★ Field-verified · Dave's ownFederal · dispersedFree
Del Norte County
Drive-up · public land · Del Norte County, CA · 41.98265, -123.96036
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.
Within unincorporated town of Rockland, California, at the river access to the beautiful blue Smith River. There is a vault toilet here, and scattered fire rings. Nestled in valley with mountains on both sides. This is very remote. Enough room for multiple vehicles. No cell service. Like an oasis in the middle of the wilderness. Possible best-kept secret. Strongly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 15 January 2019. 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 Del Norte County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 901 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Del Norte 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 Del Norte County · Six Rivers National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- ShShower13 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- DDump14 mi
- WWater15 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- OOutfitter38 mi
- PPropane45 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 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 — Del Norte County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
901 ft
Ground slope
21.2% · steep
County
Del Norte County, CA
Coordinates
41.98265, -123.96036
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Del Norte County · Six Rivers National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Fork Smith River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townRockland · ~0.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelShell · ~12.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.4 mi
- GroceriesGasquet Market · ~9.5 mi
- PharmacyFred Meyer Pharmacy · ~17.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicSutter Coast Hospital · ~18.8 mi
- HardwareTrue Value Hardware · ~20.7 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
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Del Norte County · Six Rivers National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.1 mi straight-line W — El Rinconsito Market - Smith River (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 16 within 50 · 77 within 100 · 144 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)19.8 mi — Crescent City, CA, Crescent City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.1 mi — El Rinconsito Market - Smith River (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 462533 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Del Norte County · Six Rivers National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Fork River Access · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Fork · ~0.3 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletShelly Creek · ~7.8 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLudlum House · ~8.5 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Del Norte County · Six Rivers National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Fork Smith River as a perennial river, 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 21.2% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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 Del Norte County elsewhere
Other camps near Del Norte County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- North Fork~0.3 mi · fee
- Winchuck~7.8 mi
- Ludlum Campground~8.4 mi · fee
- Griffin Bridge~9.5 mi
The unit that manages Del Norte County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Del Norte County are set by Six Rivers National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Del Norte 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 (Del Norte County, CA). 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 15 January 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Del Norte 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 — Del Norte County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Hot-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →