Dispersed camping


Everything you need — measured from Dispersed camping · San Juan National Forest · CO
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- WWater13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- DDump15 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
- ShShower57 mi
- PPropane58 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 13 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
Nearby & resupply — around Dispersed camping · San Juan National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureEast Fork San Juan River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Tie Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townTreasure · ~9.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~12.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.0 mi
- GroceriesNatural Grocers · ~13.6 mi
- PharmacyCity Market Pharmacy · ~16.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicPagosa Springs Medical Center · ~16.8 mi
EV charging — from Dispersed camping · San Juan National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.7 mi straight-line NE — WCSA LEVEL 3 ESP250, Pagosa Springs, 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 reach3 within 25 mi · 13 within 50 · 69 within 100 · 173 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)13.4 mi — CENTENNIAL PARK PAGOSA SPGS PL2, Pagosa Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.7 mi — WCSA LEVEL 2 - RIGHT, Pagosa Springs, CO · 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 191393 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Dispersed camping · San Juan National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSilver Falls Guard Station · ~3.2 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletEast Fork · ~3.4 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWest Fork · ~5.1 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomWolf Creek · ~5.3 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Dispersed camping · San Juan National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps East Fork San Juan River as a perennial river, 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 5.3% — 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 Dispersed camping elsewhere
Other camps near Dispersed camping
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Dispersed camping~0.6 mi
- Dispersed camping~0.8 mi
- East Fork~3.4 mi · fee
- West Fork Campground ~5.1 mi · fee
The unit that manages Dispersed camping
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Dispersed camping are set by San Juan National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Wolf Creek Summit at 10,930 ft, about 6 miles away. It sits about 2,935 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 — Dispersed camping
What we don’t know about Dispersed camping
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