Agency-listedUSFSFee
Lake Chinnabee
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AL · 33.46204, -85.87422
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 — Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0801), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. 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 Lake Chinnabee
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 770 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lake ChinnabeeNIFC · 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 Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- ShShower3 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- WWater19 mi
- LLaundry25 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- PPropane32 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- DDump49 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Lake Chinnabee
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
770 ft
Ground slope
50.4% · steep
Nearest rail line
~6.5 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~8.5 mi · Interstate 20
State
AL
Coordinates
33.46204, -85.87422
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Chinnabee · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townMunford · ~6.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.5 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~8.5 mi · Interstate 20
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCountry Store · ~3.9 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~10.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicAmerican Family Care · ~10.5 mi
- HardwareCarter's Hardware & Auto Parts · ~6.6 mi
EV charging — from Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.8 mi straight-line N — Walmart 809 (Oxford, AL) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 50 within 50 · 369 within 100 · 594 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.0 mi — Oxford, Oxford
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.1 mi — Benton Nissan, Oxford, AL (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-02-12 · hours: Dealership business hours
- 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 165316 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLake Chinnabee · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTurnipseed Hunter Camp · ~2.3 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKentuck Ohv Area Trailhead · ~5.0 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletShepard Branch Shooting Range · ~11.6 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Lake Chinnabee · National Forests in Alabama · AL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Chinnabee as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 50.4% — 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 ~6.5 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.
- Interstate 20 is mapped ~8.5 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 Lake Chinnabee elsewhere
Other camps near Lake Chinnabee
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cheaha Falls Trail Shelter Site~1.5 mi
- Turnipseed Hunter Camp~2.3 mi · fee
- Blue Mtn. Trail Shelter Site~5.1 mi
- Lower Shoals Trail Shelter Site~21.3 mi
The unit that manages Lake Chinnabee
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lake Chinnabee are set by National Forests in Alabama, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Lake Chinnabee
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.
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 Lake Chinnabee
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 — Lake Chinnabee
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Power off-grid →All field notes →