors with mobility impairments. There is no running water at the site.

Of the campground’s 13 campsites, which are available on a first-come, first-served basis, 3 of them were designed with raised tent pads and parking areas wide enough to accommodate side lift of van type vehicles. All sites have picnic shelters covering accessible picnic tables with extended tops for wheelchair users; and accessible fire rings and grills. From site 10, there is a hardened path to reach the centrally toilets. All other paths in the campground are loose gravel.

The larger group campsites, sites 12 and 13, are farther from the center and are equipped with separate single vault toilets. These sites, like the others in the campground, have some accessibility features. They all have accessible pull-in, pull-through, or extended parking areas that can accommodate vehicles with wheelchair ramps. All sites have picnic shelters and accessible picnic tables, and most have accessible fire rings. Group site 12 has an accessible grill.

For the day-use area near the boat ramp, there is parking for 10 vehicles. The day-use area has a large picnic pavilion for groups, with 2 accessible picnic tables and an accessible stand grill. In addition, there are 3 single picnic shelters, each with an accessible table and grill. Bollards and wooden rails with narrow gaps between them have been installed near the picnic pavilions.

The boat dock is not accessible to people using mobility devices due to a 15-inch gap between the ramp and the dock.

Descriptions and photos uploaded September 2024. Please note that actual on-the-ground conditions may vary due to natural events (e.g., weather, wildfires, erosion), normal wear and tear, or site improvements.