Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Big Bend Recreation Site
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · UT · 38.64868, -109.47968
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 →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Big Bend Recreation Site
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,003 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Big Bend Recreation SiteNIFC · 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 Big Bend Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- AAir-up6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- LLaundry6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- DDump7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- +Urgent care44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — Big Bend Recreation Site
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
4,003 ft
Ground slope
2.5% · flat
Nearest rail line
~7.5 mi · main line
State
UT
Coordinates
38.64868, -109.47968
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Big Bend Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureColorado River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townCastle Valley · ~3.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.5 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.0 mi
- FuelFuel · ~25.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~7.1 mi
- GroceriesMoonflower Community Cooperative · ~6.4 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~6.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicMoab Regional Hospital · ~6.7 mi
- HardwareTurner Lumber · ~6.3 mi
EV charging — from Big Bend Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.0 mi straight-line SW — Moab, UT - North Main Street - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 49 within 100 · 113 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO53.6 mi — FRCIVICCENTER CPE 250 #1, Fruita
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.0 mi — Field Station Moab - Tesla Destination · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 6 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 250740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Big Bend Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (Main Parking Double) · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (Beach Access Double) · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Overflow Toilet (Single Near Sites) · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (West End Single) · at this camp · BLM
Coming out here — Big Bend Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Colorado River as a perennial river, ~0.1 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 2.5% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~7.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Big Bend Recreation Site elsewhere
Other camps near Big Bend Recreation Site
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Upper Big Bend Campground~0.5 mi
- Upper Drinks Canyon Campground~0.9 mi
- Middle Drinks Canyon Campground~1.0 mi
- Lower Drinks Canyon Campground~1.1 mi
The unit that manages Big Bend Recreation Site
Big Bend Recreation Site is in the Moab Field Office, Canyon Country District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Lasal Mountain-Lower at 8,780 ft, about 15 miles away. It sits about 4,777 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 — Big Bend Recreation Site
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
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.
How it was placed
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Big Bend Recreation Site
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Big Bend Recreation Site
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →