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Dispersed camping · Utah

BLM Monticello 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 rule, repeated on the office's own Bears Ears dispersed-camping fact 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. The Indian Creek campgrounds page applies the same cap to developed sites: "the maximum stay is 14 days."

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

"Free dispersed camping is allowed at the Monticello Field Office, Manti-La Sal National Forest, and Bears Ears National Monument except where posted. There are no fees, permits, or passes needed for dispersed camping" (office fact sheet). The 2023 monument sheet adds a permit carve-out: "Any in-canyon camping on Cedar Mesa requires a permit, available at recreation.gov." In Indian Creek, "dispersed camping is allowed 150 feet off designated routes... in previously disturbed areas." source

Keep your distance

  • 150 ft — Stay-close corridor rule, Indian Creek area of Bears Ears NM: "Dispersed camping is allowed 150 feet off designated routes in Indian Creek in previously disturbed areas" — camping must stay within 150 feet of a designated route, in already-disturbed spots. source
  • Recommended: 300 ft — Indian Creek page, stewardship wording: "Protect and conserve scarce desert water sources by camping at least 300 feet from water sources or streams to allow for wildlife access." Recorded as guidance because the page words it as a conservation practice, not a numbered prohibition. source
  • 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
  • Directional rule, no number, office fact sheet: "No dispersed camping in the vicinity of developed recreation sites such as picnic areas, campgrounds, or trailheads." source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the travel maps

BLM travel-management equivalent of the MVUM rule, office fact sheet: "Only travel on designated routes. Off-road driving is not permitted." In Indian Creek the off-route camping-access allowance is 150 feet from designated routes; "do not create new campsites or alter existing ones" (2023 monument sheet).

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 Monticello Field Office at (435) 587-1500 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 - Canyon Country District.

Before you go