Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Bottchers Gap
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 36.35420, -121.81401
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. 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 — Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 18S05A (Bottchers Cg.), 50 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 18S05A (Bottchers Cg.), 50 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 18S05A (Bottchers Cg.): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; 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 Bottchers Gap
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,084 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Bottchers GapNIFC · 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 Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater0 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- DDump6 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- PPropane18 mi
- AAir-up23 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 — Bottchers Gap
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,084 ft
Ground slope
9.9% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
36.35420, -121.81401
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMill Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townCarmel Valley · ~11.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterMill Creek Water Source · ~0.3 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.8 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~18.0 mi
- Dump station~6.0 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~5.8 mi
- PharmacyCarmel Drug Store · ~15.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicOhana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health · ~15.3 mi
- HardwareCarmel ACE Hardware · ~13.7 mi
EV charging — from Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.3 mi straight-line S — Big Sur, CA - Ventana - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 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 reach32 within 25 mi · 80 within 50 · 510 within 100 · 977 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS16.2 mi — MONTEREY AIRPRT UNIT 1, Monterey
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO16.2 mi — MONTEREY AIRPRT UNIT 1, Monterey
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.0 mi — Carmel Valley Lodge · Blink 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 149296 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFtord Badger Hills -Trailhd Toilet 20 · ~16.9 mi N · BLM
- RestroomFtord Badger Hills -Trailhd Toilet 10 · ~17.0 mi N · BLM
- RestroomFtord Parker Flat Trailhd Cxt Toilet · ~18.6 mi N · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletFtord Npld Site -Vault Toilet · ~18.8 mi N · BLM
Coming out here — Bottchers Gap · Los Padres National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mill 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 9.9% — 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.
- 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 Bottchers Gap elsewhere
Other camps near Bottchers Gap
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — Monterey County, CA~12.3 mi
- Dispersed camp #3 — Monterey County, CA~12.5 mi
- Dispersed camp #2 — Monterey County, CA~13.1 mi
- White Oaks~13.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages Bottchers Gap
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Bottchers Gap are set by Los Padres National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Bottchers Gap
Closures
Bottchers Gap Campground is closed indefinitely due to the Palo Colorado Road Closure. This campground has been closed since July 2016. (checked 2026-08-20)
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 2026-08-20: no rate published by the agency, and the campground is CLOSED. Los Padres states Bottchers Gap has been closed since July 2016 and remains closed indefinitely because of the Palo Colorado Road closure (page last updated 2025-02-19); call the Monterey Ranger District at (831) 385-5434 before planning anything here. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lospadres/recreation/bottchers-gap-campround.
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 Bottchers Gap
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 — Bottchers Gap
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →