BLM public land
A fee campground in BLM land at Afton Canyon along the western extremity of the Mojave Road. Nice, well-cared for. Trash bins, running water, fire ring, sheltered picnic tables. Some RVs. Short drive from highway, but quiet and feels remote. Enough room for one or two vehicles per site. Desert setting next to railroad bridge. Good cell service. Cost was $6 per night. Recommended if you don't mind spending a few bucks.
Dave slept here on 3 February 2019. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.


Everything you need — measured from BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- WWater0 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- @Mail22 mi
- HHardware23 mi
- MMechanic23 mi
- PPropane23 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- AAir-up30 mi
- RxPharmacy36 mi
- LLaundry37 mi
- DDump42 mi
- ShShower60 mi
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — BLM public land
Nearby & resupply — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMojave River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.0 mi
- FuelShell · ~11.9 mi
- Propane / LPGShell · ~23.1 mi
- GroceriesMarket · ~2.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicTroop Medical Clinic · ~23.2 mi
- HardwareDeels Plumbing Heating Supply Store · ~22.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.8 mi · Interstate 15
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
EV charging — from BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger4.8 mi straight-line W — Caltrans - Clyde V. Kane Rest Area - Northbound, Baker, CA (at a travel center) · Non-Networked · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-01-09 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 23 within 50 · 247 within 100 · 1171 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.1 mi — Baker, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Baker
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)27.1 mi — DC CORRIDOR EDDIES Y L2, Yermo, 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 186207 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomAfton Canyon Cg -Toilet 10 · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomAfton Canyon Cg -Toilet 20 · at this camp · BLM
- Highway rest areaClyde V. Kane Southbound · ~4.9 mi W
- Highway rest areaClyde V. Kane Northbound · ~4.9 mi W
Coming out here — BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mojave River as a perennial river, ~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 3.1% — 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 ~0.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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 15 is mapped ~2.8 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 BLM public land elsewhere
Other camps near BLM public land
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Afton Canyon~2.6 mi · fee
- Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area~6.4 mi · fee
- Dispersed Camping~21.8 mi
The unit that manages BLM public land
BLM public land is in the Barstow Field Office, California Desert District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — BLM public land
What we don’t know about BLM public land
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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