About this place
The Salt Lake Cut-Off is one of the many shortcuts that branched off the California, Mormon and Oregon Trails.
It ran northwest out of Salt Lake City and north of the Great Salt Lake, about 180 miles in all. It rejoined the California Trail near the City of Rocks, Idaho.
In 1848 members of the Mormon Battalion, coming home from California, turned a pack train route into a road a wagon could use.
Word spread fast. Here was a good road, with grass and water, running out of Salt Lake City and back to the California or Oregon Trail.
When the gold-crazy emigrants of 1849 heard about it, thousands of them detoured through Salt Lake City to buy supplies and livestock.
Mormons in Utah did very well out of the trade.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Take Interstate 84 as far as Exit 5, Curlew Junction. From there SR 30 and then SR 42 run west to Cedar Creek.
Coordinates 41.94338889, -113.0474167
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.
- Black Pine Cone Directions
- Black Pine Mountains High Point Directions
- California National Historic Trail (NHT), Bidwell-Bartelson Route Directions
- Bull Mountain Directions
- Black Pine 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
- Snowville, UT Directions
- Malad City, ID Directions
Malad City 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.
Four in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Hogup Mountains Designated Routes, Utah — 34 miles in a straight line, but at least a 45 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.