About this place
North Iron Springs is free, open camping in the Ashley National Forest. There are two group areas, and each will take up to 100 campers. Nothing is marked out or numbered.
Don't confuse it with the Iron Springs Group Campground across the road. That one charges and has to be booked. The free area is the north side.
It has its own vault toilets. The water stops after September 10, so after that date you bring all of your own. RVs must be 25 feet or shorter.
The Red Cloud Loop, which brings you here, is a dirt road with trails off it for ATVs, hikers and mountain bikers. Pack your trash out when you leave. Stays here can run to 16 days.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Some need high clearance
- Stay limit
- 16 days
- Drinking water
- No water after September 10
- Toilet
- Yes, vault toilets
- Type
- Open area. Nothing is marked out
- Managed by
- Ashley National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
From Vernal, go north on U.S. Highway 191 for 20 miles. Turn northwest onto Forest Road 018, the Red Cloud Loop, and go about 5 miles.
Coordinates 40.703558, -109.556134
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There are some well-known places within reach of this site.
- Flaming Gorge Dam Directions
- Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Directions
- King's 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
- Flaming Gorge, UT Directions
- Maeser, UT Directions
Maeser 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 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
You can camp here for 16 days. After that you have to move on. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Sand Wash Recreation Area, Utah — 63 miles in a straight line, but a 105 mile drive. Three more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
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 Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.