Agency-listedUSFSFee
Horse Flats
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.34278, -118.01002
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 — Horse Flats · Angeles National Forest · CA
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 0501), 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 Horse Flats
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,644 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Horse FlatsNIFC · 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 Horse Flats · 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
- WWater5 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- PPropane13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- OOutfitter14 mi
- AAir-up15 mi
- ShShower16 mi
- DDump36 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 10 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 — Horse Flats
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,644 ft
Ground slope
3.8% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
34.34278, -118.01002
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Horse Flats · Angeles National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureChilao Creek · ~0.8 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townSierra Madre · ~12.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~5.2 mi
- FuelKwik Serv · ~12.4 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~13.0 mi
- GroceriesAdams' Pack Station · ~10.2 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~13.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicLittlerock Community Clinic · ~12.4 mi
- HardwareArnold's Frontier Hardware · ~12.8 mi
EV charging — from Horse Flats · Angeles National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.3 mi straight-line S — US Bank Arcadia - East Foothill · EVCS · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach164 within 25 mi · 773 within 50 · 1094 within 100 · 1337 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)13.7 mi — Pasadena, CA - 3363 E Foothill Blvd - Tesla Supercharger, Pasadena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.4 mi — SCE83 - Vincent Substation, Palmdale, CA · OpConnect · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 375915 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Horse Flats · Angeles National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletHorse Flats · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomBandido · ~0.3 mi NE · USFS
- Flush restroomChilao Visitor Center Site · ~1.1 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChilao Picnic Ground · ~1.1 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Horse Flats · Angeles National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Chilao Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.8 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.8% — 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 Horse Flats elsewhere
Other camps near Horse Flats
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Bandido~0.3 mi · fee
- Coulter Group Campground~1.4 mi · fee
- Chilao Campgrounds~1.5 mi · fee
- Sulphur Springs Trail Camp~1.9 mi
The unit that manages Horse Flats
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Horse Flats are set by Angeles National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Horse Flats
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-22: $20 PER VEHICLE per night (the forest counts 8 people per site), plus $5 per extra vehicle per night. The page dates the increase, so it is current: the fee rose to $20 on 2025-05-01. Day use is billed separately at $20 per vehicle per day. Senior and Access America the Beautiful pass holders get 50% off; the ADVENTURE PASS IS NOT ACCEPTED in lieu of the camping fee. Cash, check or money order in the fee-tube envelope, or recreation.gov Scan & Pay on arrival -- download the app first, cell coverage is limited. The forest publishes this as 'Horse Flat Campground', singular. There is no recreation.gov listing for this camp; the nearest, Bandido Group at 0.35 mi, is a DIFFERENT campground and its $24-$120 range does not apply here. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/angeles/recreation/horse-flat-campground.
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 Horse Flats
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 — Horse Flats
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Picking a spot →All field notes →