Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Black Rock (Cua)
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 39.72977, -121.01490
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 Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 22N72Y (Black Rock), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 22N72Y (Black Rock), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 22N72Y (Black Rock): “01/01-12/31” 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 →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Black Rock (Cua)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,124 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Black Rock (Cua)NIFC · 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 Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail14 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- OOutfitter15 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- WWater22 mi
- ShShower23 mi
- +Urgent care28 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- DDump36 mi
- PPropane44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 22-mi drive, 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 — Black Rock (Cua)
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
5,124 ft
Ground slope
9.3% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
39.72977, -121.01490
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Black Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLittle Grass Valley Reservoir · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Ice Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townLa Porte · ~3.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesLa Porte General Store · ~3.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicPlumas District Hospital · ~14.8 mi
- HardwareSierra Hardware · ~15.4 mi
EV charging — from Black Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.9 mi straight-line N — Quincy, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · 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 reach1 within 25 mi · 23 within 50 · 311 within 100 · 681 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS29.5 mi — Caboose Park - Portola, Portola
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO32.4 mi — Town of Paradise - 230 Pearson, Paradise
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.7 mi — DAME SHIRLEY DSP-WEST, Quincy, 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 422189 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Black Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Rock (Boating) · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Rock Tent(Family Cg) · ~0.3 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTooms (Boating) · ~1.7 mi E · USFS
- Flush restroomWyandotte (Family Cg) · ~1.8 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Black Rock (Cua) · Plumas National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Little Grass Valley Reservoir as a perennial lake or pond, ~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 9.3% — 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.
- 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 Black Rock (Cua) elsewhere
Other camps near Black Rock (Cua)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Black Rock Tent(Family Cg)~0.3 mi · fee
- Wyandotte (Family Cg)~1.8 mi · fee
- Tooms Rv Camp~1.8 mi · fee
- Peninsula Tent (Family Cg)~1.9 mi · fee
The unit that manages Black Rock (Cua)
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Black Rock (Cua) are set by Plumas National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Black Rock (Cua)
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Rock (Cua)
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 Rock (Cua)
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Getting unstuck →All field notes →