Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · ID · 42.53972, -116.57083
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,613 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pole Creek Wilderness 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 Pole Creek Wilderness Area · Bureau of Land Management · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail39 mi
- FFuel39 mi
- GGrocery39 mi
- EVEV fast charger39 mi
- LLaundry39 mi
- HHardware44 mi
- DDump44 mi
- PPropane44 mi
- +Urgent care46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 39 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 39-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Water. 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 — Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
5,613 ft
Ground slope
46.6% · steep
State
ID
Coordinates
42.53972, -116.57083
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Pole Creek Wilderness Area · Bureau of Land Management · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePole Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Groceriesnone within 30 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Pole Creek Wilderness Area · Bureau of Land Management · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger38.9 mi straight-line NW — Jordan Valley, OR - Tesla Supercharger (at a restaurant) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 1 within 50 · 27 within 100 · 60 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS61.5 mi — Walmart 2782 (Mountain Home, ID), Mountain Home
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO61.5 mi — Walmart 2782 (Mountain Home, ID), Mountain Home
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)65.2 mi — STAGE STOP BOISE · 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 390515 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pole Creek Wilderness Area · Bureau of Land Management · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomPoison Creek Toilet · ~20.5 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomNorth Fork Owyhee Toilet · ~21.2 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — Pole Creek Wilderness Area · Bureau of Land Management · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Pole Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.3 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 46.6% — steep. 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.
- 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 Pole Creek Wilderness Area elsewhere
Other camps near Pole Creek Wilderness Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Dickshooter Creek Wild And Scenic River~9.9 mi
- North Fork Owyhee Wilderness Area~12.2 mi
- Deep Creek Wild And Scenic River~13.6 mi
- Battle Creek Wild And Scenic River~15.1 mi
The unit that manages Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Pole Creek Wilderness Area is in the Bruneau Field Office, Boise District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Mud Flat at 5,750 ft, about 4 miles away. That is about the height of this camp, so it is a fair proxy. 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 — Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No fees." https://www.blm.gov/visit/pole-creek-wilderness-area
Source
Bureau of Land Management 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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No fees." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/pole-creek-wilderness-area (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
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 Pole Creek Wilderness 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.
- 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 — Pole Creek Wilderness Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Dumping grey & black →Off-grid communication →All field notes →