★ Field-verified · Dave's ownUSFS · dispersedFree
Inyo National Forest
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · Esmeralda County, NV · 37.87432, -118.28738
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on U.S. Forest Service land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Extraordinary, grassy campsite within Inyo National Forest in Nevada. Very remote and peaceful near small reservoir. Surrounded by beautiful trees with snow-capped peaks to the west. Four-wheel drive access only. Multiple fire rings and enough space for several vehicles. No cell service. This is a phenomenal spot to spend several days and relax. Strongly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 12 April 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 01S185 (Rock Creek (Nv)), 0.7 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 Inyo National Forest
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8,320 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Inyo National ForestNIFC · 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 Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- HHardware23 mi
- ShShower29 mi
- DDump31 mi
- OOutfitter32 mi
- WWater33 mi
- MMechanic35 mi
- EVEV fast charger35 mi
- LLaundry36 mi
- RxPharmacy36 mi
- AAir-up42 mi
- +Urgent care59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 33-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 35-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — Inyo National Forest
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
8,320 ft
Ground slope
8% · noticeable
County
Esmeralda County, NV
Coordinates
37.87432, -118.28738
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTrail Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMount Montgomery · ~7.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~11.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~30.6 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.
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger35.1 mi straight-line S — Vons 1753 (Bishop, CA) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 12 within 50 · 32 within 100 · 215 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)35.1 mi — Bishop, CA - Rocking West Drive - Tesla Supercharger, Bishop
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO36.3 mi — CalTrans - Bishop, Bishop
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)35.2 mi — Best Western Bishop Lodge - Tesla Destination · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- 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 151970 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMiddle Creek · ~2.9 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWh Mt Peak/Barcroft Th · ~22.0 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSawmill Meadows Cg · ~22.4 mi W · USFS
- RestroomPatriarch Th · ~24.5 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Inyo National Forest · Inyo National Forest · NV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Trail Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 8% — noticeable. 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.
- 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 Inyo National Forest elsewhere
Other camps near Inyo National Forest
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Red Canyon Petroglyphs~17.4 mi
The unit that manages Inyo National Forest
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Inyo National Forest are set by Inyo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Inyo National Forest
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Esmeralda County, NV). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 12 April 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Inyo National Forest
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — Inyo National Forest
When the high country opens →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →How to read this page →All field notes →