Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · OR · 43.09296, -118.77731
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 Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,425 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection 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 Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area · Bureau of Land Management · OR
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail8 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- WWater27 mi
- ShShower35 mi
- RxPharmacy36 mi
- EVEV fast charger36 mi
- MMechanic37 mi
- +Urgent care39 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 27-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 14 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 36-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Dump, 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 — Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
4,425 ft
Ground slope
14.7% · noticeable
State
OR
Coordinates
43.09296, -118.77731
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area · Bureau of Land Management · OR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~14.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesThe Narrows RV Park · ~14.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area · Bureau of Land Management · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger36.4 mi straight-line NW — Hines, OR - Tesla Supercharger · 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 · 2 within 50 · 6 within 100 · 55 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS37.1 mi — OTEC HARNEY CHAMBER, Burns
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO37.1 mi — OTEC HARNEY CHAMBER, Burns
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)37.1 mi — Harney County - Chamber of Commerce, Burns, OR (at a municipal building) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily; Tesla adapter available
- 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 190807 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area · Bureau of Land Management · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~5.0 mi W · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~9.8 mi S · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~9.9 mi S · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~19.1 mi S · FWS
Coming out here — Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area · Bureau of Land Management · OR
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 14.7% — 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 Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area elsewhere
Other camps near Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
Who holds the land at Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Burns Three Rivers 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.
How we know this — Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
Fee note
The BLM page names both free use and fee camping, read 19 Sep 2026: "Most activities on and around Steens Mountain are free of charge. Developed campgrounds charge a nightly fee for use of these facilities." https://www.blm.gov/visit/steens-mountain-cooperative-management-protection-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 names both free areas and fee sites, so the cost is unpriced ("Most activities on and around Steens Mountain are free of charge. Developed campgrounds charge a nightly fee for use of ") (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | Mixed 2026-09-19: "Most activities on and around Steens Mountain are free of charge. Developed campgrounds charge a nightly fee for use of these facilities." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/steens-mountain-cooperative-management-protection-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 Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection 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 — Steens Mountain Cooperative Management & Protection Area
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Dumping grey & black →Leave no trace →All field notes →