★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic landFree
Callaway County
Drive-up · public land · Callaway County, MO · 38.78506, -92.12613
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Dry Fork Campground is a free campground geared toward equestrians. It is a loop with multiple sites, picnic tables, vault toilet, fire rings, hitching posts, and even water! Wooded area. Fairly rural but there were a few other campers. It's a good option if you're traveling along I-70, which isn't far to the north. Some cell service. Room for one or two vehicles. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 3 June 2018. 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Callaway County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 757 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Callaway CountyNIFC · 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 Callaway County · Mark Twain National Forest · MO
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery3 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- WWater12 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- @Mail14 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- PPropane16 mi
- ShShower20 mi
- DDump32 mi
- AAir-up50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Callaway County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
757 ft
Ground slope
8.2% · noticeable
Nearest highway
~5.2 mi · US Hwy 54
County
Callaway County, MO
Coordinates
38.78506, -92.12613
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Callaway County · Mark Twain National Forest · MO (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDry Fork · ~0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Doctor Windmiller Reservoir (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townBoydsville · ~2.3 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~5.2 mi · US Hwy 54
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesFence gator · ~2.9 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~13.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicHealth Clinic · ~10.9 mi
- HardwareWestlake Ace Hardware · ~14.1 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Callaway County · Mark Twain National Forest · MO — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.6 mi straight-line N — Little General - Tesla Supercharger (Little General), Columbia, MO (at a gas station) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach17 within 25 mi · 23 within 50 · 109 within 100 · 264 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.5 mi — H3 QOZB MARRIOTTJC DC2, Jefferson City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.5 mi — CEC CHARGING STATION 01, Fulton, MO · 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 charger$0.40 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 463502 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Callaway County · Mark Twain National Forest · MO — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletDry Fork · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletDry Fork Day Use · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPine Ridge · ~2.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPine Ridge · ~2.0 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Callaway County · Mark Twain National Forest · MO
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Dry Fork as an intermittent stream, ~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 8.2% — 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- US Hwy 54 is mapped ~5.2 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 Callaway County elsewhere
Other camps near Callaway County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pine Ridge~2.0 mi
- Hart Creek Conservation Area~12.4 mi
- Marion Access~14.4 mi
- Marion Bottoms Conservation Area~15.2 mi
The unit that manages Callaway County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Callaway County are set by Mark Twain National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Callaway County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Callaway County, MO). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 3 June 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Callaway County
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
Before you go — Callaway County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Picking a spot →All field notes →