Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Mink Creek Group Site
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · ID · 42.72839, -112.41627
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. 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 — Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 71232 (Mink Crk. Group Site), 240 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 71232 (Mink Crk. Group Site), 240 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 71232 (Mink Crk. Group Site): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; 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 →
What the record says about the site — Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
- Tent camping
- Trailers and RVs fit
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 Mink Creek Group Site
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,152 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mink Creek Group SiteNIFC · 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 Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- WWater8 mi
- DDump8 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- ShShower20 mi
- +Urgent care21 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Mink Creek Group Site
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,152 ft
Ground slope
3.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.4 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~5.5 mi · US Hwy 30
State
ID
Coordinates
42.72839, -112.41627
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMink Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townPocatello · ~9.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~5.5 mi · US Hwy 30
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.6 mi
- FuelMaverik · ~7.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump stationPocatello's public and free dump station and drinking water · ~8.5 mi
- GroceriesMaverik · ~7.9 mi
- PharmacyMaag Prescription and Medical Supply · ~9.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicPortneuf Medical Center · ~10.0 mi
- HardwareAffordable Supply · ~8.9 mi
EV charging — from Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.9 mi straight-line N — Hirning Buick GMC, Pocatello, ID (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-07-11 · hours: 9am-7pm M-F; 9am-6pm Sat · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 46 within 100 · 133 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)11.9 mi — Pocatello, ID - Tesla Supercharger, Pocatello
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.5 mi — Fairfield by Marriott, Pocatello, ID · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.45 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 349554 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMink Creek Group Use Site · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCherry Springs Nature Area · ~1.8 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletScout Mountain Warming Shelter · ~3.8 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletScout Mountain · ~3.8 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Mink Creek Group Site · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mink Creek as a perennial stream, 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 3.2% — 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 ~5.4 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.
- US Hwy 30 is mapped ~5.5 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.
- 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 Mink Creek Group Site elsewhere
Other camps near Mink Creek Group Site
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Scout Mountain~3.8 mi · fee
- Goodenough Creek Campground~8.5 mi
- Big Springs Campground~16.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Mink Creek Group Site
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Mink Creek Group Site are set by Caribou-Targhee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Wildhorse Divide at 6,480 ft, about 4 miles away. It sits about 1,328 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 — Mink Creek Group Site
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233966
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) | Fee 2026-09-28: GROUP SITE: $80 per night Sunday-Thursday, $120 per night Friday-Saturday. The camp's recreation.gov listing (id 233966, MINK CREEK GROUP SITE CAMPGROUND, 0.051 mi from this pin, season 2026-05-15 to 2026-09-27) gives $80 per night with a $40 weekend amount in its rate record, which matches. Sources: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/caribou-targhee/recreation/mink-creek-group-campground (page last updated May 15, 2026; page coordinates 0.044 mi from this pin) and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233966.
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.
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 Mink Creek Group Site
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 — Mink Creek Group Site
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →