About this place
In 1860 and 1861, young riders on horses and mules carried the country's urgent post along this route, Missouri to California.
It was the fastest link anyone had. Ten days coast to coast, which at the time was extraordinary. Then the telegraph arrived and it was finished. It never made a profit. It went bankrupt.
A hundred and fifty years on, you can drive it. The Bureau of Land Management keeps the route across Utah's west desert as a National Backcountry Byway. It is gravel the whole way. There are station sites and information boards to stop at.
People come to see something that hasn't changed. The desert along this road looks much as it did to the riders in 1860, and almost nothing has been built out here since. There aren't many places left where that's true.
Boyd Station is 14 trail miles west of Fish Springs. It is one of the best-preserved Pony Express stations in Utah. Its original stone walls still stand, and they were built with gunports.
Simpson Springs campground
There's a Bureau of Land Management campground at Simpson Springs, twenty sites, open all year, at $15 a night. Everywhere else along the byway costs nothing.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp on the open land, paid campground inside
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Take Interstate 80 as far as Wendover. There are two ways in from there.
One is south on US 93A to Gold Hill and Ibapah. The other is the Pony Express Backcountry Byway to Callao.
Coordinates 40.0785, -113.9687222
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Ibapah Peak Directions
- Danger Cave 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 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.
Nothing in this guide sits within 25 miles of here anyway. The nearest one you could move to is Silver Island Mountain Back Country Byway (BCB), Utah — 48 miles in a straight line, but a 63 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.