Agency-listedUSFSFree
Big Buck Trail Camp
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.38621, -118.14100
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 — Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles 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 0501), 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 →
What the record says about the site — Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA
- First come, first served
- Campfires allowed on the record -- check today's restrictions
- No toilet
- No drinking water — carry your own
- Listed as a backcountry site
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 Big Buck Trail Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,523 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Big Buck Trail CampNIFC · 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 Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater4 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- PPropane12 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- OOutfitter15 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- DDump36 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 — Big Buck Trail Camp
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,523 ft
Ground slope
28.3% · steep
Nearest rail line
~5.7 mi · main line
State
CA
Coordinates
34.38621, -118.14100
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMiddle Fork Mill Creek · ~0.7 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Mill Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSinging Springs · ~4.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.5 mi
- FuelPilot · ~12.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesActon Market · ~6.5 mi
- PharmacyCrown Valley Pharmacy · ~8.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicUSC Keck Clinic · ~12.8 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~12.4 mi
EV charging — from Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.9 mi straight-line N — Palmdale Park & Ride · EVCS · CHAdeMO, CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach175 within 25 mi · 704 within 50 · 1069 within 100 · 1344 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)14.9 mi — Palmdale, CA - 10th St W - Tesla Supercharger, Palmdale
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.7 mi — SCE83 - Vincent Substation, Palmdale, CA · OpConnect · J1772 · 4 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 155913 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMessenger Flats · ~2.8 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMill Creek Summit · ~3.4 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMonte Cristo · ~3.5 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHidden Springs · ~5.2 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Big Buck Trail Camp · Angeles National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Middle Fork Mill Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.7 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 28.3% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~5.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records commuter rail service on it. 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Big Buck Trail Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Big Buck Trail Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lightning Point~2.6 mi · fee
- Messenger Flats~2.8 mi · fee
- Monte Cristo~3.5 mi · fee
- Mt. Pacifico~6.1 mi · fee
The unit that manages Big Buck Trail Camp
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Big Buck Trail Camp are set by Angeles National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Big Buck Trail Camp
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.
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 Big Buck Trail Camp
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 — Big Buck Trail Camp
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →