Agency-listedUSFSFree
Azalea Cove Campground
Hike-in · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 38.88137, -120.36987
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 — Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 17N12NB (Wench Nb), 0.4 mi away. 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 →
What the record says about the site — Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA
- First come, first served
- Toilet on site
- No drinking water — carry your own
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Azalea Cove Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,884 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Azalea Cove CampgroundNIFC · 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 Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater1 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- DDump4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- PPropane20 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- RxPharmacy20 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- +Urgent care25 mi
- AAir-up27 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Azalea Cove Campground
Access
Hike-in
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,884 ft
Ground slope
11% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
38.88137, -120.36987
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (fs.usda.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Getting in
Park at nearest parking · ~0.76 mi in a straight line (trail will be longer)
Nearby & resupply — around Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureUnion Valley Reservoir · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Jones Fork Silver Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townJones Place · ~2.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.4 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.6 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~13.8 mi
- Dump station~3.6 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~4.6 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~19.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicBarton Memorial Hospital · ~20.2 mi
- Hardwareace hardware · ~19.6 mi
EV charging — from Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.0 mi straight-line SW — Pollock Pines, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 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 reach15 within 25 mi · 107 within 50 · 389 within 100 · 1079 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS13.8 mi — GF4EVA POLLOCK P. DC, Pollock Pines
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO13.8 mi — GF4EVA POLLOCK P. DC, Pollock Pines
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.8 mi — GF4EVA POLLOCK P. L2, Pollock Pines, CA · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 326660 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletAzalea Cove Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWench Creek Group · ~0.5 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBig Silver Group · ~0.5 mi E · USFS
- Flush restroomWench Creek Cg · ~0.5 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Azalea Cove Campground · Eldorado National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Union Valley Reservoir as a perennial lake or pond, 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 11% — 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.
- 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 Azalea Cove Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Azalea Cove Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Wench Creek Group~0.5 mi · fee
- Big Silver Group~0.5 mi · fee
- Wench Creek Cg~0.5 mi · fee
- Yellowjacket Cg~1.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages Azalea Cove Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Azalea Cove Campground are set by Eldorado National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Azalea Cove Campground
Fee note
No fee, per the land manager's page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No fees are required for this site" https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/eldorado/recreation/azalea-cove-campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: hike (road/trail right there) | No fee 2026-09-19: "No fees are required for this site" Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/eldorado/recreation/azalea-cove-campground (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Azalea Cove Campground
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 — Azalea Cove Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading the aerial →All field notes →