Agency-listedUSFSFree
Fern Camp
OHV / 4×4 · U.S. Forest Service · FL · 28.58711, -81.00932
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 — Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL
No MVUM road within 1 mi of the pin; 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 Fern Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 14 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Fern CampNIFC · 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 Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- PPropane11 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- AAir-up17 mi
- OOutfitter22 mi
- ShShower29 mi
- DDump43 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Fern Camp
Access
OHV / 4×4
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
14 ft
Ground slope
0.8% · flat
Nearest rail line
~9.4 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~9.6 mi · Interstate 95
State
FL
Coordinates
28.58711, -81.00932
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureChristmas Creek · ~0.4 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Lake Searcy (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townChristmas · ~3.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~9.6 mi · Interstate 95
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.9 mi
- FuelShell · ~6.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCircle K · ~6.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~7.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicAdventHealth Waterford Lakes ER · ~10.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~10.4 mi
EV charging — from Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.5 mi straight-line E — Titusville, FL - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 16 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach48 within 25 mi · 183 within 50 · 357 within 100 · 612 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS10.9 mi — CircleK - Orlando, FL, Orlando
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO12.2 mi — Pat Fischer Nissan, Titusville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.7 mi — Hampton Inn Titusville - Tesla Destination (at a hotel) · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 2 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 aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Publix #1559, Oviedo, 8.8 mi · J1772 · hours: Store business hours; customer use only while shopping at Publix · AFDC lists it “Free, only while shopping in Publix”
- 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 167780 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 43 · ~10.5 mi NE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 50 · ~11.2 mi NE
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~15.7 mi NE · FWS
- RestroomMerritt Island Nwr · ~17.0 mi E · NPS
Coming out here — Fern Camp · U.S. Forest Service · FL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Christmas Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.4 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 0.8% — 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 ~9.4 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records intercity high-speed rail service on it. 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.
- Interstate 95 is mapped ~9.6 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Fern Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Fern Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- County Line Camp~1.8 mi
- Joshua Camp~2.4 mi
- Seminole Ranch Conservation Area group site with shelter~3.1 mi
- Seminole Ranch Conservation Area primitive campsite~3.2 mi
Who holds the land at Fern Camp
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Charles H. Bronson State Forest, manager on record: FL Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Forest Service (state). Our own record names USFS as the manager. The two sources disagree, and we have not checked which is right. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Fern Camp
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
likely OHV (only a rough 4wd track in) — confirm
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 Fern Camp
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 — Fern Camp
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →Leave no trace →All field notes →