Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Johnson Creek - Primitive
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · IL · 37.83473, -89.50778
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 road on the Forest Service MVUM — Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 724 (Johnson Creek Access), 0.1 mi from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 724 (Johnson Creek Access), 0.1 mi from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 724 (Johnson Creek Access): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 Johnson Creek - Primitive
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 492 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Johnson Creek - PrimitiveNIFC · 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 Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- WWater8 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- AAir-up48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 mi out.
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 — Johnson Creek - Primitive
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
492 ft
Ground slope
18.2% · steep
Nearest rail line
~5.8 mi · main line
State
IL
Coordinates
37.83473, -89.50778
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureKinkaid Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townDry Hill · ~2.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.1 mi
- FuelCircle K · ~10.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~5.6 mi
- GroceriesCircle K · ~10.2 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~17.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicSaint Joseph Memorial Hospital · ~10.8 mi
- HardwareMurdale True Value · ~16.3 mi
EV charging — from Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.5 mi straight-line E — SIUC Transportation Education Center, Murphysboro, IL (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 29 within 50 · 194 within 100 · 294 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)30.4 mi — Marion, IL - Tesla Supercharger, Marion
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.9 mi — Holiday Inn Express - Perryville, Perryville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.3 mi — EECA HMP2, Murphysboro, IL · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 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 428473 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletJohnson Creek - Primitive · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletJohnson Creek Boating · ~0.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletJohnson Creek Pa · ~0.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletJohnson Creek Cg · ~0.7 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Johnson Creek - Primitive · Shawnee National Forest · IL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Kinkaid Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~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 18.2% — steep. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~5.8 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Johnson Creek - Primitive elsewhere
Other camps near Johnson Creek - Primitive
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Johnson Creek Cg~0.7 mi · fee
- Seventy-Six Conservation Area~10.1 mi
- Red Rock Landing Conservation Area~10.7 mi
- Turkey Bayou Campground~11.6 mi
The unit that manages Johnson Creek - Primitive
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Johnson Creek - Primitive are set by Shawnee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Johnson Creek - Primitive
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Johnson Creek - Primitive
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Johnson Creek - Primitive
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →