★ Field-verified · Dave's ownUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Francis Marion National Forest
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · Berkeley County, SC · 33.17352, -79.56178
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 U.S. Forest Service land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
This is a free campground in Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina. Several sites with fire rings, and a single vault toilet. Decent spot, but expect human activity and other people who live in their vehicles. Very poor cell service. Room for several vehicles. Somewhat recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 1 January 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site itself (the road season below is the road's), so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 219 (Honey Hill West), 100 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 219 (Honey Hill West), 100 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 219 (Honey Hill West): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 Francis Marion National Forest
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 29 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Francis Marion National ForestNIFC · 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 Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- WWater11 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- MMechanic22 mi
- HHardware24 mi
- +Urgent care25 mi
- EVEV fast charger25 mi
- ShShower25 mi
- OOutfitter29 mi
- LLaundry30 mi
- DDump39 mi
- AAir-up42 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Francis Marion National Forest
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
29 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
County
Berkeley County, SC
Coordinates
33.17352, -79.56178
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureKeepers Branch · ~0.9 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townMcClellanville · ~8.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCitgo · ~7.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~7.3 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~21.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicNovant Health Urgent Care · ~24.6 mi
- HardwareLowe's · ~24.5 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
Recommended
EV charging — from Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger24.7 mi straight-line SW — Point Hope, Charleston, SC · EV Connect · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 23 within 50 · 82 within 100 · 224 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)25.1 mi — Market at Oakland - Tesla Supercharger, Mt. Pleasant
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO31.6 mi — HONC HONC PUBLIC #1, North Charleston
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)20.9 mi — GEORGETOWN CITY CLELAND ST. · ChargePoint Network · 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 350356 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletHoney Hill · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWambaw Cycle · ~4.8 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletElmwood · ~5.6 mi E · USFS
- Flush restroomBuckhall Recreation Area · ~9.3 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Francis Marion National Forest · Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests · SC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Keepers Branch as an intermittent stream, ~0.9 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1% — 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.
- 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.
- 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 Francis Marion National Forest elsewhere
Other camps near Francis Marion National Forest
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Elmwood Campground~5.5 mi
- Guilliard Lake~8.4 mi
- Buckhall Campground~9.4 mi
- Charleston County~11.3 mi
The unit that manages Francis Marion National Forest
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Francis Marion National Forest are set by Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Francis Marion National Forest
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 (Berkeley County, SC). 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.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 1 January 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Francis Marion National Forest
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — Francis Marion National Forest
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →