Agency-listedUSFSFree
Gabaldon Horse Camp
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 33.92888, -109.48645
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 — Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0301), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. 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 Gabaldon Horse Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 9,399 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Gabaldon Horse 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 Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- FFuel17 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- HHardware19 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- EVEV fast charger38 mi
- RxPharmacy39 mi
- +Urgent care44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 38-mi run (and back).
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 — Gabaldon Horse Camp
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
9,399 ft
Ground slope
22.3% · steep
State
AZ
Coordinates
33.92888, -109.48645
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureEast Fork Little Colorado River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Colter Reservoir (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townGreer · ~5.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.8 mi
- FuelShort Stop · ~16.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~5.6 mi
- GroceriesBig Lake Store & Marina · ~5.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicWhite Mountain Regional Medical Center · ~18.1 mi
- HardwareWoodland Building Center · ~18.6 mi
EV charging — from Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger37.8 mi straight-line NW — HT02038 ABB STATION 1, Show Low, AZ · ChargePoint Network · CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 6 within 100 · 140 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)78.1 mi — Holbrook, AZ, Holbrook
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO87.2 mi — Major Market Inc, Zuni
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)29.1 mi — CHARLIE CLARKS C.C. CHARGING 1, Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Hampton Inn & Suites Show Low-Pinetop, Show Low, 37.3 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only; see front desk for access · 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 450693 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletGabaldon Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLee Valley Reservoir · ~1.1 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLightning Ridge Trailhead · ~2.3 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWinn Group · ~2.4 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Gabaldon Horse Camp · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps East Fork Little Colorado River as a perennial river, ~0.2 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 22.3% — 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.
- 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 Gabaldon Horse Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Gabaldon Horse Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Winn Group~2.4 mi · fee
- Winn Campground~2.6 mi · fee
- Cutthroat Cg~5.5 mi · fee
- Brookchar Cg~5.6 mi · fee
The unit that manages Gabaldon Horse Camp
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Gabaldon Horse Camp are set by Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Gabaldon Horse 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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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 Gabaldon Horse 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 — Gabaldon Horse Camp
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Finding water out here →Power off-grid →All field notes →