Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 35.82483, -118.09866
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,623 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Chimney Peak Recreation AreaNIFC · 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 Chimney Peak Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- OOutfitter11 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- WWater17 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- @Mail19 mi
- DDump24 mi
- MMechanic26 mi
- HHardware27 mi
- +Urgent care27 mi
- PPropane28 mi
- RxPharmacy28 mi
- LLaundry28 mi
- ShShower50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 13 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 — Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
6,623 ft
Ground slope
39.7% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
35.82483, -118.09866
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Chimney Peak Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureStream · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townCanebrake · ~7.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelMobil · ~18.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.5 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~17.6 mi
- PharmacyAlbertsons Pharmacy · ~28.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicKern Valley Hospital · ~21.7 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~27.0 mi
EV charging — from Chimney Peak Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.4 mi straight-line SE — DC CORRIDOR INYOKERN DC2 · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 14 within 50 · 157 within 100 · 1122 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)17.6 mi — Olancha, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Olancha
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.4 mi — DC CORRIDOR INYOKERN L2 · 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 202864 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Chimney Peak Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomChimney Creek Cg -Toilet 10 By Canebrake Rd · ~3.3 mi E · BLM
- RestroomChimney Creek Cg -Toilet 20 E/Cg Host Site · ~3.3 mi E · BLM
- RestroomChimney Creek Cg -Toilet 30 By First S/Loop · ~3.4 mi E · BLM
- RestroomLong Valley Cg -Toilet 10 By Entrance · ~3.6 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — Chimney Peak Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: Stream. That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 39.7% — steep. 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 Chimney Peak Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near Chimney Peak Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Chimney Peak Wilderness~1.4 mi
- Domeland Wilderness~3.1 mi
- Sacatar Trail Wilderness~9.7 mi
- Pacific Crest- Owens Peak Segment~11.3 mi
The unit that manages Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Chimney Peak Recreation Area is in the Bakersfield Field Office, Central California District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No Fees" https://www.blm.gov/visit/chimney-peak-recreation-area
Source
Bureau of Land Management 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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No Fees" Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/chimney-peak-recreation-area (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
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 Chimney Peak Recreation Area
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 — Chimney Peak Recreation Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Stay limits →How to read this page →All field notes →