Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · NV · 38.81020, -119.22740
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 Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,680 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)NIFC · 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 Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) · Bureau of Land Management · NV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail6 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- DDump31 mi
- OOutfitter38 mi
- WWater38 mi
- PPropane40 mi
- AAir-up57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 38-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 13 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 — Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
4,680 ft
Ground slope
3.6% · gentle
State
NV
Coordinates
38.81020, -119.22740
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) · Bureau of Land Management · NV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Walker River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townSmith Valley · ~7.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~12.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~30.9 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~13.0 mi
- PharmacyRex Drugs · ~12.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicHealth Clinic · ~23.0 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~13.0 mi
EV charging — from Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) · Bureau of Land Management · NV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.0 mi straight-line SW — Gardnerville, NV - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 6 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 reach3 within 25 mi · 24 within 50 · 103 within 100 · 458 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS24.1 mi — Site #17, Shurz
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO24.1 mi — Site #17, Shurz
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.2 mi — COY CITY HALL WEST1, Yerington, NV · 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 122335 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) · Bureau of Land Management · NV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomNorth Double Romtec · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomSouth Double Romtec · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Precast Vault · ~25.3 mi E · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletTamarack Single Vault · ~25.3 mi E · BLM
Coming out here — Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) · Bureau of Land Management · NV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Walker River as a perennial river, ~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 3.6% — 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.
- 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 Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) elsewhere
Other camps near Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Desert Creek Campground~14.4 mi
The unit that manages Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas) is in the Sierra Front Field Office, Carson City 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 — Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Stay limit
14 nights (Stay limit: "14-days")
Source
public land records
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
FREE dispersed camping on BLM land north of NV-208 near Yerington. BLM's own recreation record (read 2026-08-17) lists CAMPING among the activities, gives Fee: "No Fee" and Stay limit: "14-days", and says verbatim: "Camping: There are no designated campsites, but visitors can overnight RVs and trailers in popular staging areas near Highway NV-208. Vault-toilets are located nearby." ACCESS: "A high-clearance vehicle is not required. However, all roads are unpaved, may be muddy, and may contain sharp debris." MIXED OWNERSHIP WARNING -- BLM says the wider canyon's "sites are managed by different public agencies (BLM, USFS, Nevada Department of Transportation)" and that "The BLM-managed portion of Wilson Canyon is on the north side of Highway NV-208"; this row is only the BLM north-side portion. NEAREST TOWN: Yerington, NV (named by BLM). Coordinate is BLM's own published point from gis.blm.gov/arcgis/rest/services/recreation/BLM_Natl_Recreation_Sites_Facilities (read 2026-08-17). It is a recreation-area pin, not a surveyed campsite. SOURCE: https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/16599/2 | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
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 — Wilson Canyon (BLM staging areas)
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →