Short answer: no. Not right now. Not in the national forest, not on county land, not over the pass in the state park — and not even in a permanent metal fire ring in a developed campground. Every jurisdiction in this canyon has wood fires banned, and the Canyon Lakes Ranger District currently posts fire danger as Extreme.
But that’s the answer you can get from a sign. Here’s the useful version — what you can still do (there’s more than you’d think), and the part almost nobody tells you: the rules quietly change as you drive up Highway 14, and no agency will warn you when you cross the line.
Wood campfires are banned across the whole corridor — including in developed campgrounds with permanent metal fire rings. Propane and liquid-gas devices with an on/off valve are still allowed in all three jurisdictions.
Roosevelt National Forest — Canyon Lakes Ranger District
National forest (most of the Poudre Canyon & Red Feather area)
In effect July 2, 2026 through December 31, 2026, unless rescinded.
Not allowed
- Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire, campfire, charcoal barbecue, or grill — except a device solely fueled by liquid or gas that can be turned on and off, in an area cleared of all flammable material within three feet.
- Smoking, except in an enclosed vehicle or building.
- Welding, or operating an acetylene or other torch with open flame.
- Using an explosive.
- Possessing or using a motor vehicle off Forest Service roads, except when parking in an area devoid of vegetation within 10 feet of the vehicle.
Still allowed
- Stoves, grills, lanterns and fire pits fueled solely by liquid fuel or bottled gas, with an on/off control — set in an area cleared of flammable material for three feet around the device.
- Smoking inside an enclosed vehicle or building.
Penalty: Class B misdemeanor — up to $5,000 for an individual ($10,000 for an organization), up to six months imprisonment, or both.
Larimer County (unincorporated land only)
Unincorporated county land — NOT the national forest, NOT the state park
In effect May 27, 2026 through 11:59pm July 21, 2026 — unless ended earlier or extended. Verify before you travel.
Larimer County does not use “Stage 1/Stage 2” terminology — despite what many websites say. It is a recorded resolution.
Not allowed
- Contained open fires — including fires in permanently built masonry or metal fireplaces and fire rings.
- Uncontained open fires of any type — campfires, bonfires, fire pits, recreational fires, and coal, wood or pellet stoves.
- Charcoal, wood or pellet fueled cooking of any kind.
- Welding, or operating acetylene or other torches with open flame.
- Combustible devices — sky lanterns, exploding targets, exploding ammunition, tracer ammunition.
- Running any internal- or external-combustion engine without a working spark arrester. Operating a chainsaw — gas OR electric — also requires having a shovel on hand to put out sparks from rock strikes.
Still allowed
- Fires fueled by bottled gas or pressurized liquid — the resolution names portable heaters, cooking stoves, heating stoves, hiking/camping stoves, grills, FIRE PITS and fireplaces.
- Fireplaces and wood stoves inside a permanent building (a home or business) — these are not “contained open fires.”
- Open burning intentionally used for forest management.
Unclear
- Smoking: the county’s announcement page says smoking outdoors is not allowed, but the recorded resolution — the legally operative document — contains no smoking clause. We can’t state it as law either way. Assume you shouldn’t, and check with the county.
Penalty: An unlawful act, enforceable under the county’s 2022 fire ordinance. The county says violators can be fined; no dollar figure is stated in the resolution itself.
Jackson County — including State Forest State Park
Over Cameron Pass: State Forest State Park & the Gould/Walden side
In effect since 12:01am July 3, 2026 — until further notice. Jackson went to Stage 1 on June 18 and escalated to Stage 2 on July 3.
Not allowed
- Building, maintaining, attending or using any open fire or open burning — campfires, warming fires, charcoal grill fires, slash fires, and burning trash or debris.
- Fireworks of any kind, and the lighting of fused explosives.
- Colorado Parks & Wildlife states it plainly for the park: open fire, campfire or open flame outdoors is prohibited INCLUDING in developed campgrounds and picnic areas — and that includes charcoal grills, BBQs, coal and wood-burning stoves.
Still allowed
- Stoves, lanterns, heating devices and appliances fueled by bottled or liquid gas — the device must meet underwriter’s safety specifications and have a regulator and gas control that let you turn the flame on and off.
- Fires in fireplaces inside buildings.
- Charcoal grills at private residences and retail food establishments — this does NOT cover your campsite.
- Professional fireworks displays authorized by the local governing body.
Penalty: $1,000 plus a $10 surcharge per offense; a class 2 petty offense under Colorado law.
The three-foot rule is a federal rule
Only the Forest Service requires your gas stove or fire pit to sit in an area cleared of flammable material for three feet around it. Larimer and Jackson set no clearance distance — but it’s the safest habit for the whole corridor, so just do it everywhere.
The chainsaw rule gets STRICTER when you leave the national forest
Counterintuitive, but true: the Canyon Lakes order has no chainsaw clause at all, while Larimer County requires a working spark arrester AND a shovel on hand — for gas or electric saws. Cutting firewood on county land? Bring the shovel.
Smoking rules change at the forest boundary
In Roosevelt National Forest, smoking is allowed only inside an enclosed vehicle or building. Jackson County’s ordinance doesn’t address smoking. Larimer’s own two sources disagree with each other. The safe move corridor-wide: only in your vehicle, and pack out the butt.
Larimer’s end date is not an all-clear
Larimer County’s restrictions are set to expire 11:59pm on July 21, 2026 — and they may be extended. Even if they lapse, they only ever covered unincorporated county land. The national forest order runs through December 31, and Jackson County’s has no end date at all. The canyon does not open back up on July 22.
Verified against the official orders on 2026-07-16. Fire restrictions change fast — always confirm with the agency before you travel.
The Part Nobody Publishes: Where the Rules Change
Drive west on Highway 14 with a cooler and a bundle of firewood and you’ll cross at least two invisible lines. Around Chambers Lake you leave Roosevelt National Forest. Near Cameron Pass you drop into Jackson County and State Forest State Park. Different agency, different order, different penalty — and on the drive up, unincorporated Larimer County has its own rules on top.
Each agency publishes its own order, on its own website, in its own PDF, written for lawyers. None of them mention the neighbors. No single agency owns the seam between them — which is exactly why it never gets explained. So here it is:
- The three-foot rule is federal only. Only the Forest Service requires your gas stove or fire pit to sit in an area cleared of anything flammable for three feet around it. Larimer and Jackson set no distance — but just do it everywhere. It’s the easiest habit in this list.
- The chainsaw rule gets stricter when you leave the forest. Backwards, but true: the national forest order has no chainsaw clause at all. Larimer County requires a working spark arrester and a shovel on hand — for gas or electric saws.
- Smoking changes at the forest boundary. In Roosevelt National Forest: only inside an enclosed vehicle or building. Jackson County doesn’t address it. Larimer’s own two sources disagree with each other. Safe move corridor-wide: in your vehicle, and pack the butt out.
- Larimer’s end date is not an all-clear. Larimer County’s restrictions are set to lapse late in July and may well be extended — but they only ever covered unincorporated county land. The national forest order runs through December 31. Jackson County’s has no end date at all. The canyon does not reopen just because one date passes.
Keep the Campfire. Lose the Risk.
Here’s what the “NO FIRES” signs never tell you: you can still have a fire. Just not a wood one.
All three jurisdictions — the Forest Service, Larimer County, and Jackson County — allow a device fueled by bottled gas or pressurized liquid with an on/off valve. Larimer County’s resolution names fire pits specifically. Jackson County’s exemption asks that the device have a regulator and a control that lets you shut the flame off. That’s not a loophole someone found — it’s written into the law on purpose, because a propane flame you can kill with a twist of your wrist is a fundamentally different animal from an ember bed that can creep underground for days and come up a week later in the wind.
Which is the whole idea behind a LavaBox: a portable propane campfire. Real flame, real circle of people, no coals, no sparks, and it’s out the instant you turn the knob. You still get the part you actually came for — faces lit up, the conversation that only happens around a fire — without the part that closed Jacks Gulch for six years running.
Full disclosure: we’re a LavaBox distributor, so we have a stake in telling you this. We got into it because of this problem — watching people read a “NO FIRES” sign, shrug, and build a wood fire anyway, because a rule with no alternative just gets ignored. Take our recommendation with that in mind, and check the orders yourself — we’ve linked every one of them above.
Other Ways to Have the Night
Cook like normal — your camp stove is fine
Every jurisdiction here allows liquid-fuel and bottled-gas stoves with an on/off control. Coffee at dawn, dinner after the hike — none of that has to change. Just clear the ground three feet around it and don’t walk away from a lit burner.
Sleep somewhere with a real fireplace
One of the quiet exemptions: fires in fireplaces inside a building are still allowed. Both Larimer and Jackson County spell that out. So a cabin with a hearth is a completely legal way to have your fire this summer — try Glen Echo Resort, The Trading Post Resort, or Beaver Meadows, and browse the rest of our camping and cabin guide.
Let the sky do the work
Honestly? The best argument against a campfire is that it ruins your night vision. Kill the flame and give your eyes twenty minutes up here and the Milky Way comes out edge to edge — the thing you actually drove three hours for. A fire is a small bright circle. The sky is the whole rest of it.
Go find water instead
Fire bans don’t touch the fishing. Our fishing guide maps every water in the county — and the evening rise happens whether or not you have a fire going.
Why We Made This Page
Because we watched a manager, a fire chief, and a whole lot of visitors have the same conversation all summer: “Wait — can I have a fire or not?” And the honest answer took reading three separate legal orders from three separate agencies, one of which is a scanned image of a county resolution.
That’s a ridiculous thing to ask of somebody who just wants to take their kids camping. So we read them, and wrote down what they actually say.
And it matters here more than most places. The Cameron Peak Fire burned through this canyon in 2020 and we are still living inside it — Jacks Gulch Campground is closed for all of 2026, six years on, waiting to be rebuilt. Forest roads in the burn scar are still shut. That’s not a story about rules. That’s a story about what a fire takes and how long it keeps taking it.
The Cameron Peak burn along Long Draw Road, summer 2026 — six years on. The dead are still standing; the green is only just coming back. Photos: Faye Martin.
We’re the guide, not the government. We’ve quoted the orders and linked every source above so you can read them yourself — and restrictions change fast, sometimes within days. Before you drive up, confirm with the agency whose land you’ll actually be standing on.