Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · OR · 45.26156, -121.03311
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 Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 764 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lower Deschutes River 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 Lower Deschutes River 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
- GGrocery6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- +Urgent care24 mi
- RxPharmacy25 mi
- LLaundry25 mi
- AAir-up26 mi
- ShShower26 mi
- WWater27 mi
- DDump27 mi
- PPropane54 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 27-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
764 ft
Ground slope
17% · steep
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
State
OR
Coordinates
45.26156, -121.03311
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDeschutes River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Buck Hollow Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMaupin · ~6.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelWamic Market & Supply · ~11.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~26.7 mi
- GroceriesMaupin Market · ~6.4 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~25.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicAdventist Health Columbia Gorge · ~23.4 mi
- HardwareWamic Hardware Store · ~11.7 mi
EV charging — from Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.9 mi straight-line NE — Grass Valley Market · OpConnect · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 24 within 50 · 239 within 100 · 410 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)25.7 mi — The Dalles, OR - Tesla Supercharger, The Dalles
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.4 mi — MAUPIN MAUPIN · 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 346040 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBuckhollow - Rec Site - Vault Toilet · ~0.8 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomSandy Beach - Rec Site - Toilet #3 · ~1.7 mi SW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSandy Beach - Rec Site - Double Vault Toilet · ~1.7 mi SW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSandy Beach - Rec Site - Pit Toilet #1 · ~1.7 mi SW · BLM
Coming out here — Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · OR
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Deschutes 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 17% — steep. 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 ~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.
- 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 Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway elsewhere
Other camps near Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- White River Campground~2.6 mi
- Blue Hole Campground~3.8 mi
- Jones Canyon Campground~4.9 mi
- Oasis Campground~5.9 mi
The unit that manages Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway is in the Deschutes Field Office, Prineville District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Lower Deschutes River Back Country Byway
Fee note
The BLM page names both free use and fee camping, read 19 Sep 2026: "No fee to use the Back Country Byway. All campgrounds charge fees year-round. Boater Passes are required year-round, for both day and overnight use, for anyone using a watercraft or any other floating device as a means o…" https://www.blm.gov/visit/lower-deschutes-river-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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field names both free areas and fee sites, so the cost is unpriced ("No fee to use the Back Country Byway. All campgrounds charge fees year-round. Boater Passes are required year-round, for") (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | Mixed 2026-09-19: "No fee to use the Back Country Byway. All campgrounds charge fees year-round. Boater Passes are required year-round, for both day and overnight use, for anyone using a watercraft or any other floating device as a means o…" Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/lower-deschutes-river-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 Lower Deschutes River 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