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Dispersed camping · Utah

Fishlake National Forest dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 16 days in any 30 on this forest, anywhere that isn't posted closed. The card below is the whole rule set — every line links the order or page it came from, and all of it was checked on .

16 days in any 30

Order 0408-25-01 (Feb 5, 2025 - Feb 5, 2030), forest-wide: prohibits "camping in the same location, or within 5 miles of the same location, for more than 16 consecutive days or for more than 16 days in a 30-day period" in undeveloped areas — camping within 5 miles of a prior spot counts as the same location. The same 16-consecutive/16-in-30 caps apply per developed recreation site. The forest's dispersed-camping page words the move rule as: "After 16 days, you must move at least 5 road miles for camping in another dispersed area."

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

"Dispersed camping is the term used for camping anywhere in the National Forest outside of a designated campground" (forest dispersed-camping page). Order 0408-25-01 additionally prohibits camping in areas posted with "No Camping" signs, and the page requires dispersed campsites to be "at least 1 mile away from existing campgrounds." source

Keep your distance

  • Recommended: 200 ft — Forest dispersed-camping page, courtesy wording: "Please place your campsite at least 200 feet from any stream or other water source." source
  • 100 ft — Same page, prohibition wording: "Do NOT camp within 100 feet of any water source, plants near water are especially fragile." Page rule, not a numbered order — the page carries both this 100-ft prohibition and the 200-ft courtesy line (see gaps). source
  • 150 ft — Stay-close corridor rule: "Keep your campsite within 150 feet from a roadway to prevent resource damage." Page rule (dispersed-camping page), not a numbered order. source
  • 5,280 ft — Keep-away from developed campgrounds: "Dispersed campsites must be at least 1 mile away from existing campgrounds" (1 mile converted = 5,280 ft). source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

The forest's maps page: "A Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) is a legal document that shows which roads and trails are open to public motor vehicle use... If a road or trail does not appear on the map, it means that it is not open to public motor vehicular use." The dispersed-camping page adds: "Drive on existing roads to prevent resource damage - do not drive on meadows." No official page read ties dispersed-camping vehicle access to specific MVUM camping designations — check the district MVUM.

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Rules checked against the pages linked above — the full list is below the card.

Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the Forest Supervisor's Office, Richfield at (435) 896-9233 before you go.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.

Where these rules come from

Every rule above was read on the forest's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Region (R4).

Before you go