Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
Drive-up · public land · Nelson County, VA · 37.83750, -79.02129
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
What the record says about the site — Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
- Tent camping
- No trailers or RVs
- Listed as a backcountry site
- Informal, undeveloped site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 923 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VANIFC · 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 Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- PPropane5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- DDump6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
923 ft
Ground slope
14.1% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~9.9 mi · main line
County
Nelson County, VA
Coordinates
37.83750, -79.02129
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTye River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Harpers Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townTyro · ~1.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.8 mi
- FuelHickman's Exxon · ~5.3 mi
- Propane / LPGArc3 · ~19.4 mi
- Dump station~6.4 mi
- GroceriesHickman's Grocery · ~5.3 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~12.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicNelson County Health Department · ~10.2 mi
- HardwareAugusta Cooperative Farm Bureau, Inc · ~14.5 mi
EV charging — from Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.9 mi straight-line SE — Exxon Lovingston (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach13 within 25 mi · 41 within 50 · 152 within 100 · 628 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)13.3 mi — Raphine, VA - Tesla Supercharger, Raphine
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO17.6 mi — TWH SALES, Waynesboro
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.0 mi — Wintergarden Pacific - Parking Lot, Roseland, VA · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Vrbo Wintergreen Briarpatch - Tesla Destination, Wintergreen Resort, 6.7 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 461070 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomTATC Harpers Creek Shelter Vault Privy · ~1.7 mi NE · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletHarpers Creek A.T. Shelter · ~1.8 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPriest A.T. Shelter · ~3.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCrabtree Falls · ~3.3 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Tye 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 14.1% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~9.9 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.
- 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 Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA elsewhere
Other camps near Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Harpers Creek A.T. Shelter~1.8 mi
- Priest A.T. Shelter~3.0 mi
- Maupin Field A.T. Shelter~3.6 mi
- Sherando Lake Group Campground~5.6 mi · fee
The unit that manages Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA are set by George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Dispersed camp — Nelson County, VA
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