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Dispersed camping · Utah

BLM Kanab Field Office dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days on this field office's land, 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 .

14 days stay limit

BLM Utah statewide dispersed-camping sheet: "There is a 14-day camping limit while occupying any campsite on BLM-managed lands" — no rolling window or move distance is stated for Utah on the pages read. No Kanab-specific stay-limit rule was found on official pages.

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

BLM Utah statewide: "Free dispersed camping is allowed throughout BLM Utah-managed lands except where posted. There are no fees, permits or passes associated with dispersed camping." Exception in this field office's backcountry: overnight use of Paria Canyon requires an advance permit — "You must reserve a permit in advance for overnight use. There is a limit on overnight use in the canyon to 20 people per day" — and "Wrather Canyon is closed to camping." source

Keep your distance

  • 300 ft — BLM Utah statewide rule: "Camp at least 300 feet from range improvements. Range improvements can include corrals, gates, livestock waters and livestock pens" (43 CFR 4140.1(b)(7) cited as the violation). source
  • 200 ft — Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness permit area only (accessed from this office's White House trailhead): "Use existing campsites at least 200 feet from a water source," and "No camping on or adjacent to any archaeological site." source
  • Directional rule, no number, BLM Utah statewide: "Camp only in previously disturbed sites or areas. Do not dispersed camp in the vicinity of developed recreation sites such as picnic areas, campgrounds or trailheads." source

Roads and vehicle access

Ask the district which roads allow camping

BLM travel-management equivalent of the MVUM rule, statewide sheet: "Only travel on designated routes. Check with local offices for off-roading information." No Kanab-specific travel-management or camping-corridor page was verified.

Fires right now

We don't watch this office'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 Kanab Field Office at (435) 644-1200 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.

On BLM land the travel maps play the same role a national forest's motor vehicle use map plays: they show which routes are open to vehicles, and camping access usually means staying on those routes and pulling into already-used sites just off them.

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 office's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is Bureau of Land Management, Utah - Paria River District.

Before you go