Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lagunitas
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · NM · 36.88450, -106.32080
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 — Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 87C, 400 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 87C, 400 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 87C: “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 Lagunitas
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 10,415 ft.
Fire & smoke — around LagunitasNIFC · 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 Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump14 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- @Mail14 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- MMechanic18 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
- WWater39 mi
- OOutfitter47 mi
- AAir-up58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 39-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 15 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 — Lagunitas
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
10,415 ft
Ground slope
12.8% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~6.9 mi · main line
State
NM
Coordinates
36.88450, -106.32080
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureEscondido Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest towntown · ~3.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelMustang Quik Stop · ~18.1 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~18.5 mi
- Dump station~14.3 mi
- GroceriesLowe's Market · ~14.6 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~14.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicChama Dunham Memorial Clinic · ~14.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~14.6 mi
EV charging — from Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.3 mi straight-line W — Chama · LOOP · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 19 within 50 · 79 within 100 · 178 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)46.3 mi — CENTENNIAL PARK PAGOSA SPGS PL2, Pagosa Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)45.9 mi — ROSE MOUNTAIN ROSE MOUNTAIN 1, Pagosa Springs, CO · 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 charger$1 activation fee; $0.59 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 348900 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLagunitas · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRio De Los Pinos Cg · ~9.3 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTrujillo Meadows · ~13.2 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHopewell Ps · ~13.3 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Lagunitas · Carson National Forest · NM
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Escondido Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.3 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 12.8% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~6.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. 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.
- 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 Lagunitas elsewhere
Other camps near Lagunitas
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cruces Basin Th~3.4 mi
- Cruces Basin Campground~3.4 mi
- Dispersed camping~8.6 mi
- Dispersed camping~8.9 mi
The unit that manages Lagunitas
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lagunitas are set by Carson National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is San Antonio Sink at 9,120 ft, about 5 miles away. It sits about 1,295 ft lower than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Lagunitas
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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 Lagunitas
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 — Lagunitas
Camping at altitude →When the high country opens →Finding water out here →Reading the aerial →All field notes →