Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFee
Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.18106, -116.89990
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 — Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 1N45 (Santa Ana River(742650)), 0.3 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 →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,746 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Bald Cove Yellow Post SitesNIFC · 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 Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump2 mi
- ShShower2 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- PPropane4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- EVEV fast charger4 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- WWater5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
5,746 ft
Ground slope
2.6% · flat
State
CA
Coordinates
34.18106, -116.89990
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBarton Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBig Bear Lake · ~4.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~4.9 mi
- FuelChevron · ~4.3 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~4.3 mi
- Dump station~1.6 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~4.3 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~4.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicYucaipa Family Clinic of Redlands Community Hospital · ~13.3 mi
- HardwareDIY Home Center · ~4.9 mi
EV charging — from Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger4.3 mi straight-line N — Big Bear Lake, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach55 within 25 mi · 265 within 50 · 1100 within 100 · 1306 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS4.8 mi — Homestreet Bank Big Bear, Big Bear Lake
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO4.8 mi — Homestreet Bank Big Bear, Big Bear Lake
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.1 mi — BIG BEAR PENNSYLVANIA 1, Big Bear Lake, CA · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports 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 316899 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomSerrano Cg · ~5.7 mi N · USFS
- RestroomMomyer Trailhead · ~6.6 mi S · USFS
- RestroomVivian Trailhead · ~6.9 mi S · USFS
- RestroomBig Falls Trailhead · ~6.9 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Barton Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.3 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 2.6% — flat. 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 Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites elsewhere
Other camps near Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Council Group Campground~1.2 mi · fee
- Barton Flats Campground~1.5 mi · fee
- San Gorgonio Campground~1.9 mi · fee
- Lobo Group Campground~2.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites are set by San Bernardino National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-26: no rate published by the agency. San Bernardino National Forest has no page for Bald Cove (none of its 74 camping pages is this site) and no recreation.gov listing; the Forest Service recreation-sites record flags fee_charged=Y but leaves both the fee type and the fee amount empty. That same record also reports the site's seasonal operational status as CLOSED, so check before driving. For comparison the forest's Big Bear yellow-post page states 'No fees are associated with this site' -- but that is a different set of sites 8 mi away and is not evidence about this one. Checked https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0 , https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/sanbernardino/recreation/camping-cabins and https://www.recreation.gov/api/search.
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 Bald Cove Yellow Post Sites
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