Homestake Pass Dispersed Camping

It’s near the interstate, < 1 mile from the exit.

Road: this is confirming there are still very large potholes & a multitude of them. There’s no avoiding them. Take it sloooow.

In early Oct it was quiet. Saw only one other camper; more of a long-term-visitor appearance. On a dense chilly night (38F), heard only 1 truck from the interstate.
There are a few well established rock fire rings.

Internet: ATT LTE is technically available…to send an occasional text. But otherwise, non existent. With a high gain antenna, I attempted a Teams work call. I could hear them & see their screen, but there was not sufficient internet for my audio to go out.
ATT with antenna: 2.08 Mbps down / 0.09 Mbps up.
Time for Dishy McFlatface (Starlink)!
Much zippier speeds: 130 down / 20 up.

For free, it’s a good overnight location that doesn’t rush ya out by noon so a full work day could be completed.
Because of the road condition, 3 stars.

The road to get here is horrible and i took off one star for that. Worst I’ve seen in 2 years of boondocking. But i took it very slow, and glad I did. There are a couple of pull outs on the way up, but farther up is a huge flat area with several places to park with plenty of space. Quiet, clean, safe. Plenty of space for my 42’ motorhome and toad.

One must clearly understand before driving in: this is not a glamping destination. But once you are dissuaded from such a gross misconception, camping here is an incredible treat.

We arrived in a driving rain squall around 5:00 PM on Labor Day, traveling East on I-90. The exit is very well marked (Homestake), so it was easy to find. Once the pavement ends, though, the road gets a bit challenging. A humongous water-filled crater greeted us at pavement’s end. Despite inching along, the monster gobbled up one of our leveling jack pads, which we didn’t notice until after we set up camp. A half mile walk, and a few minutes probing the opaque water with a pole managed to locate it … we’ll try to put it back on when we can park on some level pavement.

The dirt road is rough, but passable for our 28-foot Class-A. It appears to get worse the farther you go, but we found a beautiful site in a large clearing. We set up next to an established fire ring, which we don’t plan to use, but it does sound inviting. Leveling was easy (even with one missing Snap Pad) and the view is spectacular. We have neighbors, but there is plenty of space and no sign of the noise several reviewers have noted. Internet access was spotty despite good cell signal strength. (Others have noted this as well.) Definitely a bandwidth issue.

We’re looking forward to a walk to the lake in the morning.

Would we camp here again? In a heartbeat!

Free camping. Primitive. No hookups. Take Exit 233. As you pull in you will see an open area to the right for large RVs. We continued on with our 5th wheel 30' camper, down the road about 3/4 of a mile. Warning to go slow as the road does has some very large holes, however it was worth it as we pulled into a pull through camp site with fire pit. The view was great! There are plenty of areas to turn around, and although we didn't follow the road much farther, it appears to be a big loop. Quiet, clean, was able to make a small campfire, enjoyed the evening. Much better than our original plan to stay in a Walmart parking lot.

This is a great spot to boondock. At first we parked at the beginning with everyone else, but then we scouted out farther spots, and about a mile and half down we found a shaded private spot that was amazing for us and the dog.

We also got to go to the Homesteak pass for a picnic which is where the photos with the water are taken. Fantastic place to stay, we loved it!! And it’s only 10 min from the town.

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