Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirm
Hope Valley Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 38.73022, -119.92976
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. 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 — Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 31205C (Hawkins Creek Spur C), 0.9 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 Hope Valley Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,137 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hope Valley CampgroundNIFC · 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 Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- WWater8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- DDump15 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- AAir-up49 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Hope Valley Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,137 ft
Ground slope
1.9% · flat
State
CA
Coordinates
38.73022, -119.92976
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWest Fork Carson River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Red Lake Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSorensens · ~3.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.0 mi
- FuelFuel · ~6.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.9 mi
- GroceriesWoodfords Station · ~6.6 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~13.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicBarton Memorial Hospital · ~13.0 mi
- Hardwareace hardware · ~13.3 mi
EV charging — from Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.7 mi straight-line NW — South Lake Tahoe, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 43 within 50 · 340 within 100 · 931 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS13.2 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC1, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO13.2 mi — GF4EVA SOUTH LAKE DC1, South Lake Tahoe
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.7 mi — ALPINE CO. BHS 1, Markleeville, CA · 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 aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Sorensen's Resort - Tesla Destination, Hope Valley, 3.4 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · 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 321149 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletHope Valley Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKit Carson Campground · ~3.7 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCarson Pass Trailhead · ~4.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMeiss Trailhead · ~4.1 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Hope Valley Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps West Fork Carson River as a perennial river, ~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 1.9% — 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 Hope Valley Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Hope Valley Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Scotts Lake Dispersed Camping~2.6 mi
- Kit Carson Campground~3.7 mi · fee
- Alpine County~4.1 mi
- Crystal Springs Campground~5.1 mi
The unit that manages Hope Valley Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Hope Valley Campground are set by Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Hope Valley Campground
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 Hope Valley Campground
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 — Hope Valley Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →