★ Field-verified · Dave's ownBLM · dispersedFree
BLM public land
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · Mesa County, CO · 39.23651, -108.53383
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on Bureau of Land Management land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
An improvised clearing in the mountains north of Grand Junction. While this clearing was beautiful, peaceful, with decent protection from the elements, the nearby BLM land was very spoiled with garbage, brass, and heavy OHV activity. Had to drive far for a nice place to spend the night. Good cell service. Somewhat recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 5 April 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at BLM public land
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,565 ft.
Fire & smoke — around BLM public landNIFC · 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 public land · 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
- WWater8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- OOutfitter11 mi
- ShShower39 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — BLM public land
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
5,565 ft
Ground slope
6% · gentle
Nearest highway
~8.4 mi · Interstate 70
County
Mesa County, CO
Coordinates
39.23651, -108.53383
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townFruitvale · ~10.3 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~8.4 mi · Interstate 70
- Drinking waterWater · ~7.7 mi
- FuelShell · ~8.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.4 mi
- GroceriesGood 2 Go · ~8.6 mi
- PharmacyCity Market Pharmacy · ~10.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicSaint Mary's Family Medicine Clinic · ~10.0 mi
- HardwareThe Home Depot · ~10.4 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.8 mi straight-line S — STOP N SAVE 723 HORIZON DC1, Grand Junction, CO · 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 reach16 within 25 mi · 25 within 50 · 76 within 100 · 144 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.1 mi — Grand Junction, CO - Patterson Road - Tesla Supercharger, Grand Junction
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.8 mi — Leitner-Poma, Grand Junction, CO · Blink Network · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 118890 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomLow Gap Restroom · ~4.0 mi E · BLM
- RestroomNorth Fruita Desert Restroom Loop G - South · ~10.3 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomNorth Fruita Desert Restroom Loop G - North · ~10.3 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomNorth Fruita Desert Restroom Event South · ~10.3 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CO
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 6% — 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.
- No rail line is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 70 is mapped ~8.4 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 public land elsewhere
Other camps near BLM public land
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- North Fruita Desert Dispersed Camping~10.2 mi
- 18 Road - North Fruita Desert~11.3 mi
- Grand Valley Open Ohv Area~15.1 mi
- Rattlesnake~18.2 mi
The unit that manages BLM public land
BLM public land is in the Grand Junction Field Office, Upper Colorado River 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.
How we know this — BLM public land
Source
Dave's own travels
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
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Mesa County, CO). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 5 April 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about BLM public land
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 public land
What “dispersed” means here →Cold-weather camping →Stay limits →Camping with a dog →All field notes →