About this place
The North Stansbury study area covers 10,480 acres, 40 miles west of Salt Lake City. It is a long ridge.
It lies north of the Deseret Peak Wilderness. The Wasatch-Cache National Forest looks after that.
The Stansbury range runs north to south, rising out of the desert between two valley floors. That shape is typical of the Basin and Range Province.
The ground runs from 5,200 feet at the base of the range to 8,800 feet at the southern end, near the Forest Service boundary.
About a mile up Muskrat Canyon the road gets bad. That is where the walking starts.
Fire has been through here. Lightning started the Big Pole Fire in Skull Valley in August 2009. It burned about 44,000 acres, much of it on the western slopes of these mountains.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Come off Interstate 80 at Exit 77, Dugway-Rowley, then head south on SR 196 for 5.5 miles. Turn east on the dirt road into Muskrat Canyon.
Coordinates 40.65777778, -112.6255556
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.
- Stansbury Island Directions
- Deseret Peak Directions
- Rush Lake Directions
- Pony Express Back Country Byway (BCB) 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
- Grantsville, UT Directions
Grantsville 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.
Three in this guide sit inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Pony Express Back Country Byway (BCB), Utah — 38 miles in a straight line, but a 49 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.