Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 34.83208, -114.83149
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,515 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting AreaNIFC · 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 Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- WWater12 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- ShShower22 mi
- DDump22 mi
- RxPharmacy23 mi
- LLaundry24 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
2,515 ft
Ground slope
44.8% · steep
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~2.5 mi · Interstate 40
State
CA
Coordinates
34.83208, -114.83149
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townNeedles · ~12.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.5 mi · Interstate 40
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelShell · ~11.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~22.5 mi
- GroceriesMobil Mart · ~11.8 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~22.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicNeedles Public Health Clinic · ~12.0 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~23.0 mi
EV charging — from Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.8 mi straight-line E — Mobil - Coral Charge, Needles, CA (at a gas station) · Non-Networked · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-10-13 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 104 within 100 · 273 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)11.8 mi — Needles, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Needles
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO20.0 mi — Najah Hi Sahara Oasis (Essex Fenner, CA), Essex Fenner
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)25.9 mi — Harrah's Laughlin Casino & Hotel (at an other entertainment) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 20 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-11 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Center - Tesla Destination, Essex, 14.7 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 428666 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomSection 10 Colorado River Nature Center · ~19.6 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~20.5 mi E · FWS
- Highway rest areaJohn Wilkie Eastbound · ~22.1 mi W
- Highway rest areaJohn Wilkie Westbound · ~22.1 mi W
Coming out here — Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 44.8% — steep. 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 ~5.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak 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 40 is mapped ~2.5 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.
- 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 Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area elsewhere
Other camps near Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Camp Ibis-Patton ~9.5 mi
- Dead Mountains Wilderness~12.3 mi
- Historic Route 66 California Gateway Site Day Use Area~15.2 mi
- Piute Mountains Wilderness~15.3 mi
The unit that manages Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area is in the Needles Field Office, California Desert District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Source
Bureau of Land Management 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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
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 — Flattop Mountain Rock Collecting Area
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Power off-grid →All field notes →