★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Alpine County
Drive-up · public land · Alpine County, CA · 38.76768, -119.87003
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Good boondocking spot between busy road and whitewater creek, nestled in beautiful mountains south of Lake Tahoe. No cell service. Ample room for multiple vehicles. Crude fire circles. No amenities, and no cell service. Recommended for a short stay if passing through the area.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 22 April 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Alpine County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,353 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Alpine CountyNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Alpine County · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery2 mi
- MMechanic2 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- WWater11 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- PPropane13 mi
- ShShower13 mi
- DDump13 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- AAir-up52 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Alpine County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
6,353 ft
Ground slope
13.9% · noticeable
County
Alpine County, CA
Coordinates
38.76768, -119.87003
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Alpine County · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Fork Carson River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Merk Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSorensens · ~1.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~13.4 mi
- GroceriesWoodfords Station · ~2.6 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~12.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicBarton Memorial Hospital · ~12.1 mi
- Hardwareace hardware · ~12.5 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Alpine County · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.8 mi straight-line NW — South Lake Tahoe, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 43 within 50 · 313 within 100 · 780 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS12.3 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC1, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO12.3 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC1, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.9 mi — ALPINE CO. BHS 1, Markleeville, CA · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Sorensen's Resort - Tesla Destination, Hope Valley, 1.8 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 321149 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Alpine County · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCrystal Springs Campground · ~1.4 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKit Carson Campground · ~1.5 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHope Valley Campground · ~4.1 mi SW · USFS
- RestroomIndian Ck Res Rec Site-Toilt-1 · ~4.7 mi E · BLM
Coming out here — Alpine County · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Fork Carson River as a perennial river, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 13.9% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Alpine County elsewhere
Other camps near Alpine County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Crystal Springs Campground~1.3 mi
- Kit Carson Campground~1.6 mi · fee
- Scotts Lake Dispersed Camping~3.9 mi
- Hope Valley Campground~4.1 mi
The unit that manages Alpine County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Alpine County are set by Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Alpine County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Alpine County, CA). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 22 April 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Alpine County
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- How many rigs actually fit
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Alpine County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Stay limits →How to read this page →All field notes →