Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Ponderosa Group Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · UT · 40.63109, -111.19462
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. 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 — Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 80043 (Ponderosa), 0 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 80043 (Ponderosa), 0 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 80043 (Ponderosa): “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 Ponderosa Group Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,003 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ponderosa Group 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 Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- OOutfitter5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- DDump8 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- PPropane32 mi
- AAir-up33 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 — Ponderosa Group Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,003 ft
Ground slope
10.2% · noticeable
State
UT
Coordinates
40.63109, -111.19462
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBeaver Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townSamak · ~2.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~4.5 mi
- FuelChevron · ~4.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~8.5 mi
- GroceriesChevron · ~4.6 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~14.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicWasatch County Family Clinic · ~13.9 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~4.8 mi
EV charging — from Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.5 mi straight-line W — Park City, UT (at a public site) · RIVIAN_ADVENTURE · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 100 within 50 · 147 within 100 · 171 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.5 mi — SUMMIT COUNTY COALVILLE QC, Coalville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.6 mi — SUMMIT COUNTY KAMAS 1 · 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 452387 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPonderosa Group Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletYellow Pine · ~1.0 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletShingle Creek Atv · ~3.6 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPine Valley · ~4.7 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Ponderosa Group Campground · Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Beaver 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 10.2% — 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.
- 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 Ponderosa Group Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Ponderosa Group Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Yellow Pine Camp~0.9 mi
- Shingle Creek Atv~3.6 mi · fee
- Pine Valley Camp (Dispersed)~4.6 mi · fee
- Lower Provo River~4.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Ponderosa Group Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Ponderosa Group Campground are set by Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Redden Mine Lwr at 8,540 ft, about 3 miles away. It sits about 1,537 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 — Ponderosa Group Campground
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-22: this is a GROUP-ONLY site, so there is no single-camper rate: $128 per night for the current 2026-05-15 to 2026-10-17 peak season. recreation.gov describes "one group site that can accommodate up to 100 people", reached by "a short but steep, rough dirt road", with vault toilets but no drinking water -- bring your own water and rubbish bags. Important caveat about the pin, not the price: the Forest Service recreation-site record puts this camp at our pin and itself links recreation.gov listing 234407, but the coordinates recreation.gov prints for that listing are 5.9 mi away, and the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache NF publishes no web page for it at any slug we tried. The two agency records disagree about where this campground is; the price is the agency's, the location deserves a second look. Sources: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234407 and the Forest Service recreation-site record https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0/query?where=objectid%3D2549710&outFields=site_name,fee_description&f=json .
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 Ponderosa Group 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.
- 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 — Ponderosa Group Campground
Camping near a reservoir →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →