Agency-listedIdaho PowerFree

Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Drive-up · Idaho Power · OR · 44.65040, -117.10223

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Idaho Power lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.

One of the better free stops on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon country: Moonshine Mine Recreation Site sits on Brownlee Reservoir about 12.5 miles south of Richland, Oregon, on Snake River Road, and Idaho Power -- the Idaho utility that owns the dams down here -- lists it as 'Day use and overnight camping' with the fee given as 'Free. No usage fees.' For a free site it is unusually well set up: basic RV/tent sites, vault toilets, fire rings, a two-lane concrete boat ramp, over 40 parking spaces, a garbage dumpster and interpretive signs. That concrete ramp and the parking tell you what this place is really for -- it is a bass-fishing launch on Brownlee, and it can be busy with boat trailers on a good weekend. No drinking water is claimed by the utility, so bring your own, and there are no hookups. The stay limit is 14 days. Getting there is the part to respect: Snake River Road is a long, winding, largely unserviced run down the reservoir from Richland, and Richland itself is a very small town -- fuel and provision before you commit, and be aware summer temperatures in this canyon are brutal. It is worth knowing the reason it costs nothing: public recreation is a condition of the federal licence Idaho Power operates these dams under. Confirm current conditions with Idaho Power (1-800-488-6151) before you go, and leave it better than you found it.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Weather outlook — at Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,095 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Moonshine Mine Recreation 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 Moonshine Mine Recreation Site · Idaho Power · OR

▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.

Nearest of each

FFuel9 mi
GGrocery9 mi
@Mail9 mi
WWater17 mi
HHardware22 mi
EVEV fast charger22 mi
ShShower24 mi
DDump24 mi
+Urgent care29 mi
MMechanic29 mi
LLaundry44 mi
RxPharmacy44 mi
OOutfitter44 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Access

Drive-up

Land

Idaho Power

Elevation

2,095 ft

Ground slope

3.3% · gentle

State

Coordinates

44.65040, -117.10223

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Moonshine Mine Recreation Site · Idaho Power · OR (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureBrownlee Reservoir · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
Nearest townRichland · ~8.9 mi
Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelFuel · ~8.7 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~24.5 mi
GroceriesHitching Post Groceries · ~8.8 mi
Hospital / clinicTwo Rivers Medical Clinic · ~28.6 mi
HardwareCambridge Lumber · ~21.6 mi

EV charging — from Moonshine Mine Recreation Site · Idaho Power · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger22.2 mi straight-line S — T & T Country Store (Huntington, OR) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 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 · 7 within 50 · 41 within 100 · 83 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)36.1 mi — Baker City, OR - Tesla Supercharger, Baker City
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.7 mi — Cambridge World Market · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port 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 121714 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Moonshine Mine Recreation Site · Idaho Power · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Vault / pit toiletBasser Diggins Vault Toilet · ~8.6 mi SW · BLM
Vault / pit toiletHitt Mountain · ~8.8 mi E · USFS
Vault / pit toiletSpring Creek · ~9.5 mi SE · USFS
Vault / pit toiletParadise · ~10.4 mi SE · USFS

Coming out here — Moonshine Mine Recreation Site · Idaho Power · OR

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Brownlee Reservoir as a perennial lake or pond, 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 3.3% — 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.
No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
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 Moonshine Mine Recreation Site elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps near Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

Hitt Mountain~8.8 mi
Spring Creek~9.5 mi · fee
Paradise~10.4 mi
Justrite~10.5 mi

Snow, and when this opens

The nearest automatic snow station is Bear Saddle at 6,170 ft, about 7 miles away. It sits about 4,075 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.

Bear Saddle snowpack, from NRCS →

How we know this — Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Stay limit

14 nights (14-day stay limit)

Source

public land records

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

Source (FREE stated by the OPERATOR): Idaho Power's own page for Moonshine Mine Recreation Site (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/parks-and-campgrounds/moonshine-mine-recreation-site/, read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'Day use and overnight camping'; 'Fees Free. No usage fees.'; 'Located 12.5 miles south of Richland, Oregon, on Snake River Road.'; 'Amenities include: Basic RV/tent sites Vault toilets Fire rings Two-lane concrete boat ramp Over 40 parking spaces Garbage dumpster Interpretive signs'; 'There is a 14-day stay limit for all parks.' Idaho Power's own fee page (idahopower.com/community-recreation/recreation/about-parks-and-campgrounds/fees-2/, read 2026-07-28): 'Day use at all Idaho Power parks and recreation sites is free.' That page NAMES the nine campgrounds that charge overnight (Copperfield, Hells Canyon, McCormick, Woodhead, Carters Landing, North, Scout, Cottonwood, Locust -- $15-$40/night plus a $7-$15 reservation fee). This site is NOT one of them, and its own page carries the header 'Day use and overnight camping' and the fee block 'Free. No usage fees.' COORDINATE: the utility's OWN published coordinate from the Get-directions link (daddr=44.650395,-117.102234), ground-truthed against OSM -- unnamed service road 0.00 mi, SNAKE RIVER ROAD way/5186437 0.16 mi (exactly the road the page names), Snake River 0.24 mi, Brownlee Reservoir ~5 mi. Nominatim reverse: BAKER COUNTY, OREGON -- which is how state='OR' was assigned. This is an IDAHO utility's recreation site located in OREGON (Idaho Power's Hells Canyon complex straddles the state line); the state comes from the geocoder, not from the operator's name. GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed by the operator; NO entry fee, access pass, day-use fee or permit to be on the land (utility land, not a state park -- no Discover-Pass-style trap). fee=0; dispersed=0 (designated sites); camp_type NULL for Dave to set on review. water NULL -- the page lists vault toilets and a dumpster but never states potable water, and silence is not a water source. Ingest 2026-07-28.

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 Moonshine Mine Recreation 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.

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 — Moonshine Mine Recreation Site

Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →Getting unstuck →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about Moonshine Mine Recreation Site?

This page was built from a public land record, not from a visit. If you have actually pulled in here and it does not match, that is worth more than anything we can read off a map. Tell Dave what is off — it goes to him, not onto the page.

Anything else, in your own words (optional)Your email — optional, and only so Dave can ask you a follow-up. It does not go on a list, and nobody is promising you a reply.

A reader report is not a fact, and this one will not change a word of this page by itself. Dave reads it and checks it against the agency’s own record, because that record is what this site says. If reader reports are ever shown here they are labelled “reader report, unverified” with the date, and they are never merged into the agency fields.