About this place
The Range Study Area is a long, flat, open ridge. A dirt road, Forest Road 217, runs out along it, and you camp beside the road wherever there's room. There's plenty. The spots are big, with space to swing a long trailer round, and scattered aspen give a little shade.
The one vault toilet is at the cattle guard near the highway. Camp far out along the ridge and it's a drive. Bring all your water.
Off-road riders use the area to unload and set off, so expect engines, more so at weekends.
You can stay up to 16 days, a little longer than on most public land.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Some need high clearance
- Stay limit
- 16 days
- Toilet
- Yes, one vault toilet, at the cattle guard near the highway
- 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
Coordinates 40.715885, -109.476176
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 — 65 miles in a straight line, but a 104 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.