★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic landFree
Lafayette County
Drive-up · public land · Lafayette County, MS · 34.42456, -89.69489
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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 very small free campground with a handful of primitive sites. Each site has flat tent pad with fire ring. Wooded area on top of a hill, but good shelter from the elements. Sites are in close proximity with each other, but still very peaceful. Room for one or two vehicles with poor cell service. Recommended if looking for a place in the area to spend the night.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 17 March 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 Lafayette County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 360 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lafayette 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 Lafayette County · public land · MS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- ShShower30 mi
- DDump30 mi
- AAir-up58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Lafayette County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
360 ft
Ground slope
9.8% · noticeable
Nearest highway
~9.7 mi · US Hwy 278
County
Lafayette County, MS
Coordinates
34.42456, -89.69489
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Lafayette County · public land · MS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSardis Lake · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townUniversity · ~9.8 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~9.7 mi · US Hwy 278
- Drinking waterWater · ~5.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~6.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~30.4 mi
- GroceriesThe Lake Store · ~6.4 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~8.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicRed Med Urgent Care · ~9.0 mi
- HardwareDiscount Building Materials · ~8.0 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 Lafayette County · public land · MS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.9 mi straight-line SE — Cannon Motors, Oxford, MS · EV Connect · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: Mon: 12:00am-12:00am; Tue: 12:00am-12:00am; Wed: 12:00am-12:00am; Thu: 12:00am-12:00am; Fri: 12:00am-12:00am; Sat: 12:00am-12:00am · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 94 within 100 · 165 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.7 mi — OXFORD UTL OXFORD STA2(R), Oxford
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.7 mi — OXFORD UTL OXFORD STA1(L), Oxford
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.6 mi — OLE MISS RES GARAGE 2, University, MS · 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 428493 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lafayette County · public land · MS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Area Panola County I-55 SB · ~17.8 mi SW
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Area Panola County I-55 NB · ~17.9 mi SW
- Vault / pit toiletPuskus Lake · ~19.8 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletUpper Sardis Trailhead · ~20.7 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Lafayette County · public land · MS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Sardis Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.3 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 9.8% — 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- US Hwy 278 is mapped ~9.7 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Lafayette County elsewhere
Other camps near Lafayette County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Puskus Lake~19.8 mi · fee
How we know this — Lafayette 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 (Lafayette County, MS). 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 17 March 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Lafayette 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 — Lafayette County
Fire rules & restrictions →Reading the aerial →Camping with a dog →Reading your camp page →All field notes →