About this place
This is the closest block of public land to Salt Lake City and the towns around it. It is close to town.
Mule deer and elk winter here, and the ground feeds the Tooele valley watershed.
People watch wildlife, walk, ride horses, hunt, camp, mountain bike, take photographs, ride off-highway vehicles and ski across country.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Rules and restrictions
Target shooting is not allowed anywhere in the area. The ban protects the watershed, the deer and elk winter range, and old cultural sites.
Getting there
Leave Interstate 80 at Exit 99, Tooele. Head south on SR 36 to Bates Canyon Road, then east for 3 miles.
Coordinates 40.62527778, -112.2130556
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.
- Pony Express Back Country Byway (BCB) Directions
- Utah Lake Directions
- Mount Timpanogos Directions
- Sundance Resort 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
- Stansbury Park, UT Directions
Stansbury Park 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
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.
One in this guide sits inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Pony Express Back Country Byway (BCB), Utah — 27 miles in a straight line, but a 37 mile drive.
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.