Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Grassy pond
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · FL · 29.37852, -81.80849
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 — Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 11-16.2 (Grassy Pond Rec.), 80 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 11-16.2 (Grassy Pond Rec.), 80 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 11-16.2 (Grassy Pond Rec.): “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 Grassy pond
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 31 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Grassy pondNIFC · 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 Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- WWater15 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- AAir-up25 mi
- PPropane42 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Grassy pond
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
31 ft
Ground slope
4% · gentle
State
FL
Coordinates
29.37852, -81.80849
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePrairie Pond · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townLake Kerr · ~2.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Groceriesnone within 30 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
EV charging — from Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger21.0 mi straight-line NE — Krystals, Palatka, FL (at a restaurant) · FPLEV · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-09-12 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 87 within 50 · 355 within 100 · 530 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO25.3 mi — DeConna Ice Cream, Reddick
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.0 mi — FPL EVOLUTION STJOHNS1, Palatka, FL · 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 charger$0.30 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 420588 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomOcala Ohv Center · ~1.4 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPipeline Th · ~2.6 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLake Delancy West Recreation Area · ~3.5 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMotorcycle Loop Th · ~3.6 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Grassy pond · National Forests in Florida · FL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Prairie Pond as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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 4% — gentle. 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 Grassy pond elsewhere
Other camps near Grassy pond
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lake Delancy West Recreation Area~3.5 mi · fee
- Lake Delancy East~3.8 mi
- Salt Springs~4.8 mi · fee
- Shanty Pond Recreation Area~5.6 mi
The unit that manages Grassy pond
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Grassy pond are set by National Forests in Florida, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Grassy pond
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
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 Grassy pond
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
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Grassy pond
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Leave no trace →All field notes →