Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
Drive-up · public land · CO · 38.40412, -106.12626
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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,812 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Silver Creek 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 Silver Creek Dispersed Campground · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- WWater8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- ShShower22 mi
- DDump29 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
8,812 ft
Ground slope
10.9% · noticeable
State
CO
Coordinates
38.40412, -106.12626
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Silver Creek Dispersed Campground · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSilver Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBonanza · ~7.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.1 mi
- FuelPoncha Market · ~7.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.8 mi
- GroceriesPoncha Market · ~7.9 mi
- PharmacySalida Pharmacy & Fountain · ~11.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~29.5 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~8.2 mi
EV charging — from Silver Creek Dispersed Campground · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.9 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 · 166 within 100 · 459 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS11.0 mi — The Faricy Boys Automotive, Salida
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO11.3 mi — ES1 SALIDA PL2, Salida
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.5 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 Silver Creek Dispersed Campground · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomShirley Site · ~1.1 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletO'Haver Lake · ~1.8 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomO'Haver Lake · ~1.8 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRawley 12 · ~6.4 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Silver Creek Dispersed Campground · Pike and San Isabel National Forests · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Silver 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 10.9% — 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 Silver Creek Dispersed Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Marshall Pass Dispersed Campground~1.4 mi
- Poncha Pass Dispersed Campground~1.7 mi
- O'Haver Lake~1.8 mi · fee
- BLM dispersed camp — Chaffee County, CO~10.9 mi
The unit that manages Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Silver Creek Dispersed Campground are set by Pike and San Isabel National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Porphyry Creek at 10,790 ft, about 13 miles away. It sits about 1,978 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 — Silver Creek 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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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 Silver Creek 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 — Silver Creek Dispersed Campground
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Finding water out here →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →