Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Thorn Creek Reservoir
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · ID · 43.19000, -114.59732
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 Thorn Creek Reservoir
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,513 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Thorn Creek ReservoirNIFC · 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 Thorn Creek Reservoir · Bureau of Land Management · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel14 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- @Mail15 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- MMechanic20 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- EVEV fast charger26 mi
- WWater31 mi
- RxPharmacy35 mi
- ShShower41 mi
- DDump41 mi
- LLaundry42 mi
- OOutfitter44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 31-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 14 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 — Thorn Creek Reservoir
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
5,513 ft
Ground slope
2.2% · flat
State
ID
Coordinates
43.19000, -114.59732
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Thorn Creek Reservoir · Bureau of Land Management · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureThorn Creek Reservoir · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townMagic Resort · ~12.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~14.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCamas Creek Country Store · ~14.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Canyon Medical Center - Gooding · ~19.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~20.1 mi
EV charging — from Thorn Creek Reservoir · Bureau of Land Management · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger25.8 mi straight-line NE — Bellevue, ID - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · 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 · 9 within 50 · 30 within 100 · 71 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS26.8 mi — ANNEX EVCS BLAINE COUNTY 1, Hailey
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO26.8 mi — ANNEX EVCS BLAINE COUNTY 1, Hailey
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)25.7 mi — SILVER CREEK HOTEL BELLEVUE · 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 405686 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Thorn Creek Reservoir · Bureau of Land Management · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomLava Creek Toilet · ~10.7 mi NE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletOregon Gulch Trailhead · ~10.9 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomMyrtle Point Toilet · ~12.3 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomLava Cove Toilet · ~12.5 mi NE · BLM
Coming out here — Thorn Creek Reservoir · Bureau of Land Management · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Thorn Creek Reservoir as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 2.2% — flat. 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 Thorn Creek Reservoir elsewhere
Other camps near Thorn Creek Reservoir
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Little City Of Rocks Wilderness Study Area~5.7 mi
- Black Canyon (I) Wilderness Study Area~8.0 mi
- Gooding City Of Rocks East Wilderness Study Area~11.3 mi
- Magic Reservoir~12.1 mi
The unit that manages Thorn Creek Reservoir
Thorn Creek Reservoir is in the Shoshone Field Office, Twin Falls District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Thorn Creek Reservoir
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 is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Thorn Creek Reservoir
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 — Thorn Creek Reservoir
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →How to read this page →All field notes →