Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
BLM Dispersed Camping
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CO · 37.85539, -107.57324
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.
What the record says about the site — BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO
- Listed as a backcountry site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at BLM Dispersed Camping
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,760 ft.
Fire & smoke — around BLM Dispersed CampingNIFC · 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 BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- WWater14 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- ShShower17 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- DDump17 mi
- +Urgent care19 mi
- MMechanic43 mi
- PPropane46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — BLM Dispersed Camping
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
9,760 ft
Ground slope
3.4% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · main line
State
CO
Coordinates
37.85539, -107.57324
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureAnimas River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townMiddleton · ~0.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelConoco · ~13.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~17.3 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~6.1 mi
- PharmacySunshine Pharmacy · ~14.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicTelluride Regional Medical Center · ~14.4 mi
- HardwareOuray Hardware and Mercantile · ~12.8 mi
EV charging — from BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.2 mi straight-line NW — HION NETWORK OURAY PL1 · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 19 within 50 · 64 within 100 · 164 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)16.3 mi — Mountain Village, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Mountain Village
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.7 mi — The Wyman Hotel - Tesla Destination, Silverton, CO · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 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 260040 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMaggie Gulch Restroom · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomCunningham Gulch Restroom · ~4.4 mi S · BLM
- RestroomLost Restroom · ~5.0 mi N · BLM
- RestroomAnimas Forks Restroom · ~5.1 mi N · BLM
Coming out here — BLM Dispersed Camping · Bureau of Land Management · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Animas River as a perennial river, ~0.2 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 3.4% — gentle. 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 ~5.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. 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 BLM Dispersed Camping elsewhere
Other camps near BLM Dispersed Camping
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cunningham Gulch Dispersed Camping~4.1 mi
- Cunningham Gulch Dispersed Camping~4.4 mi
- Cunningham Gulch Dispersed Camping~4.5 mi
- Dispersed Camping Area~7.3 mi
The unit that manages BLM Dispersed Camping
BLM Dispersed Camping is in the Gunnison Field Office, Southwest 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 Idarado at 9,780 ft, about 8 miles away. That is about the height of this camp, so it is a fair proxy. 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 — BLM Dispersed Camping
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 BLM Dispersed Camping
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 — BLM Dispersed Camping
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Leave no trace →All field notes →