Agency-listedUSFSFee
Chilao Campgrounds
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.32112, -118.01584
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 — Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0501), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
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 Chilao Campgrounds
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,333 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Chilao CampgroundsNIFC · 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 Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater6 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- +Urgent care11 mi
- PPropane12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- AAir-up13 mi
- ShShower16 mi
- DDump35 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — Chilao Campgrounds
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,333 ft
Ground slope
7.9% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
34.32112, -118.01584
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureChilao Creek · ~0.5 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townSierra Madre · ~10.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~6.0 mi
- FuelExxon Mobil · ~11.2 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~11.5 mi
- GroceriesAdams' Pack Station · ~8.7 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~11.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicPasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center · ~11.4 mi
- HardwareArnold's Frontier Hardware · ~11.3 mi
EV charging — from Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.7 mi straight-line S — US Bank Arcadia - East Foothill · EVCS · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach209 within 25 mi · 783 within 50 · 1092 within 100 · 1334 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)12.2 mi — Pasadena, CA - 3363 E Foothill Blvd - Tesla Supercharger, Pasadena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.1 mi — City of Pasadena - Victory Park (at a parking lot) · POWERFLEX · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 22 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-06-06 · hours: 24 hours daily; pay lot
- 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 375915 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletChilao Campgrounds · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChilao Picnic Ground · ~0.6 mi NE · USFS
- Flush restroomChilao Visitor Center Site · ~0.7 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletDevil'S Canyon (Hwy 2) · ~0.8 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Chilao Campgrounds · Angeles National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Chilao Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.5 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 7.9% — 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 Chilao Campgrounds elsewhere
Other camps near Chilao Campgrounds
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Coulter Group Campground~0.2 mi · fee
- Horse Flats~1.5 mi · fee
- Bandido~1.8 mi · fee
- Sulphur Springs Trail Camp~3.4 mi
The unit that manages Chilao Campgrounds
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Chilao Campgrounds are set by Angeles National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Chilao Campgrounds
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 2026-08-22: $20 per night per vehicle (site holds 8 people), $5 per night for each extra vehicle. Senior and Access America the Beautiful passes get 50% off; the Adventure Pass is NOT accepted in lieu of the camping fee. Pay by cash, check or money order in the on-site fee tube. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/angeles/recreation/chilao-campground.
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 Chilao Campgrounds
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 — Chilao Campgrounds
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Reading your camp page →All field notes →