Agency-listedUSFSFree
Crooked Meadows Cg
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 37.81941, -118.85071
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 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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 01S166, 0.3 mi away. 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 Crooked Meadows Cg
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,827 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Crooked Meadows CgNIFC · 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 Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater9 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- DDump12 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- OOutfitter14 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- +Urgent care40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — Crooked Meadows Cg
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
8,827 ft
Ground slope
10.2% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
37.81941, -118.85071
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDexter Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)McLaughlin Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMono Mills · ~7.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.9 mi
- FuelShell · ~11.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~12.3 mi
- GroceriesJune Lake General Store · ~12.6 mi
- PharmacyVons Pharmacy · ~13.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicMammoth Hospital · ~13.6 mi
EV charging — from Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.6 mi straight-line SW — Mammoth Lakes, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a municipal building) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 13 within 50 · 114 within 100 · 431 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS13.6 mi — Mammoth Lakes, CA, Mammoth Lakes
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO40.6 mi — CalTrans - Bishop, Bishop
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.2 mi — Mammoth Lakes, CA - Old Mammoth Rd - Tesla Destination · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — The Village Lodge at Mammoth - Tesla Destination, Mammoth Lakes, 13.8 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 102039 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBig Springs Cg · ~6.9 mi SW · USFS
- Highway rest areaCrestview · ~8.9 mi SW
- Vault / pit toiletGlass Creek Cg · ~8.9 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSawmill Meadows Cg · ~10.1 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Crooked Meadows Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Dexter Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.2 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 10.2% — 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 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 Crooked Meadows Cg elsewhere
Other camps near Crooked Meadows Cg
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Bald Mountain Springs Cg~2.6 mi
- Sagehen Meadows Cg~3.2 mi
- Taylor Canyon Cg~6.5 mi
- Big Springs Cg~6.9 mi
The unit that manages Crooked Meadows Cg
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Crooked Meadows Cg are set by Inyo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Crooked Meadows Cg
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 Crooked Meadows Cg
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 — Crooked Meadows Cg
When the high country opens →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading your camp page →All field notes →