Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Vallecito
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CO · 37.47761, -107.54661
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 →U.S. Forest Service 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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 706 (Vallecito Cg), 80 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 706 (Vallecito Cg), 80 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Nov 14. That season ends after Nov 14.
MVUM record for FR 706 (Vallecito Cg): “05/01-11/14” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Vallecito
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,913 ft.
Fire & smoke — around VallecitoNIFC · 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 Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel17 mi
- GGrocery17 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- @Mail18 mi
- WWater18 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- EVEV fast charger18 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- RxPharmacy22 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
- PPropane24 mi
- DDump30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 17 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 — Vallecito
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,913 ft
Ground slope
5.3% · gentle
State
CO
Coordinates
37.47761, -107.54661
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureVallecito Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBayfield · ~17.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSpeedway · ~16.6 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane Fill Station · ~24.4 mi
- Dump station~30.0 mi
- GroceriesSpeedway · ~16.6 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~22.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicMercy Medical Clinic · ~17.8 mi
- HardwareLewis True Value Mercantile · ~17.1 mi
EV charging — from Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.1 mi straight-line NW — PURGATORY PURGATORY PL2, Durango, 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 reach7 within 25 mi · 14 within 50 · 52 within 100 · 146 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.3 mi — Durango, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Durango
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.7 mi — GLACIER STATION #1, Durango, CO · 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 261726 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletVallecito · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPine River Cg · ~3.1 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomUte Mountain Park Restroom Building · ~3.1 mi S · BoR
- Vault / pit toiletPine River Th · ~3.1 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Vallecito · San Juan National Forest · CO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Vallecito 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 5.3% — gentle. 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.
- 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 Vallecito elsewhere
Other camps near Vallecito
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pine River Cg~3.1 mi · fee
- Middle Mountain Campground~4.8 mi
- Pine Point~5.4 mi · fee
- North Canyon Campground~5.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Vallecito
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Vallecito are set by San Juan National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Vallecito at 10,740 ft, about 2 miles away. It sits about 2,827 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 — Vallecito
Longest rig
45 ft (Max RV size = 45 ft)
Source
U.S. Forest Service 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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-22: the two agency sources disagree and the gap is wide: the San Juan NF campground page, updated May 8 2026, says $32 for a single site, $40 for a premium site and a $13 charge for an electric site, while recreation.gov charges $40 for a standard non-electric site and $45 for a standard electric site across the whole 2026 season (May 8 to Sep 26). Budget $40 to $45 if you reserve online and $32 if you take a first-come, first-served site -- both reservable (R) and first-come (FF) sites exist here. Eight people maximum per site. Columbine Ranger District. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/sanjuan/recreation/vallecito-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234648.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 Vallecito
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Vallecito
When the high country opens →Winter vs summer roads →Water on public land →Getting unstuck →All field notes →