Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Buck Spring
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 35.13495, -120.11798
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 — Buck Spring · Los Padres National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 30S06.1 (Rock Front), 0.2 mi 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 30S06.1 (Rock Front), 0.2 mi from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Nov 1. That season ends after Nov 1.
MVUM record for FR 30S06.1 (Rock Front): “05/01-11/01” 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 Buck Spring
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,572 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Buck SpringNIFC · 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 Buck Spring · 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
- GGrocery20 mi
- FFuel21 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- @Mail21 mi
- PPropane21 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- MMechanic22 mi
- WWater22 mi
- LLaundry23 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- ShShower29 mi
- DDump29 mi
- AAir-up31 mi
- OOutfitter32 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 22-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 20 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 — Buck Spring
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,572 ft
Ground slope
3.2% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
35.13495, -120.11798
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Buck Spring · Los Padres National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBranch Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Brown Canyon (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townCalifornia Valley · ~14.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelChevron · ~20.9 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~17.4 mi
- Dump station~29.2 mi
- GroceriesMarina · ~19.9 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~21.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicMarian Medical Center · ~20.9 mi
- HardwareMiner's True Value · ~21.9 mi
EV charging — from Buck Spring · Los Padres National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger21.0 mi straight-line SW — Fairfield Inn Suites By Marriot - Santa Maria · EVCS · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 67 within 50 · 229 within 100 · 821 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)21.1 mi — Santa Maria, CA - Nicholson Ave - Tesla Supercharger, Santa Maria
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)19.5 mi — THEGATEHOUSEBNV FRONT, Santa Maria, 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 422102 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Buck Spring · Los Padres National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBuck Spring · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBaja · ~1.2 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMiranda Pines · ~8.5 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHorseshoe Spring · ~9.5 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Buck Spring · Los Padres National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Branch Creek as an intermittent stream, under 0.1 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 3.2% — 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.
- 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 Buck Spring elsewhere
Other camps near Buck Spring
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Baja~1.2 mi
- Paradise Spring~1.9 mi
- Brookshire~7.9 mi · fee
- Miranda Pines~8.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Buck Spring
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Buck Spring are set by Los Padres National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Buck Spring
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 Buck Spring
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 — Buck Spring
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Off-grid communication →All field notes →