Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · UT · 40.54361, -111.59522
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 →U.S. Forest Service 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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 70007 (Mineral Basin), 110 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 70007 (Mineral Basin), 110 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 1 – Nov 30. That season ends after Nov 30.
MVUM record for FR 70007 (Mineral Basin): “04/01-11/30” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,801 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mineral Basin Dispersed AreaNIFC · 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 Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- OOutfitter5 mi
- DDump6 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- ShShower7 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- PPropane13 mi
- AAir-up15 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
7,801 ft
Ground slope
9.2% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~7.2 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~8.7 mi · US Hwy 40
State
UT
Coordinates
40.54361, -111.59522
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureAmerican Fork · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townAlta · ~3.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~8.7 mi · US Hwy 40
- Drinking waterWater · ~2.3 mi
- FuelChevron · ~6.7 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~13.3 mi
- Dump station~5.7 mi
- GroceriesBrighton Store · ~4.2 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~10.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicCold Creek Lodge · ~4.0 mi
- HardwareStandard Plumbing Supply · ~9.2 mi
EV charging — from Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.4 mi straight-line NE — Park City, UT (at a public site) · RIVIAN_ADVENTURE · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach87 within 25 mi · 113 within 50 · 146 within 100 · 172 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.9 mi — Dick's Sporting Goods - Fort Union, Midvale
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.7 mi — Albion Day Lodge, Alta, UT (at a recreation facility) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-12-12 · hours: 24 hours daily; no overnight parking
- 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 452387 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletAlbion Basin · ~2.6 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSilver Lake Flat Trailhead/Fishing Area · ~4.1 mi SW · USFS
- Flush restroomSilver Lake Rec Complex · ~4.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGranite Flat · ~4.8 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Mineral Basin Dispersed Area · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps American Fork as a perennial stream, ~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 9.2% — noticeable. 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 ~7.2 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.
- US Hwy 40 is mapped ~8.7 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Mineral Basin Dispersed Area elsewhere
Other camps near Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Forest Lake Dispersed Area~2.1 mi · fee
- Albion Basin~2.6 mi · fee
- Holman Flat Dispersed Area~3.7 mi
- Granite Flat~4.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Mineral Basin Dispersed Area are set by Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Snowbird at 9,170 ft, about 4 miles away. It sits about 1,369 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 — Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
Source
U.S. Forest Service 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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-24: no rate published by the agency, in any channel. The Forest Service's own recreation-site record for this site carries a fee flag with an EMPTY (null) fee description; the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache publishes no page for it (every /mineral-basin, /mineral-basin-dispersed-area and /mineral-basin-campground slug 404s, and it does not appear anywhere in the 112 entries of the forest's own Camping & Cabins index); and a keyless recreation.gov search by name returns no listing within 40 mi of the pin. One clue about what you would be paying: that same record files the charge as a STANDARD AMENITY FEE, the category the Forest Service uses for an area/day-use fee rather than the EXPANDED AMENITY FEE it puts on a per-site campground charge -- consistent with an American Fork Canyon area fee on the Pleasant Grove Ranger District. Expect to pay something at the site and carry cash. Checked: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0/query?where=objectid%3D2559136&outFields=site_name,fee_description&f=json and https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/uinta-wasatch-cache/recreation/camping-cabins .
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 Mineral Basin Dispersed 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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Mineral Basin Dispersed Area
When the high country opens →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Off-grid communication →All field notes →