★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Amherst County
Drive-up · public land · Amherst County, VA · 37.63363, -79.33958
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.
A nice, flat primitive campsite with a fire ring along a rough forest road. Four-wheel drive required. Forest road parallels Blue Ridge Parkway. Spacious enough for 2 or 3 vehicles and/or ground tents. Picturesque flowing stream nearby. Might be popular in peak season. No cell service. Highly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 28 November 2017. 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 Amherst County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,311 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Amherst 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 Amherst County · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater4 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- PPropane12 mi
- AAir-up17 mi
- DDump19 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Amherst County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
1,311 ft
Ground slope
3.5% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~3.7 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~8.1 mi · Interstate 81
County
Amherst County, VA
Coordinates
37.63363, -79.33958
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Amherst County · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureOtter Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBeverlytown · ~2.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~8.1 mi · Interstate 81
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.1 mi
- FuelPetro Power · ~5.9 mi
- Propane / LPGArc3 · ~7.5 mi
- Dump station~18.7 mi
- GroceriesPetro Power · ~5.9 mi
- PharmacyBuena Vista Family Pharmacy · ~7.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicCarilion Rockbridge Community Hospital · ~11.5 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~11.0 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Amherst County · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.3 mi straight-line NW — Lexington, VA - East Nelson Street - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · 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 · 37 within 50 · 102 within 100 · 488 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS17.5 mi — CMA Hyundai of Lynchburg, Lynchburg
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO21.5 mi — Target Lynchburg, Lynchburg
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.1 mi — Buena Vista Lot (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 257669 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Amherst County · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPunchbowl A.T. Shelter · ~3.0 mi N · USFS
- RestroomNBATC Punchbowl Shelter Privy · ~3.1 mi N · NPS
- RestroomNBATC Johns Hollow Shelter Privy · ~3.2 mi SW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletJohns Hollow A.T. Shelter · ~3.2 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Amherst County · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Otter Creek as a perennial stream, 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 3.5% — gentle. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~3.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 81 is mapped ~8.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Amherst County elsewhere
Other camps near Amherst County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Punchbowl A.T. Shelter~3.0 mi
- Johns Hollow A.T. Shelter~3.2 mi
- Matts Creek A.T. Shelter~4.7 mi
- Brown Mtn Creek A.T. Shelter~6.5 mi
The unit that manages Amherst County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Amherst County are set by George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Amherst 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 (Amherst County, VA). 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 28 November 2017. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Amherst 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 — Amherst County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Stay limits →How to read this page →All field notes →