Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
Drive-up · public land · CO · 38.40857, -106.09510
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
What the record says about the site — Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO
- Listed as a backcountry site
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 Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,040 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Poncha Pass Dispersed CampgroundNIFC · 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 Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- WWater7 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- OOutfitter9 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- AAir-up10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- DDump28 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
9,040 ft
Ground slope
11.2% · noticeable
State
CO
Coordinates
38.40857, -106.09510
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureStream · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townPoncha Springs · ~7.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.3 mi
- FuelPoncha Market · ~7.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.4 mi
- GroceriesPoncha Market · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacySalida Pharmacy & Fountain · ~10.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicHeart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center · ~10.4 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~7.5 mi
EV charging — from Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.2 mi straight-line N — Poncha Springs, CO - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 19 within 50 · 167 within 100 · 456 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS9.7 mi — The Faricy Boys Automotive, Salida
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.0 mi — ES1 SALIDA PL2, Salida
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.3 mi — SALIDA SITES SALIDA MUSEUM · 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 122271 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomShirley Site · ~2.0 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletO'Haver Lake · ~2.9 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomO'Haver Lake · ~2.9 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRawley 12 · ~7.1 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground · public land · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: Stream. That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 11.2% — 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 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 Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Silver Creek Dispersed Campground~1.7 mi
- Marshall Pass Dispersed Campground~2.3 mi
- O'Haver Lake~2.9 mi · fee
- BLM dispersed camp — Chaffee County, CO~9.5 mi
Who holds the land at Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as San Luis Valley Field Office, manager on record: Bureau of Land Management (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Porphyry Creek at 10,790 ft, about 14 miles away. It sits about 1,750 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 — Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
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
no road or trail found nearby — check manually
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.
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
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 — Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Power off-grid →All field notes →