Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
OHV / 4×4 · public land · CO · 40.03929, -105.51997
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 — Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Basic site, no services
- First come, first served
- No drinking water — carry your own
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 Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,103 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ruby Gulch Dispersed CampingNIFC · 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 Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- DDump12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- AAir-up15 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
Access
OHV / 4×4
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
9,103 ft
Ground slope
37.6% · steep
Nearest rail line
~8.1 mi · passing siding
State
CO
Coordinates
40.03929, -105.51997
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFourmile Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Glacier Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townWard · ~2.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.1 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~2.2 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.3 mi
- Propane / LPGAmeriGas · ~20.6 mi
- Dump station~11.9 mi
- GroceriesJackleggers Mercantile · ~2.4 mi
- PharmacyPharmaca · ~12.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicAddiction Exchange · ~12.2 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~5.4 mi
EV charging — from Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.8 mi straight-line SE — UNITED POWER COAL CREEK 1, Golden, CO · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach61 within 25 mi · 267 within 50 · 370 within 100 · 434 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)13.9 mi — Boulder, CO - 28th Street - Tesla Supercharger, Boulder
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.6 mi — TERMINALS NEDERLAND BUS 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 145146 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSourdough · ~0.8 mi S · USFS
- RestroomBrainard Lake Welcome Station · ~3.0 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRed Rock Lake · ~3.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRainbow Lakes · ~3.3 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping · Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Fourmile Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.2 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 37.6% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~8.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping elsewhere
Other camps near Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Gordon Gulch Dispersed Camping Area~2.3 mi
- Gordon Gulch~2.3 mi
- Rainbow Lakes~3.3 mi · fee
- Pawnee~3.7 mi · fee
The unit that manages Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping are set by Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Niwot at 9,940 ft, about a mile away. It sits about 837 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 — Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
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
likely OHV (only a rough 4wd track in) — confirm
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 Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
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 — Ruby Gulch Dispersed Camping
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Power off-grid →All field notes →