Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Barker Recreation Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · UT · 37.92044, -111.81681
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 30149A (Barker Reservoir Cg A), 70 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars. The record carries no surface type for it.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 30149A (Barker Reservoir Cg A), 70 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 30149A (Barker Reservoir Cg A): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Barker Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,306 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Barker Recreation AreaNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater14 mi
- ShShower14 mi
- DDump14 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- GGrocery16 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- @Mail16 mi
- FFuel16 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- HHardware25 mi
- PPropane25 mi
- EVEV fast charger25 mi
- +Urgent care32 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- RxPharmacy34 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 16 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Barker Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,306 ft
Ground slope
1.4% · flat
State
UT
Coordinates
37.92044, -111.81681
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (recreation.gov, read 2026-09-18)
Nearby & resupply — around Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Creek · ~0.4 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Lower Barker Reservoir (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townEscalante · ~15.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelHigh Adventure · ~15.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~13.8 mi
- GroceriesGriffin's Grocery & General Merchandise · ~15.7 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~25.0 mi
EV charging — from Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger25.3 mi straight-line SW — Bryce Canyon City, UT - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 1 within 50 · 28 within 100 · 66 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS51.4 mi — Beaver, UT, Beaver
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO59.0 mi — Walmart 5168 (Richfield, UT), Richfield
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)25.0 mi — Bryce Canyon Inn & Bryce Canyon Coffee Company - Tesla Destination, Tropic, UT (at a hotel) · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 5 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 417111 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBarker Reservoir Recreation Complex · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPosey Lake Campground · ~6.8 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCowpuncher Guard Station/Rental Cabin · ~9.6 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlue Spruce Campground · ~9.7 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Barker Recreation Area · Dixie National Forest · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.4 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.4% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Barker Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near Barker Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Posey Lake Campground~6.8 mi · fee
- Blue Spruce Campground~9.7 mi
- Antimony Creek Dispersed~13.4 mi
- Pine Lake Campground~14.1 mi
The unit that manages Barker Recreation Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Barker Recreation Area are set by Dixie National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Clayton Springs at 10,010 ft, about 4 miles away. It sits about 704 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Barker Recreation Area
Fee note
$18 a night per the Recreation.gov page, read 18 Sep 2026: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233931
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233931
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there) | Fee 2026-09-18: $18 per night, by site type and season (Recreation.gov rates table). Source: https://www.recreation.gov/api/camps/campgrounds/233931/rates (fee_backfill, figure verified on that page).
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Barker Recreation Area
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Barker Recreation Area
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Finding water out here →Camping with a dog →All field notes →