Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Cow Creek Back Country Byway
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · OR · 42.92174, -123.44667
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 Cow Creek Back Country Byway
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 729 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Cow Creek Back Country BywayNIFC · 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 Cow Creek Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- WWater8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- DDump15 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- OOutfitter22 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Cow Creek Back Country Byway
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
729 ft
Ground slope
8.5% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
under 0.1 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~6.2 mi · Interstate 5
State
OR
Coordinates
42.92174, -123.44667
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Cow Creek Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCow Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Chief Miwaleta Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townRiddle · ~4.6 mi
- Nearest rail lineunder 0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~6.2 mi · Interstate 5
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.9 mi
- Fuel76 · ~7.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.9 mi
- GroceriesRiddle Grocery · ~4.5 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~10.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicRoseburg VA Medical Center · ~21.3 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~21.5 mi
EV charging — from Cow Creek Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.5 mi straight-line NE — Myrtle Creek, OR - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · 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 reach6 within 25 mi · 29 within 50 · 90 within 100 · 183 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS8.0 mi — Electric Era Charging Station, Canyonville
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO15.9 mi — WCEH Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.3 mi — HOTEL 1 7 F HOTEL, Canyonville, OR · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 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 198005 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Cow Creek Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomIsland Creek Day Use: Svt-1 · ~1.8 mi W · BLM
- RestroomToilet · ~12.1 mi SW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletCxt Vault Toilet · ~17.4 mi SE · BLM
- RestroomToilet · ~19.9 mi SW · BLM
Coming out here — Cow Creek Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Cow Creek as a perennial stream, under 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 8.5% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (3 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 under 0.1 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.
- Interstate 5 is mapped ~6.2 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 Cow Creek Back Country Byway elsewhere
Other camps near Cow Creek Back Country Byway
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Skull Creek Campground~12.1 mi
- Devils Flat~22.5 mi · fee
- Eden Valley~23.8 mi
How we know this — Cow Creek Back Country Byway
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No fees." https://www.blm.gov/visit/cow-creek-back-country-byway
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No fees." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/cow-creek-back-country-byway (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
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 Cow Creek Back Country Byway
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 — Cow Creek Back Country Byway
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Stay limits →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →