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Dispersed camping · Utah and Colorado

Manti-La Sal National Forest dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days in any 28 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 .

14 days in any 28

Order 04-010-013 (posted Apr 1, 2003, still on the forest's alerts page), forest-wide in Utah and Colorado: "Persons may camp within designated campgrounds or on undeveloped sites not closed to camping within the Forests for a period of not more than 14 days within any period of 28 consecutive days" — the 14 days may accrue "through a number of separate visits or through 14 days of continuous occupation." After the 14th day, "campers must relocate to another site... at least ten miles, in a straight line, away from the previous location," and the vacated site may not be re-used "until at least 14 days have elapsed from the last day of use."

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

The stay-limit order's own framing: "Persons may camp within designated campgrounds or on undeveloped sites not closed to camping within the Forests..." — undeveloped-site (dispersed) camping is allowed except where a site or area is closed/posted. The forest's camping-rules flyer adds: "Vehicles may be no more than 150 feet off the road for picnicking and camping unless otherwise posted." source

Keep your distance

  • 150 ft — Stay-close corridor rule, forest camping/traveling rules flyer: "Vehicles may be no more than 150 feet off the road for picnicking and camping unless otherwise posted." source
  • 450 ft — Shooting, not camping, but it shapes site choice: "Shooting is not allowed within 150 yards of campsites, roads or lakes" (150 yards converted = 450 ft; camping/traveling rules flyer). source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

Forest camping/traveling rules flyer: "Travel ONLY on designated roads and trails" and "Do not travel cross-country"; vehicles "may be no more than 150 feet off the road for picnicking and camping unless otherwise posted." Arapeen Trail Maps and Forest Travel Maps are distributed from the Forest Service offices in Ferron, Ephraim, Price, Moab and Monticello (flyer).

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 at (435) 636-3500 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