Agency-listedUSFSFree
Gould Mesa
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.22223, -118.22223
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 — Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA
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 Gould Mesa
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,676 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Gould MesaNIFC · 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 Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery0 mi
- LLaundry0 mi
- MMechanic0 mi
- FFuel1 mi
- RxPharmacy1 mi
- +Urgent care1 mi
- @Mail1 mi
- WWater1 mi
- PPropane1 mi
- HHardware1 mi
- EVEV fast charger2 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- AAir-up8 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- DDump24 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 0 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 — Gould Mesa
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,676 ft
Ground slope
50.8% · steep
Nearest rail line
~5.4 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~0.8 mi · Interstate 210
State
CA
Coordinates
34.22223, -118.22223
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHalls Canyon Channel · under 0.1 mi · USGS: canal or ditch, no flow class
- Also mapped (OSM)Debris Basin (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townAltacanyada · ~0.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~0.8 mi · Interstate 210
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~1.1 mi
- Propane / LPGLava Propane · ~25.4 mi
- Dump station~23.7 mi
- GroceriesLotte Market · ~0.4 mi
- PharmacyRite Aid · ~0.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicUSC Keck Clinic · ~0.8 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~3.0 mi
EV charging — from Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger1.6 mi straight-line W — Vons 2598 (La Crescenta, CA) · Electrify America · J1772, CCS · 3 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach344 within 25 mi · 733 within 50 · 1069 within 100 · 1336 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)5.1 mi — Glendale, CA - Harvey Drive - Tesla Supercharger, Glendale
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO5.7 mi — City of Pasadena - Robinson Park, Pasadena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)0.5 mi — LA County Sheriff La Crescenta Station (at a municipal building) · POWERFLEX · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-05-12 · 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 145657 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletGould Mesa · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletStonyvale · ~4.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMillard · ~4.4 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWildwood · ~4.9 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Gould Mesa · Angeles National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Halls Canyon Channel as a canal or ditch (no flow class in the record), under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 50.8% — 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 ~5.4 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak and commuter 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 210 is mapped ~0.8 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 Gould Mesa elsewhere
Other camps near Gould Mesa
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Gould Mesa Trail Camp~2.5 mi
- Oakwilde~2.8 mi
- Millard Trail Camp~4.4 mi
- Bear Canyon Trail Camp~5.0 mi
The unit that manages Gould Mesa
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Gould Mesa are set by Angeles National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Gould Mesa
Source
U.S. Forest Service 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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 Gould Mesa
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 — Gould Mesa
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Power off-grid →All field notes →