Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Drive-up · public land · CO · 37.81269, -106.73714
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
What the record says about the site — Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO
- Basic site, no services
- No drinking water — carry your own
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 10,860 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hansons Mill Dispersed CampsiteNIFC · 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 Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel10 mi
- WWater11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- OOutfitter11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- +Urgent care11 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- EVEV fast charger23 mi
- MMechanic32 mi
- AAir-up34 mi
- HHardware35 mi
- DDump35 mi
- RxPharmacy43 mi
- ShShower48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 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 — Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
10,860 ft
Ground slope
4.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~9.7 mi · main line
State
CO
Coordinates
37.81269, -106.73714
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Alder Creek · ~0.8 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townWagon Wheel Gap · ~4.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~10.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesKentucky Bell Market · ~10.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicRio Grande Hospital · ~22.5 mi
EV charging — from Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger22.9 mi straight-line SE — JRM DEL NORTE FAST · 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 · 12 within 50 · 72 within 100 · 242 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)40.7 mi — CENTENNIAL PARK PAGOSA SPGS PL2, Pagosa Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.2 mi — SOUTH FORK STATION 1 · 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 182045 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletHansen Mill · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletEast Bellows · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPalisade · ~4.5 mi S · USFS
- RestroomWheeler Geologic Area · ~4.9 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite · Rio Grande National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Alder Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.8 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 4.3% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~9.7 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 Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite elsewhere
Other camps near Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Palisade Campground~4.5 mi
- Cathedral Campground~7.2 mi
- Marshall Park Campground~13.5 mi
- Highway Springs Campground~13.5 mi
The unit that manages Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite are set by Rio Grande National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Moon Pass at 11,110 ft, about 14 miles away. It sits about 250 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 — Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
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 — Hansons Mill Dispersed Campsite
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →