Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
Drive-up · public land · CA · 35.91777, -118.48979
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,505 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Calkins Flat Dispersed CampgroundNIFC · 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 Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground · Sequoia National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- DDump19 mi
- +Urgent care19 mi
- WWater21 mi
- OOutfitter22 mi
- HHardware24 mi
- EVEV fast charger25 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- LLaundry31 mi
- RxPharmacy32 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- PPropane46 mi
- ShShower47 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 21-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
3,505 ft
Ground slope
6.7% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
35.91777, -118.48979
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground · Sequoia National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureKern River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFastrip · ~11.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~18.6 mi
- GroceriesPrimo's · ~11.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicTule River Indian Health Center · ~18.8 mi
- HardwareTuff Shed · ~24.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground · Sequoia National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger25.0 mi straight-line NW — EFTP#1, Porterville, CA (at a public site) · CHAEVI · J1772, CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 40 within 50 · 180 within 100 · 1021 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO31.3 mi — City of Porterville, Porterville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)25.0 mi — EFTP#1, Porterville, CA (at a public site) · CHAEVI · J1772, CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 395255 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground · Sequoia National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletFairview · ~0.8 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLimestone · ~3.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBrush Creek · ~3.4 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletJohnsondale Bridge River Access · ~3.6 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground · Sequoia National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Kern River as a perennial river, under 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 6.7% — 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.
- 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 Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Chamise Flats Dispersed Camping Area~0.5 mi
- Fairview~0.8 mi · fee
- Limestone~3.2 mi · fee
- Old Goldledge Dispersed Camping~3.3 mi
The unit that manages Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground are set by Sequoia National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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
Before you go — Calkins Flat Dispersed Campground
Water on public land →Reading a forest MVUM →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →