Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Niotche Creek Trailhead
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · UT · 38.78460, -111.63485
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 — Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 40287 (Niotche Ridge), 50 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 40287 (Niotche Ridge), 50 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 40287 (Niotche Ridge): “01/01-12/31” 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 Niotche Creek Trailhead
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,943 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Niotche Creek TrailheadNIFC · 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 Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- FFuel16 mi
- GGrocery16 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- @Mail17 mi
- DDump18 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- WWater33 mi
- ShShower36 mi
- OOutfitter39 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 33-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 16 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 — Niotche Creek Trailhead
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
8,943 ft
Ground slope
7% · gentle
Nearest highway
~5.6 mi · Interstate 70
State
UT
Coordinates
38.78460, -111.63485
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNiotche Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Twin Ponds (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSalina · ~17.0 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~5.6 mi · Interstate 70
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~15.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~18.5 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~15.9 mi
- PharmacySalina Pharmacy · ~17.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicSalina Family Medicine · ~16.9 mi
- HardwareJJWD Hardware · ~16.8 mi
EV charging — from Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.8 mi straight-line E — RMP Ivie Creek (Salina, UT) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 12 within 50 · 41 within 100 · 147 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)24.3 mi — Richfield, UT - Tesla Supercharger, Richfield
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO15.5 mi — Love's 581 (Salina, UT), Salina
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)22.9 mi — 5 Main St, Emery, UT · CHARGELAB · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 387120 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletTwin Ponds Cua Dispersed · ~0.4 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCold Springs Cua Dispersed · ~0.5 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLower Farnsworth Cua Dispersed · ~1.2 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHarves River Cua Dispersed · ~1.4 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Niotche Creek Trailhead · Fishlake National Forest · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Niotche Creek 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 7% — 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 70 is mapped ~5.6 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 Niotche Creek Trailhead elsewhere
Other camps near Niotche Creek Trailhead
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Twin Ponds CUA Dispersed~0.4 mi
- Cold Springs CUA Dispersed~0.5 mi
- Lower Farnsworth CUA Dispersed~1.2 mi
- Brown's Hole Trailhead~1.4 mi
The unit that manages Niotche Creek Trailhead
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Niotche Creek Trailhead are set by Fishlake National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Farnsworth Lake at 9,620 ft, about 2 miles away. It sits about 677 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 — Niotche Creek Trailhead
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)
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 Niotche Creek Trailhead
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 — Niotche Creek Trailhead
When the high country opens →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →