Agency-listedDeshler Crossroads Park (railfan volunteers / Bartlow Township Historical Society)Free
Deshler Crossroads Park
Drive-up · public land · OH · 41.20614, -83.90250
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 →The land manager lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
FIRST, THE DONATION: this is a free-to-stay spot run by local railfan volunteers, but there's a donation slot at the signal bungalow -- the suggested donation is about $20 for tents and $30 for RVs (older write-ups mention $5 for electric), so please drop it in; it keeps the park open. Deshler Crossroads Park sits in the southwest corner of the famous Deshler 'diamond' in Deshler, a small village in Henry County, northwest Ohio, where two busy CSX lines cross -- 50 to 70 trains a day, a 24-hour webcam, and a scanner speaker calling out approaching trains. It's a railfan paradise and a genuinely welcoming free overnight stop: camping is first-come, first-served on the grass west of the pavilion, both tents and RVs, no designated sites. There's a covered pavilion with tables and a fire pit, a porta-john, a pop machine, and an electric pole (30-amp and standard RV plugs) -- but NO water or sewer hookups, so come self-contained with your own water. It's right at an active rail crossing, so expect train noise all night (that's the point). This is the honest camp-free, shop-and-eat-in-town spirit -- Deshler hopes you'll spend a little locally. HEADS UP, this is a MEDIUM-confidence lead: the free/donation policy comes from long-standing railfan community sources rather than an official village page (the park's old website has lapsed), so please CONFIRM the current rules and donation via the 'Deshler Crossroads Park' Facebook page before you rely on it, pay the donation, and leave it better than you found it so the town keeps welcoming travelers.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Deshler Crossroads Park
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 712 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Deshler Crossroads ParkNIFC · 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 Deshler Crossroads Park · public land · OH
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail0 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- AAir-up12 mi
- WWater12 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- OOutfitter15 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- PPropane26 mi
- DDump30 mi
- ShShower30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Deshler Crossroads Park
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
712 ft
Ground slope
0.6% · flat
Nearest rail line
under 0.1 mi · main line
State
OH
Coordinates
41.20614, -83.90250
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Deshler Crossroads Park · public land · OH (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBrush Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.7 mi
- Propane / LPGSpeedway Cafe · ~25.9 mi
- Dump station~29.8 mi
- GroceriesMain Street Station · ~11.0 mi
- PharmacyRite Aid · ~15.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicBlanchard Valley Health System Wellness Park · ~14.9 mi
- HardwareMaag's Paint Center · ~14.9 mi
- Nearest rail lineunder 0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Deshler Crossroads Park · public land · OH — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.5 mi straight-line E — Pilot Travel Center 360, Findlay, OH · eVgo Network · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 60 within 50 · 383 within 100 · 820 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)15.7 mi — Findlay, OH - Tesla Supercharger, Findlay
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO17.1 mi — SNYDER CHEV CPE250, Napoleon
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.7 mi — City Express Findlay OH · EV Connect · 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 371375 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Deshler Crossroads Park · public land · OH — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaWood I75 SB · ~16.9 mi NE
- Highway rest areaWood I75 NB · ~17.2 mi NE
- Highway rest areaHancock I75 SB · ~18.1 mi SE
- Highway rest areaHancock I75 NB · ~18.2 mi SE
Coming out here — Deshler Crossroads Park · public land · OH
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Brush Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 0.6% — flat. 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 under 0.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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.
- 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 Deshler Crossroads Park elsewhere
How we know this — Deshler Crossroads Park
Source
municipal park records
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
Source: multiple corroborating railfan community references (read 2026-07-27, incl. June-2025 TripAdvisor reviews confirming it still operates this way): railfanguides.us/oh/deshler + /gregarious/oh/deshler and a trainweb.org/amtrakpix travelogue -- 'Camping is permitted ... electricity can be had for contributing $5.00 to the local club'; 'Free on-site parking in a gravel parking lot.' Current camper listings: 'space for either RV or tent camping to the west of the pavilion. There are no designated sites, it's first come, first served ... no water or sewer hookups ... an electric pole with two 30 amp RV plugs and two 15/20 amp standard plugs, and one 50 amp plug on the signal bungalow ... The suggested donation for camping is $20 for tents and $30 for RV's. The signal bungalow with the banner has a slot for the donations.' => a VOLUNTARY suggested donation via an unattended slot, NOT a gate/mandatory fee => qualifies as a free / donation-requested site under the mission (banked fee=0; field_note leads with the donation ask). MED (not HIGH): the free/donation flag rests on well-corroborated railfan community sources, not an official Village-of-Deshler .gov page or a live park page -- the park's former official domain cg-tower.com has LAPSED to an unrelated gambling site, so no reachable authoritative current page; donation figures vary by source/vintage ($5 for electric in older write-ups vs $20 tent/$30 RV suggested now). Run by local railfan volunteers with the Bartlow Township Historical Society (NOT a municipal parks dept), so land_manager is the park/volunteers, not 'Municipal'. Coordinate 41.206138,-83.902497 = OSM way/269741921 'Deshler Crossroads Park' (amenity=shelter/pavilion; addr:street 'West Mulberry Street', addr:city 'Deshler', addr:state 'OH'; Overpass-by-id, center 41.2061381,-83.9024968), corroborated by OSM relation/3610359 'Crossroads Park' leisure=park centroid 41.2061976,-83.9027236 (~0.02 mi) and Nominatim 'Deshler Crossroads Park, West Mulberry Street, Deshler, Bartlow Township, Henry County, OH' (railfanguides also lists 41.206360,-83.901867, ~0.05 mi -- same spot). fee=0 (donation), dispersed=0, camp_type NULL, water='no' (no water/sewer), status pending. Confirm current rules via the 'Deshler Crossroads Park' Facebook page. Ingest 2026-07-27.
--- NIGHTSHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-21 (fire 1220, leftover backlog) --- HOLDS UP, at the same evidential grade it was banked at -- community sources, no operator page. Re-read https://www.railfanguides.us/gregarious/oh/deshler/ this fire: it still says verbatim 'Camping is permitted, and electricity can be had for contributing $5.00 to the local club', and still describes the gravel parking, picnic shelter with tables, electricity, pop machine, fire pit and porta-potty. Current camper listings re-read this fire still describe first-come RV/tent camping on the grass west of the pavilion with a suggested donation of about $20 for tents and $30 for RVs dropped in the slot on the signal bungalow, and still say there is NO water or sewer. OSM way 269741921 'Deshler Crossroads Park' is still present (v3, amenity=shelter, addr:city=Deshler) at this coordinate. CAVEATS UNCHANGED AND STILL TRUE: there is no reachable official Village-of-Deshler or park page (the old cg-tower.com domain is still lapsed), the railfanguides text is dated -- its own parenthetical says 'at least in 2012' and the parent page's last-modified stamp is 29-Aug-2021 -- and the donation figures vary by source vintage. The ask is a voluntary slot, not a gate, so it stays fee=0 with the donation leading the field_note. APPROVED as a medium-confidence, donation-requested community 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 Deshler Crossroads Park
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 — Deshler Crossroads Park
Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →Getting unstuck →All field notes →