Agency-listedUSFSFee
La Panza
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 35.35269, -120.26650
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. 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 — La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA
No MVUM road within a quarter mile of the pin; the nearest mapped segment is FR 29S02.2, 0.6 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 La Panza
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,071 ft.
Fire & smoke — around La PanzaNIFC · 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 La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery14 mi
- WWater18 mi
- @Mail18 mi
- FFuel19 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
- +Urgent care22 mi
- EVEV fast charger22 mi
- MMechanic22 mi
- RxPharmacy22 mi
- PPropane22 mi
- AAir-up22 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
- DDump26 mi
- ShShower26 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 14 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 — La Panza
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,071 ft
Ground slope
7.8% · gentle
State
CA
Coordinates
35.35269, -120.26650
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNavajo Creek · ~0.4 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townCreston · ~18.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelPintor's · ~19.4 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~22.5 mi
- Dump station~25.8 mi
- GroceriesRinconada General Store · ~13.8 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~22.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicSan Luis Obispo County Health Agency · ~22.1 mi
- HardwareWine Country Carpet Cleaning · ~21.8 mi
EV charging — from La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger22.1 mi straight-line W — VALTA JOHNSON PARK 1, San Luis Obispo, CA · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach19 within 25 mi · 69 within 50 · 206 within 100 · 683 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.9 mi — San Luis Obispo, CA - Madonna Road - Tesla Supercharger, San Luis Obispo
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.1 mi — 3031 Lopez Drive, Arroyo Grande, CA · LOOP · J1772 · 3 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · 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 389794 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLa Panza · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNavajo Flat/Ohv Staging Area · ~2.1 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletFriis · ~4.1 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTurkey Flat Ohv Staging Area · ~4.8 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — La Panza · Los Padres National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Navajo Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.4 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 7.8% — gentle. 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.
- 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 La Panza elsewhere
Other camps near La Panza
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Navajo Flat/Ohv Staging Area~2.1 mi · fee
- Friis~4.1 mi
- Turkey Flat Ohv Staging Area~4.8 mi · fee
- American Canyon~4.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages La Panza
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at La Panza are set by Los Padres National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — La Panza
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-09-24: $30 per night, single site (+$10 per extra vehicle; cash only for first-come sites). Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lospadres/recreation/la-panza-campground (figure verified on that page); Recreation.gov's current 2026 season prices it the same: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/273870.
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 La Panza
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 — La Panza
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Power off-grid →All field notes →