Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Piney Designated Dispersed
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 39.71668, -106.41853
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 — Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 701.1 (Piney), 100 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 701.1 (Piney), 100 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Jun 21 – Nov 22. That season ends after Nov 22.
MVUM record for FR 701.1 (Piney): “06/21-11/22” 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 Piney Designated Dispersed
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,301 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Piney Designated DispersedNIFC · 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 Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery5 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- LLaundry6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- DDump10 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- +Urgent care19 mi
- PPropane20 mi
- ShShower32 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Piney Designated Dispersed
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
9,301 ft
Ground slope
10.8% · noticeable
Nearest highway
~5.2 mi · US Hwy 6
State
CO
Coordinates
39.71668, -106.41853
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePiney River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townVail · ~5.3 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~5.2 mi · US Hwy 6
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.6 mi
- FuelMountain Cafe & Gas · ~7.2 mi
- Propane / LPGLPG · ~25.6 mi
- Dump station~10.3 mi
- GroceriesLionshead General Store · ~5.2 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~20.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicVail Health Vail Campus · ~5.4 mi
- HardwareVail Valley Ace Hardware · ~5.9 mi
EV charging — from Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.3 mi straight-line S — VAIL PARKING PL3 · ChargePoint Network · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach23 within 25 mi · 63 within 50 · 352 within 100 · 465 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO5.3 mi — VAIL PARKING PL1, Vail
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.1 mi — VAIL PARKING RED SANDSTONE 5 · 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 308215 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomEiseman Hut · ~3.8 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSpraddle Creek · ~5.7 mi SE · USFS
- Flush restroomBooth Creek · ~6.9 mi SE · USFS
- Portable toiletPitkin · ~8.0 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Piney Designated Dispersed · White River National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Piney 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 10.8% — 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.
- 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.
- US Hwy 6 is mapped ~5.2 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 Piney Designated Dispersed elsewhere
Other camps near Piney Designated Dispersed
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Spraddle Creek Ranch~5.7 mi
- Gore Creek~9.9 mi · fee
- Cataract Creek~10.3 mi · fee
- Elliott Creek~12.0 mi · fee
The unit that manages Piney Designated Dispersed
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Piney Designated Dispersed are set by White River National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Vail Mountain at 10,290 ft, about 7 miles away. It sits about 989 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 — Piney Designated Dispersed
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Piney Designated Dispersed
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 — Piney Designated Dispersed
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →