Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Buck Creek Upper
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · OR · 43.05313, -121.26651
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 — Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2804000 (Buck Cr), 30 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 2804000 (Buck Cr), 30 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 1 – Nov 30. That season ends after Nov 30.
MVUM record for FR 2804000 (Buck Cr): “04/01-11/30” 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 Buck Creek Upper
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,066 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Buck Creek UpperNIFC · 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 Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery12 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- EVEV fast charger28 mi
- MMechanic30 mi
- HHardware32 mi
- LLaundry32 mi
- WWater42 mi
- ShShower44 mi
- +Urgent care45 mi
- RxPharmacy45 mi
- DDump46 mi
- OOutfitter47 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 42-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Buck Creek Upper
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,066 ft
Ground slope
7.1% · gentle
State
OR
Coordinates
43.05313, -121.26651
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBuck Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townSilver Lake · ~12.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelChevron · ~12.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesSilver Lake Market · ~12.1 mi
EV charging — from Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger28.2 mi straight-line W — Chemult, OR - Tesla Supercharger (at a restaurant) · 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 · 6 within 50 · 53 within 100 · 142 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS28.4 mi — Pilot Travel Center 133, Chemult
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO44.8 mi — CHILOQUIN EV CHI EVCS LVL 3, Chiloquin
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)31.7 mi — Santa's Hardware, Christmas Valley, OR (at a hardware store) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-04-14 · hours: 9am-6pm M-Sat, 11am-4pm Sun; Also accepts PayPal
- 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 353796 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBuck Creek Upper · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBuck Creek Lower · ~1.5 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletAntler Trailhead / Horse Camp · ~6.6 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSilver Creek Marsh · ~7.4 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Buck Creek Upper · Fremont-Winema National Forest · OR
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Buck Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 7.1% — 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.
- 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 Buck Creek Upper elsewhere
Other camps near Buck Creek Upper
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Upper Buck Creek Forest Camp~0.3 mi
- Lower Buck Creek Forest Camp~1.2 mi
- Lower Buck Creek Forest Camp~1.5 mi
- Silver Creek Marsh Campground~7.4 mi
The unit that manages Buck Creek Upper
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Buck Creek Upper are set by Fremont-Winema National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Buck Creek Upper
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 Buck Creek Upper
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 — Buck Creek Upper
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →