★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Drive-up · public land · Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK · 55.43300, -131.61383
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.
A primitive, high-elevation clear area off of a forest road near Ketchikan, Alaska. Great view with clouds in the mountains all around. Lightly forested with lush greenery. Walk-in fire circle. Enough room for a single vehicle. No cell service. Not many free camping options in the area. For single vehicle, this is one of the best options. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 27 August 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 Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,321 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ketchikan Gateway BoroughNIFC · 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 Ketchikan Gateway Borough · Tongass National Forest · AK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- RxPharmacy6 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- WWater6 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out, no EV fast charger is listed within 150 mi.
Not within 60 mi: Dump, Propane. Plan those before you head up.
EV fast charger: none listed within 150 straight-line mi (US DOE data). Charge before the turn-off.
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 — Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
1,321 ft
Ground slope
23.2% · steep
County
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK
Coordinates
55.43300, -131.61383
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Ketchikan Gateway Borough · Tongass National Forest · AK (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWhite River (river) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townWard Cove · ~4.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.4 mi
- FuelWestside Services · ~6.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesAlaska & Proud Market · ~6.1 mi
- PharmacyIsland Pharmacy · ~6.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicPeace Health Ketchikan Medical Ceneter · ~6.2 mi
- HardwareMetco Hardware · ~21.0 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Ketchikan Gateway Borough · Tongass National Forest · AK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast chargerNone listed within 150 straight-line miles. Plan the charge before the turn-off.
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)22.0 mi — ELECTRIC BUS MPL ELEC BUSS, Metlakatla, AK · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Ketchikan Gateway Borough · Tongass National Forest · AK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomLast Chance Campground · ~2.8 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWard Creek · ~3.0 mi W · USFS
- RestroomWard Lake Picnic · ~3.5 mi W · USFS
- RestroomRoadside Picnic · ~3.5 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Ketchikan Gateway Borough · Tongass National Forest · AK
- Surface water mapped nearby: White River (river). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 23.2% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (5 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 Ketchikan Gateway Borough elsewhere
Other camps near Ketchikan Gateway Borough
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Last Chance Campground~2.9 mi · fee
- Three C'S~3.5 mi · fee
- Ketchikan Gateway Borough~3.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Ketchikan Gateway Borough are set by Tongass National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Ketchikan Gateway Borough
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 (Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK). 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 27 August 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Ketchikan Gateway Borough
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 — Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Camping with a dog →All field notes →