Agency-listedUSFSFree
High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · VA · 38.77029, -78.38861
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 — High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 259 (Goods Landing), 0.3 mi away. 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 High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 625 ft.
Fire & smoke — around High Cliff Canoe-DecommissionedNIFC · 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 High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail0 mi
- WWater5 mi
- DDump5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- ShShower7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- AAir-up8 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- PPropane8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, 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 — High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
625 ft
Ground slope
2.2% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.2 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~10.0 mi · Interstate 81
State
VA
Coordinates
38.77029, -78.38861
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Fork Shenandoah River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Nelson Run (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townRileyville · ~0.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~10.0 mi · Interstate 81
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.8 mi
- FuelFort Valley County Store Gas Station · ~5.3 mi
- Propane / LPGHoltzman Propane · ~13.2 mi
- Dump station~4.8 mi
- GroceriesFoodway Supermarket · ~6.0 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~9.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicPage Memorial Hospital · ~8.6 mi
- HardwareSkyline Paint & Hardware · ~7.9 mi
EV charging — from High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.3 mi straight-line SW — Marlow Ford, Luray, VA (at a public site) · FORD_CHARGE · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 41 within 50 · 459 within 100 · 796 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)9.7 mi — Woodstock, VA - Tesla Supercharger, Woodstock
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.2 mi — Walmart 2647 (Woodstock, VA), Woodstock
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.8 mi — Tombolo, Seven Fountains, VA · AMPUP · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2023-06-12 · hours: Contact station for hours of availability
- 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 416786 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletGoods Landing Boating Site (Moody) · ~0.2 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBatzell · ~2.4 mi N · USFS
- RestroomEW24-70 Elkwallow Picnic Ground Vault Toilet - NPS · ~4.6 mi SE · NPS
- RestroomEW05-03 Elkwallow Picnic Ground Comfort Station - NPS · ~4.6 mi SE · NPS
Coming out here — High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned · George Washington and Jefferson National Forest · VA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Fork Shenandoah River as a perennial river, 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 2.2% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~0.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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 81 is mapped ~10.0 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 High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned elsewhere
Other camps near High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — Warren County, VA~3.9 mi
- Hazard Mill Canoe Camp-Decommissioned~4.3 mi
- Hazard Mills Campground~4.6 mi
- Veach Gap Tuscarora-Massanutten Shelter~7.2 mi
The unit that manages High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned are set by George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
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 High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
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 — High Cliff Canoe-Decommissioned
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Fire rules & restrictions →Reading your camp page →All field notes →