Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 38.88681, -106.90081
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 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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 7738 (Brush Creek), 0.7 mi away. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
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 Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,959 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Brush Creek Designated Camping 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 Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater1 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- OOutfitter4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- DDump21 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- RxPharmacy23 mi
- PPropane40 mi
- ShShower41 mi
- AAir-up55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
8,959 ft
Ground slope
3.4% · gentle
State
CO
Coordinates
38.88681, -106.90081
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBrush Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMount Crested Butte · ~3.9 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.4 mi
- FuelExxon · ~4.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.1 mi
- GroceriesClark’s Market · ~4.6 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~23.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicGriggs Orthopedics · ~4.5 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~22.9 mi
EV charging — from Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger21.2 mi straight-line N — CITY OF ASPEN S GALENA LEVEL3 · 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 reach9 within 25 mi · 21 within 50 · 137 within 100 · 451 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)22.1 mi — Aspen, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Aspen
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.9 mi — Town of Mt Crested Butte, TC-1 Lot (at a public site) · RIVIAN_WAYPOINTS · J1772 · 3 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — The Lodge at Mountaineer Square - Tesla Destination, Crested Butte, 3.7 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 225425 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBrush Creek Designated Camping Area · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTent City Designated Camping Area · ~1.1 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCement Creek · ~5.3 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomRiver Flats Restroom · ~6.5 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — Brush Creek Designated Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Brush Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 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.
- 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.
- 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 Brush Creek Designated Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Tent City Designated Camping Area~1.1 mi
- Farris Creek Designated Camping Area~1.6 mi
- West Brush Designated Camping Area~2.2 mi
- Walrod Designated Camping Area~4.9 mi
The unit that manages Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Brush Creek Designated Camping Area are set by Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Butte at 10,190 ft, about 3 miles away. It sits about 1,231 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 — Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
Source
U.S. Forest Service 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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Brush Creek Designated Camping 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.
- 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 — Brush Creek Designated Camping Area
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Finding water out here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →