★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Jefferson County
Drive-up · public land · Jefferson County, WA · 47.81345, -124.12007
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 public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
At the end of a forest road that leads to river access for boat launch, there is a short spur where one can set up camp along the river. Very short drive to Hoh River Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. No bugs here. Lovely river setting with round rocks. No cell service. Room for two vehicles. Other boondockers will be in the area, as it appears to be a popular stretch of road, but this spot will most likely be available as we had to hunt for it. Sunny and dry during our visit. Beware of flooding when rain. Strongly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 26 July 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Jefferson County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 305 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Jefferson CountyNIFC · 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 Jefferson County · public land · WA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater9 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- LLaundry15 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- @Mail16 mi
- FFuel16 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- PPropane41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 15 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 — Jefferson County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
305 ft
Ground slope
0.6% · flat
County
Jefferson County, WA
Coordinates
47.81345, -124.12007
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Jefferson County · public land · WA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHoh River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Pole Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSmith Place · ~13.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.1 mi
- FuelPacific Pride · ~17.1 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~18.5 mi
- Dump station~12.6 mi
- GroceriesThriftway · ~15.2 mi
- PharmacyChinook Pharmacy & Variety · ~15.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicForks Community Hospital · ~15.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~15.2 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Jefferson County · public land · WA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.2 mi straight-line NW — Forks, WA - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 4 within 50 · 315 within 100 · 375 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO38.8 mi — Ruddell Auto, Port Angeles
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.5 mi — The Hoh Indian Tribe S Forks (at a parking lot) · POWERPUMP · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Hoh Valley Cabins, Forks, 1.5 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest 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 155169 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Jefferson County · public land · WA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBldg Hoh Entrance Station Parking Lot CXT Vault Toilet (C-L) · ~4.6 mi E · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletBogachiel Rain Forest · ~8.6 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomBldg 920 Hoh A Loop Comfort Station · ~9.1 mi E · NPS
- RestroomBldg 132 Hoh Picnic Area Comfort Station · ~9.1 mi E · NPS
Coming out here — Jefferson County · public land · WA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Hoh 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 0.6% — 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.
- 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 Jefferson County elsewhere
Other camps near Jefferson County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Clallam County~11.2 mi
- Clallam County~12.5 mi
- Klahanie~13.6 mi
- Dispersed Camping Area~14.8 mi
How we know this — Jefferson County
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 (Jefferson County, WA). 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.
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 26 July 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Jefferson County
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 — Jefferson County
Finding water out here →Stay limits →Your first dispersed night →How to read this page →All field notes →