About this place
A 54 mile loop around the Silver Island Mountains, through Utah’s Great Basin. It is a long drive. The road is dirt and gravel, and rain can wash parts of it out.
The Bonneville Salt Flats spread out along the east side of the range.
The loop also reaches the old Hastings cutoff of the California National Historic Trail. That is the route the Donner-Reed party took in 1846, and it went badly for them.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Leave Interstate 80 at Exit 4, near Wendover, Utah. Head for Leppy Pass and follow the signs for the back country byway.
Coordinates 40.772206, -113.981282
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Danger Cave Directions
- Pilot 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
- 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.
One in this guide sits inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Pony Express National Historic Trail (NHT) Backcountry Byway (BCB), West Access, 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.