Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · IN · 38.18949, -86.60154
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 places named on the USFS map sheet: Uniontown, Celina and Fairview Ridge. Tell City Ranger District.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 1141.010 (Celina Lake), 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 Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 685 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)NIFC · 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 Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- DDump15 mi
- WWater15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- LLaundry19 mi
- AAir-up21 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- OOutfitter37 mi
- PPropane52 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
685 ft
Ground slope
37.4% · steep
Nearest rail line
~8.9 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~2.6 mi · Interstate 64
State
IN
Coordinates
38.18949, -86.60154
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Celina · ~0.5 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townLeopold · ~6.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.6 mi · Interstate 64
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCitgo · ~1.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.0 mi
- GroceriesMarathon · ~2.5 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~14.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicFirst Aid · ~17.5 mi
- HardwareHardware · ~18.0 mi
EV charging — from Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger21.4 mi straight-line W — Sternberg Ford, Dale, IN (at a public site) · FORD_CHARGE · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 20 within 50 · 102 within 100 · 356 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)43.0 mi — Washington, IN - Tesla Supercharger, Washington
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO25.8 mi — Corydon, Corydon
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)19.1 mi — RMC, Tell City, IN · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Holiday World & Splashin' Safari - Tesla Destination, Santa Claus, 17.8 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Saint Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, 11.6 mi · J1772 · hours: School business hours; call 812-357-6611 if you wish to make a reservation · AFDC lists it “$1.50 per hour” - 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 454184 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCelina Southslope Loop · ~0.4 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCelina Northface Loop · ~0.6 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRickenbaugh House · ~0.6 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCelina Ampitheater · ~0.6 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) · Hoosier National Forest · IN
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Celina as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.5 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 37.4% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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 ~8.9 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 64 is mapped ~2.6 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) elsewhere
Other camps near Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Celina Southslope Loop~0.4 mi · fee
- Celina Northface Loop~0.6 mi · fee
- Indian Celina Recreation Area~0.7 mi · fee
- Tipsaw Recreation Area~2.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF) are set by Hoosier National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Stay limit
14 nights (14 days in a 28-day period)
Area rules
All dispersed camp sites must be at least 200 feet away from trails, trailheads, roads, water sources, rock shelters, caves, and historic structures, unless in a designated campsite. Personal property must not be left unattended overnight.
Source
public land records
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
Designated roadside campsite in the Hoosier NF "Indian Lake Area", Tell City Ranger District. Official map sheet: https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/241270 (dated 9/5/2024, read 2026-08-14). Hoosier NF dispersed-camping rules (read 2026-08-14 at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/hoosier/recreation/dispersed-camping): "There is no charge for dispersed camping." Stays limited to 14 days in a 28-day period and 28 days total per calendar year. Personal property must not be left unattended overnight. Camp at least 200 ft from trails, trailheads, roads, water, rock shelters, caves and historic structures unless in a designated site. "Firewood restrictions apply throughout the Forest" - check for fire bans before you go. Map sheet adds: campsite may be occupied up to 14 days in a 30-day period but no more than 30 days in a calendar year; use the existing campfire pit and dead-and-down wood only; bury human waste at least 200 ft from campsite and water; pack everything out. COORDINATE IS DERIVED, NOT PUBLISHED. The USFS publishes these campsites only as symbols on a raster map sheet. The sheet was georeferenced against two USFS EDW recreation-site points that the sheet itself draws as icons, then the campsite symbol centres were read off by colour detection. Cross-checked: the two control points agree on scale to 0.4%%, and both land dead-centre on their icons. Expect roughly +/- 40 m. EDW source: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0 | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
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 — Indian Lake Roadside Dispersed Campsite 2 (Hoosier NF)
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Off-grid communication →All field notes →