Top 10+ Dispersed Free Camping near Hooper, UT

Good dispersed campsite, especially if you’re on a road trip along I-80 (which we were, evacuating from a wildfire in CA). There are no hookups or services. This is really just a spot of BLM land that has some fairly level sites cleared. Some sites probably required 4WD. Looks like it would be really fun for OHV’s. We were car camping, so didn’t have to worry to much about space. From what we could tell there were probably only a couple good spots for an RV or tow-behind. There are no reservations, just find a place where your car fits and park it.

Rumor has it there’s a neat stream nearby, but we didn’t get a chance to check it out.

1/3 of a mile up the Mt. Aire trail there are a few premade dispersed camping spots. 1 is good for groups of 3 tents with a nice big fire pit and the others are smaller for 1 or 2 people sharing a tent. They are right off the trail but the trail is somewhat busy, you won't be completely alone until after 10pm or before 5 (trail runners are crazy). 

It's hard to walk in as if you are 'car camping' worth it to backpack everything in one go, there is a creek and it's cool in the canyon, plus you really can't beat a camp spot that is only 20 minutes outside of town and that no one ever goes to. People don't seem to camp in Millcreek that often, I'm not sure why. 

I would recommend setting up at Mt. Aire, and then camping to the summit (45 minute uphill trek) for sunset or sunrise, both are beautiful.

Two nice boondocking spots just a short drive on a tight dirt road off the highway. The campsite on the right is bigger, the one on the left is very small. Very popular for hunters in September, so you'll have lots of people walking right by your camp. The views are beautiful, but it can get quite blustery. We weren't able to have a fire when we stayed there.

Tons of dispersed camping areas along the 196. We stayed about 12 miles off of the I-80, on the east side of the 196. Beautiful views, wide open spaces and super quiet. LOTS of mosquitoes and flies. We brought a 30’ RV with a lifted Ram 2500 and had no problem driving over the washouts. Lots of ATV traffic during the day, but we rarely heard anything.

About 1/4 mile down a dirt road from Hwy 39 is a good single boondocking spot with a great view. Not for large RVs. Our 17 ft trailer with 4x4 was tricky to get into the spot because the loop was so small. Has a fire pit but with fire restrictions we didn’t have a fire. The view is fantastic of hills covered with aspen and fir trees. Quiet but cars can be heard now and then.

There are many other boondocking spots in this area but this one is a good one.

You can see other campers but they are so far away from you, and if you park facing away from them, it's nice and feels pretty private. Easy to find camping spots, even big enough for our 32' no problem. Could easily see much larger RV's fitting in and getting out easy. We took a spot in the beginning I think about the 4th one you pass.

Quick and easy camp site for an adventure in skull valley. We had the place to ourselves and had no issues finding it. Great views and a fun place to hang out alone in the desert.

There are tons of free site all up and down the main road. The only problem is it is busy if you leave on Friday plan to get there by 3 at the latest. Spots fill quick.

You can backpack in and camp anywhere a 1/2 mile from any road like the other nearby canyons. Good trails to approach from are Church fork and Lambs Canyon Trailhead. Lambs Canyon is much more shaded and provides views down the canyon into Salt Lake Valley from the saddle.

There are numerous primitive campsites scattered along the ridges. Everytime we come here we also see moose and deer. Best time is definitely fall

The GPS coordinates appear to be a bit further north from the accessible camping and it seems like a solar farm was built there recently. We kept driving south on the 196 for a few miles and took some washed out roads in closer to the mountains to find some campsites. Probably don’t need 4WD but low clearance vehicles might have trouble. Not the flatest pullouts but workable and you’ll have the area to yourselves. Lots of biting bugs and moths. Not much shade to be found.

The site is over an hour from I15 on dirt and washboarded roads. Was a beautiful location for one night, but not much more than that. The Golden Spike park is on the way which is nice to stop by at. Was windy on the night we stayed, no fires.

We tried this place as a quick weekend Overlanding Trip to get the kids out of the house.

Took close to two hours from Salt Lake City, once you turn off I 15 you’ve still got close to an hour. The road wasn’t too bad, pretty Wash boarded but fairly certain most cars could do it if they are careful around a couple of spots.

There is a train museum along the way that looked pretty interesting.

Once you get there, there’s a parking lot right above the spiral jetty, you could park there and camp if you wanted.

If you have a bit more of an off-road vehicle there is a couple of camping areas down just above the Lakeshore that we camped in. You will need a 4 x 4 with decent clearance. We did it with a stock suburban just fine.

We couldn’t even see the water line, dry Lake bed is pretty much all you can see.

It was rather fascinating to look at and we did enjoy the time there. But I don’t feel like it would be a place I would want to camp more than one night because I think the kids would get restless.

Some awesome flat areas with a creek if you go in spring. Nice and quiet. Nearby shooting range.

Especially if you get here before sunset, you can hike a little ways up the mountain and watch the sun go down, but once it does start to go down it gets real windy. All the breeze from the salt flats comes right your way. This location is also right in an outdoor shooting range with multiple spots so that’s a plus if you’re looking for entertainment. As a bonus for me at least, it’s close enough to the road that getting back to it won’t be a problem, and I don’t think the noise will be a factor because the wind takes the cake. Dirt road is also real rough, probably not for sedans.

Theres nothing fancy at all about this place. It has pretty much no shade or amenities and some of the spots are withing spitting distance of I-80. It's one of those last option and theres nothing around because there isn't! 50 miles outside of salt lake and even further to Wendover. This spot does offer some decent limestone single and multipitch sport climbing routes. The Valley of Zion contains numerous crags that are mostly moderate with a very rare 11 sprinkled in. If just coming back from Wendover to SLC it's a good spot to climb till sunset

Camped with the family last night. First time out here. Verizon cell service was strong. Some fun trails as you head north east.

Nice place for when you're driving and need a last minute spot. Sites are well spaced out. LOTS of bugs but amazing view of the sunset. Other than that there's not much around. Only 2 other campers were there when we showed up.

My favorite place to camp. Other campers are respectful at night and friendly during the day. Nights are quiet and the moon is usually super bright.

First of all there is no pull out at the coordinates. In fact it represents just as a reference for the highway road off the 80 highway you go along 196 and there are pull off roads leading to either straight up the side of a mountain or along the valley.

I parked at lone rock which is basically just a shooting range. You name it they obliterated it with ammo. Oh well I climbed to the top of the lone rock which was pretty epic. Fucking windy night and dusty I hate dust so much. Maybe if I parked down road inside the sagebrush it would have broke the wind. Also lone rock was full of trash :(

Glad I live in lush Colorado away from these deserts. Except alamoda area I guess.

This point leads to a solar field - no camping here.

This was a great place to stay for one night on my journey traveling I-80. The coordinates have been updated (originally wrong when I tried to find it)- the map is correct now.

I arrived after dark on Jan 10th. Once I found the entrance (easy now that the location is correct) I couldn’t obviously see flat areas for parking. With some help from my mom who I was on the phone with, she was able to see from daytime satellite photos the easiest spots.

When you enter the camping area, stay to the left on the main road, continue staying left - you will pass 3-4 little ‘roads’. The first site- where I parked- is the first opening to the left. If you venture up to the right, you will end up some extremely steep drives. My Subaru Outback made it up and down one of those but it was a little scary for me.

It was COLD- when I woke up, temp was 19, felt like 12. But in my car I was cozy. There isn’t any privacy from the main road, but very few cars driving by.

Horseshoe Springs is across the street (turn left out of camping area, first turn off on the right- you can see the little pavilion from the road). Was nice to see even in the cold!

Solo woman traveling- it was a little freaky at first but I got used to the solitude there, and felt safe! Beautiful landscape upon waking up!

A lot of sites in an open field next to mountains. Sites are pretty spaced out. LOTS of gnats and other bugs, but quite and pretty view of the sunset.

We stayed here one night. We went at night for a place to sleep. Know that the sites are on the left of the main road coming in, I was unaware of the layout. Sites are decent, bugs are terrible. Road is rough coming in as well.

Camped 10/20-22/2023. Lots of horse flys during the day, and evening/dusk swarms of mosquitoes along with morning just before sunrise. Without our screened in sun shelter, we would have been miserable. 

Lots of four-wheelers and UTVs using the knoll and the trails. Extremely loud and stirs up lots of dust.

The no shooting/firearms sign at the entrance did not deter multiple shooters that were close by. There was lots of shooting and we found many empty shell casing laying about.

Many of the trails had fire pits built in the middle of them with lots of nails and broken glass laying everywhere. Be very careful driving a vehicle back onto the knoll.

Most level camping areas will be to the North/South of the actual knoll. Its also ideal to came around the knoll not only for level ground, but to avoid getting in the way of the four-wheelers/motor bikes. 

We got cell service with both T-Mobil and Verizon. 

No bathrooms, water, and very little shade shelter.

Stayed for 1 night. Very quiet and private. I imagine if during the busy season this place would not be a great place to stay but the last week of April was not busy and it was very quiet.