★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Grand County
Drive-up · public land · Grand County, UT · 38.73139, -109.67712
Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Free dispersed camping north of Moab, Utah. This is a part of a vast area used for boondocking, RVs, car camping, and OHV use. This site is primitive with a fire ring, and is on top of a shelf that requires 4x4, which greatly reduces traffic and limits dust. Nice views all around and tons of space with good cell service. Highly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 5 April 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
The site — Grand County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
4,516 ft
Ground slope
2.3% · flat
Nearest rail line
~1.9 mi · main line
County
Grand County, UT
Coordinates
38.73139, -109.67712
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Grand County · public land · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCourthouse Wash (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townMoab · ~13.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking water~5.6 mi
- Fuel~16.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~2.0 mi
- GroceriesMoonflower Community Cooperative · ~12.8 mi
- Pharmacy~13.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicMoab Regional Hospital · ~12.5 mi
- HardwareTurner Lumber · ~12.6 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
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 →Weather outlook — at Grand County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,516 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Grand CountyNIFC · AirNow
No dated fire rule on record for this camp: ask the office that manages this land.
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 Grand County · public land · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump2 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- WWater6 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- AAir-up13 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- +Urgent care32 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 ↗
EV charging — from Grand County · public land · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.5 mi straight-line SE — RMP Moab (Moab, UT) · Electrify America · CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 46 within 100 · 114 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)12.0 mi — Moab, UT - North Main Street - Tesla Supercharger, Moab
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO58.9 mi — FRCIVICCENTER CPE 250 #1, Fruita
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.0 mi — Element Moab · Blink Network · J1772 · 6 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 348135 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Grand County · public land · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMill Canyon Dinosaur Track Site Vault Toilet · ~3.2 mi W · BLM
- RestroomARCH Klondike Vault Toilet · ~4.2 mi N · NPS
- RestroomBar M Toilet(Double) · ~5.5 mi S · BLM
- RestroomARCH Sand Dune Arch Vault Toilet · ~5.5 mi NE · NPS
Coming out here — Grand County · public land · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: Courthouse Wash (stream). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 2.3% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 meters around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few meters across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~1.9 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.
- 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 Grand County elsewhere
Other camps near Grand County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Designated Campsite~2.9 mi
- Designated Campsite~5.9 mi
- Designated Campsite~7.5 mi
- Grand County~8.2 mi
More free camping near Moab, UT — about 13 miles from here, in a straight line.
How we know this — Grand County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Grand County, UT). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 5 April 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit. See every camp Dave has stood on.
What we don’t know about Grand County
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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