Dispersed Camping Area
- Listed as a backcountry site


Everything you need — measured from Dispersed Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- OOutfitter7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- WWater8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- DDump11 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- MMechanic38 mi
- PPropane49 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Dispersed Camping Area
Nearby & resupply — around Dispersed Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRed Mountain Creek · ~0.7 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townIronton · ~0.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.1 mi
- FuelConoco · ~7.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~11.1 mi
- GroceriesOuray Grocery · ~6.9 mi
- PharmacySunshine Pharmacy · ~7.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicTelluride Regional Medical Center · ~7.7 mi
- HardwareOuray Hardware and Mercantile · ~7.0 mi
EV charging — from Dispersed Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.3 mi straight-line N — HION NETWORK OURAY PL2 · 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 · 71 within 100 · 154 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)9.8 mi — Mountain Village, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Mountain Village
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.6 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 260039 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Dispersed Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomCorkscrew Restroom · ~1.8 mi SE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletThistledown · ~5.0 mi N · USFS
- RestroomMineral Point Restroom · ~5.3 mi NE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletAngel Creek · ~5.5 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Dispersed Camping Area · Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Red Mountain Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.7 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 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 ~7.8 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 Dispersed Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Dispersed Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Corkscrew~1.1 mi
- Dispersed camp site~1.2 mi
- Ouray County~4.0 mi
- Thistledown Campground~5.0 mi
The unit that manages Dispersed Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Dispersed 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 Idarado at 9,780 ft, less than a mile away. It sits about 834 ft lower 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 — Dispersed Camping Area
What we don’t know about Dispersed 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