★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Chelan County
Drive-up · public land · Chelan County, WA · 47.86753, -120.69780
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.
This is a basic, but lovely, unspoiled campsite with a fire ring, next to a quite creek. Primitive, wooded setting. In the forest north of Leavenworth. Enough room for two or three vehicles. No cell service. Mosquitoes might be an issue depending on season. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 27 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 Chelan County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,267 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Chelan 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 Chelan County · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest · WA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- OOutfitter3 mi
- WWater4 mi
- DDump4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- @Mail19 mi
- MMechanic24 mi
- +Urgent care26 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- PPropane59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
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 — Chelan County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
2,267 ft
Ground slope
11.8% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~7.7 mi · main line
County
Chelan County, WA
Coordinates
47.86753, -120.69780
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Chelan County · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Meadow Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townTelma · ~5.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.0 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.4 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~29.7 mi
- Dump stationTrailer Dump Area · ~4.0 mi
- GroceriesMidway Grocery · ~3.4 mi
- PharmacySafeway · ~18.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicCascade Medical Center · ~18.9 mi
- HardwareMarson & Marson Lumber · ~18.8 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Chelan County · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.0 mi straight-line S — Leavenworth, WA - US-2 - Tesla Supercharger (at a rest stop) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 25 within 50 · 319 within 100 · 433 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS18.8 mi — Albertsons Safeway 1589 (Leavenworth, WA), Leavenworth
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO18.9 mi — WCEH Leavenworth, Leavenworth
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.8 mi — 59er Diner, Leavenworth, WA (at a restaurant) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-01-09 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Mountain Springs Lodge - Tesla Destination, Leavenworth, 7.2 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 316903 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Chelan County · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Portable toiletFish Lake Sno-Park · ~1.9 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGrouse Creek Group Site · ~2.0 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletAlder Ridge · ~2.0 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGoose Creek · ~3.0 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Chelan County · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Meadow Creek as a perennial stream, 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 11.8% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~7.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak service on it. 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Chelan County elsewhere
Other camps near Chelan County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Meadow Creek Campground~0.2 mi
- Alder Creek Horse Camp~2.0 mi
- Grouse Creek Group Site~2.0 mi · fee
- Swallow Caves Dispersed Camping~2.3 mi
The unit that manages Chelan County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Chelan County are set by Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Chelan 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 (Chelan County, WA). 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 27 June 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Chelan 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