Agency-listedBLMUnpriced · confirm
Upper Big Bend Campground
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · UT · 38.64917, -109.48817
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 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Upper Big Bend Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,007 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Upper Big Bend 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 Upper Big Bend Campground · Bureau of Land Management · UT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- AAir-up6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- LLaundry6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- DDump7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- +Urgent care44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Upper Big Bend Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management
Elevation
4,007 ft
Ground slope
23.6% · steep
Nearest rail line
~7.1 mi · main line
State
UT
Coordinates
38.64917, -109.48817
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Upper Big Bend Campground · Bureau of Land Management · UT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureColorado River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townCastle Valley · ~4.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.6 mi
- FuelFuel · ~25.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~6.9 mi
- GroceriesMoonflower Community Cooperative · ~6.1 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~6.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicMoab Regional Hospital · ~6.4 mi
- HardwareTurner Lumber · ~6.1 mi
EV charging — from Upper Big Bend Campground · Bureau of Land Management · UT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.7 mi straight-line SW — Moab, UT - North Main Street - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 49 within 100 · 111 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO53.9 mi — FRCIVICCENTER CPE 250 #1, Fruita
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.8 mi — Field Station Moab - Tesla Destination · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- 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 250740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Upper Big Bend Campground · Bureau of Land Management · UT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomUpper Big Bend Toilet Structure · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (West End Single) · ~0.3 mi E · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (Beach Access Double) · ~0.4 mi E · BLM
- RestroomBig Bend Toilet (Main Parking Double) · ~0.5 mi E · BLM
Coming out here — Upper Big Bend Campground · Bureau of Land Management · UT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Colorado River as a perennial river, 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 23.6% — 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 ~7.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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.
- 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 Upper Big Bend Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Upper Big Bend Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Big Bend Recreation Site~0.5 mi
- Upper Drinks Canyon Campground~1.0 mi
- Middle Drinks Canyon Campground~1.1 mi
- Lower Drinks Canyon Campground~1.1 mi
The unit that manages Upper Big Bend Campground
Upper Big Bend Campground is in the Moab Field Office, Canyon Country 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 — Upper Big Bend 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
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 Upper Big Bend 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 — Upper Big Bend Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →