Agency-listedUSFSFree
Ash Creek
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 41.16139, -120.82807
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0509), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Ash Creek
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,886 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ash CreekNIFC · 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 Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- HHardware27 mi
- MMechanic27 mi
- EVEV fast charger27 mi
- PPropane27 mi
- RxPharmacy33 mi
- DDump42 mi
- WWater44 mi
- LLaundry46 mi
- ShShower46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 44-mi drive, 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 — Ash Creek
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,886 ft
Ground slope
23.3% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
41.16139, -120.82807
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~6.3 mi
- Propane / LPGChevron · ~27.4 mi
- GroceriesFood Mart · ~6.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicBig Valley Health Center · ~15.8 mi
- HardwareFour Seasons Supply Center · ~26.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger27.0 mi straight-line NE — Alturas, 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 63 within 100 · 156 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS75.4 mi — DC CORRIDOR DUNSMUIR DC, Dunsmuir
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO75.4 mi — DC CORRIDOR DUNSMUIR DC, Dunsmuir
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)51.3 mi — DMND MTN CSO DIAMOND MT1, Susanville, 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 — Niles Hotel - Tesla Destination, Alturas, 26.7 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 190479 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletAsh Creek · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLower Rush Creek · ~9.5 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWillow Creek · ~10.2 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWillow Creek · ~10.2 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Ash Creek · Modoc National Forest · CA
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- About the name: this site is called Ash Creek, but no named stream, river or lake is mapped near the pin — none within 1 mi in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset and none named within 1.6 mi in our OpenStreetMap pull. Either the creek is not on those maps or it is further off than the name suggests.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 23.3% — steep. 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.
- 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 Ash Creek elsewhere
Other camps near Ash Creek
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Red Tail Rim Trail South Trailhead/Campground~0.4 mi
- Dan Ryan~1.8 mi
- Lower Rush Creek Campground~9.5 mi
- Upper Rush Creek~9.7 mi
The unit that manages Ash Creek
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Ash Creek are set by Modoc National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Ash Creek
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Ash Creek
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Ash Creek
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Camping with a dog →All field notes →