Iv been searching the hills east of hwy 24 and 285 close to buena vista colorado for a secluded dry camp site with google maps.I dont look in the "white" areas when in map view.. Only the green area's.Is it fair to say this is land available for dry camping?

Best thing to do is in the upper left corner you'll see Search Nearby: Hotels Restaurants. Click there and in the search box enter Campgrounds and hit enter. The campgrounds will highlight on the map. If you double click on one it will bring up info and link to a website for the campground. Zoom out the map to see more area and campgrounds.Otherwise look on the Bureau of Land Management website for Colorado

Google Maps isn't very good with noting ownership of lands.Try this: Surface Ownership Map - ColoradoThis one, in which you can zone in, also shows BLM land and such.

The green areas mean some sort of recreational / park area, but not always necessarily government land. Golf courses and privately owned park areas are often green as well.You won't find forest service / state forest campgrounds by searching for "campgrounds" on google maps - the results that come up are those that pay to be listed.The green areas on the map around your indentend location appear to belong to one or more National Forest. Check out this website:http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/psicc/recreation/camping-cabinsedit:another great resource are the MVUM - motor vech. use mapshttp://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/psicc/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5177824

Green areas on Google maps usually designate public lands of some sort. This includes:National ParksNational MonumentsNational ForestsNational Conservation AreasNational Wilderness AreasState ParksCity ParksCementersHowever there are some public lands such as BLM and State Lands which are not color designated. Other than National Forests, most National lands only allow camping in designated areas. So, only searching in areas colored green would be misleading.

Search for dry camp site with google maps White green area ?

rerod
Explorer
Jun 05, 2015
Its funny how all the google images show empty camp rounds and dispersed sites.
EsoxLucius
Explorer
Jun 02, 2015
The Motor Vehicle Use Maps are the fastest way to find potential boondocking sites along the roads in National Forests in Colorado.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/gmug/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5191814
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jun 02, 2015
If you're just driving around I think you'd know who manages the land you're driving through. Most beginning and ending segments have a sign 'entering' and 'leaving', especially national forests. Once you're within those boundaries you'd probably find a ranger station to get more detailed information.
4runnerguy
Explorer
Jun 02, 2015
rerod wrote:
4runnerguy wrote:
Try looking up Mushroom Gulch on road 308 above 38.850145, -105.976560. Looks like a decent road with a number of places to camp. Some larger looking rigs up there on the air photo. This is off of Highway 24 dropping down off of Trout Creek Pass toward Buena Vista.

Is there a view of the Sawatch Range from mushroom gulch?

Probably no view

That's my kick now.. A view from the back of my toyhauler and bed. Forests are peaceful, but a view is million dollar. Or a creek next to the camp

You're looking for what everybody is looking for, which means those places get really crowded. And without 4x4 you're limited as to selection. How about here or here? These are near streams and some spots will have views up valley. Don't drive much past the place mark up Silver Creek with your rig nor go much more than three miles past Cottonwood Lake. Long rigs can have a tough time turning around on these roads.

Do they allow overnight parking at the top of cottonwood pass?
I don't think so. With all the traffic, it wouldn't be the quietest place to camp anyway. If you're going to the top of Cottonwood Pass, are you heading on into Taylor Park? Lots of potential boondocking north of the reservoir.
rerod
Explorer
Jun 02, 2015
4runnerguy wrote:
Try looking up Mushroom Gulch on road 308 above 38.850145, -105.976560. Looks like a decent road with a number of places to camp. Some larger looking rigs up there on the air photo. This is off of Highway 24 dropping down off of Trout Creek Pass toward Buena Vista.

Is there a view of the Sawatch Range from mushroom gulch?

That's my kick now.. A view from the back of my toyhauler and bed. Forests are peaceful, but a view is million dollar. Or a creek next to the camp

Do they allow overnight parking at the top of cottonwood pass?
4runnerguy
Explorer
Jun 02, 2015
Try looking up Mushroom Gulch on road 308 above 38.850145, -105.976560. Looks like a decent road with a number of places to camp. Some larger looking rigs up there on the air photo. This is off of Highway 24 dropping down off of Trout Creek Pass toward Buena Vista.

For ghost towns, make sure you check out St. Elmo and continue on up the road past Mary Murphy to Hancock. No problem with a 2WD vehicle. On the other side of Poncha Pass, there the ghost town of Bonanza. Easy access. Turn right at the sign just before Villa Grove on US 285.
rerod
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
I appreciate the info 4runnerguy, as I had 38.590853, -105.967021 marked as a road, ute trail, to take a look up maybe. to bad, because my girlfriend likes ghost towns.

My latitude 40 map shows san isabel NF boarders, and I will transfer the possible dry sites from my google maps to it. My laptop at home is having a hard time zooming into the blm.gov maps like earlier at work. So no way of using those maps from my phone anyway.

Im probably dreaming when thinking I can make it to most of my marked locations with 2wd
4runnerguy
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
rerod wrote:
Wow, that's allot of work determining who owns the land!

What do I do if I just stumble across a dry camp site, but haven't researched before hand and dont have cell phone reception to check?

Is it safe to say.. If there's a camp fire spot, its probably ok to dry camp there?
Probably OK. You can check ahead of time to see where there are large tracts of private land. For instance in the area you are talking about, I'd steer clear of the lands around Calumet Mountain and the "ghost" town of Turret as much of that area is private (SW corner of the Pikes Peak map above Salida). That's an area where Google Maps is ineffective at showing the many square miles of private lands within the NFS boundaries.
4runnerguy
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
pconroy328 wrote:
dahkota wrote:
Google Maps isn't very good with noting ownership of lands.

Try this: Surface Ownership Map - Colorado

This one, in which you can zone in, also shows BLM land and such.

That's great!!! But I'm having trouble cracking the BLM code. I'm looking for the same thing, but for Utah. Changing "co" to "ut" in the URL didn't work.

And I'm struggling to find the similar map via their page links.

Is there a secret short cut for finding one of these for any state?

thanks!

I, too, looked for other states without much success. Hope someone else has some luck and posts here.
pconroy328
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
dahkota wrote:
Google Maps isn't very good with noting ownership of lands.

Try this: Surface Ownership Map - Colorado

This one, in which you can zone in, also shows BLM land and such.

That's great!!! But I'm having trouble cracking the BLM code. I'm looking for the same thing, but for Utah. Changing "co" to "ut" in the URL didn't work.

And I'm struggling to find the similar map via their page links.

Is there a secret short cut for finding one of these for any state?

thanks!

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