★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Lander County
Drive-up · public land · Lander County, NV · 39.32849, -116.85048
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 campsite with fire ring atop a hill in the desert with a 360 degree view of the valley below that overlooks popular hot spring. Noisily braying donkeys. Extraordinary view, but no privacy for relieving oneself. Enough room for multiple vehicles and some cell service. Recommended for short stay, and for views.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 10 April 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 Lander County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,826 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lander 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 Lander County · public land · NV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater16 mi
- @Mail16 mi
- FFuel17 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- GGrocery21 mi
- +Urgent care49 mi
- HHardware49 mi
- MMechanic49 mi
- DDump51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 17 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 — Lander County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
5,826 ft
Ground slope
3% · gentle
County
Lander County, NV
Coordinates
39.32849, -116.85048
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Lander County · public land · NV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townGillam Springs · ~10.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelChamps · ~16.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Groceriesnone within 30 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Lander County · public land · NV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.6 mi straight-line NW — Site #27 (Champ’s Chevron), Austin, NV · EV Connect · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 1 within 50 · 6 within 100 · 27 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)89.4 mi — Tonopah, NV - Tesla Supercharger, Tonopah
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)16.6 mi — Site #27 (Champ’s Chevron), Austin, NV · EV Connect · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 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 164017 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lander County · public land · NV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBmdo Hickison Rcs Vault Toilet #1 · ~9.8 mi NE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletBmdo Hickison Rcs Vault Toilet #2 · ~9.8 mi NE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletBmdo Hickison Rcs Vault Toilet #3 · ~9.9 mi NE · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletToquima Cave Campground · ~10.2 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Lander County · public land · NV
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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 Lander County elsewhere
Other camps near Lander County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Toquima Cave Campground~10.2 mi
- Toquima Cave Campground~10.5 mi
- Bob Scott Campground~11.9 mi
- Big Creek Campground~15.3 mi
Who holds the land at Lander County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Mount Lewis Field Office, manager on record: Bureau of Land Management (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Lander 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 (Lander County, NV). 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 10 April 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Lander 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