Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 33.83720, -116.74476
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 — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 4S01H (Black Mtn Yp04), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 4S01H (Black Mtn Yp04), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Nov 15. That season ends after Nov 15.
MVUM record for FR 4S01H (Black Mtn Yp04): “05/01-11/15” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
- Tent camping
- No trailers or RVs
- No campfires
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 Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,510 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Black Mountain Yellow Post #4NIFC · 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 Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · 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
- WWater5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- PPropane11 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- DDump23 mi
- AAir-up29 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 — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,510 ft
Ground slope
4.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~5.8 mi · Interstate 10
State
CA
Coordinates
33.83720, -116.74476
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Fork Snow Creek · ~0.5 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Brown Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townPine Wood · ~1.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~5.8 mi · Interstate 10
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.3 mi
- FuelGulf · ~6.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~22.7 mi
- GroceriesPine Cove Gas & Market · ~5.4 mi
- PharmacyIdyllwild Pharmacy · ~6.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicDesert Regional Medical Center · ~11.6 mi
- HardwareSandlin & Son Equipment Rental · ~6.3 mi
EV charging — from Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.7 mi straight-line NW — Morongo Casino Resort and Spa, Cabazon, CA · eVgo Network · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach40 within 25 mi · 218 within 50 · 1101 within 100 · 1282 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)6.9 mi — Cabazon, CA - Morongo Trail - Tesla Supercharger, Cabazon
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.0 mi — CNTYOFRIVERSIDE CABAZON FLEET · 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 228113 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaWhitewater Eastbound · ~7.5 mi NE
- Highway rest areaWhitewater Westbound · ~7.5 mi NE
- Highway rest areaBrookside · ~17.8 mi NW
- RestroomVivian Trailhead · ~18.8 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 · San Bernardino National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Fork Snow Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.5 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 4.2% — 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 ~5.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak 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.
- Interstate 10 is mapped ~5.8 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.
- 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 Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 elsewhere
Other camps near Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Black Mountain Group Campground~0.4 mi · fee
- Black Mountain Yellow Post #3~0.5 mi
- Black Mountain Yellow Post #6~0.5 mi
- Black Mountain Yellow Post #1~0.7 mi
The unit that manages Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Black Mountain Yellow Post #4 are set by San Bernardino National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
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.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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 Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Black Mountain Yellow Post #4
When the high country opens →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →