About this place
Donner-Reed Pass is the last gap in the hills before water. It sits on the last 10 miles of a 90-mile crossing of the Great Salt Lake Desert. Fresh water at Donner Spring lay just beyond.
The cutoff was used from 1846 to 1850 by pioneers and gold rushers. Lansford W. Hastings sold it as a shortcut that would save 300 miles on the way to California. The Fremont expedition had first crossed it in 1845.
The crossing had no water at all. It went over sand dunes and mud flats in midsummer heat, with heavy wagons, and many parties lost livestock and wagons on this last stretch.
The Donner-Reed party rested at the spring for several days once they got there.
The proof is still on the ground. A six-mile line of wagon tracks crosses the mud flats between the Silver Island Mountains and Donner Spring. Air Force archaeologists measured them in 1986.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Interstate 80 to Exit 4, the Bonneville Salt Flats. From there the Silver Island Mountain Backcountry Byway runs north for 25 miles.
Coordinates 41.00983333, -113.7765278
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Silver Island Mountain Back Country Byway (BCB) Directions
- Danger Cave Directions
- Pilot Peak Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Wendover, UT Directions
Wendover is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
Two in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Cedar Mountains, Utah — 53 miles in a straight line, but at least a 86 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.