Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 35.28135, -111.57560
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 — Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 00556A (Elden Horse Camp), 160 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 00556A (Elden Horse Camp), 160 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 00556A (Elden Horse Camp): “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 Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,117 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Little Elden Spring Horse CampNIFC · 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 Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- +Urgent care3 mi
- LLaundry3 mi
- DDump3 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- WWater5 mi
- RxPharmacy5 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- AAir-up8 mi
- ShShower18 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,117 ft
Ground slope
5% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~4.1 mi · passing siding
Nearest highway
~4.3 mi · Interstate 40
State
AZ
Coordinates
35.28135, -111.57560
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureGovernment Tank · ~1.0 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Nearest townDoney Park · ~2.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.1 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highway~4.3 mi · Interstate 40
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.7 mi
- Fuel76 · ~1.9 mi
- Propane / LPGGiant · ~8.0 mi
- Dump station~3.3 mi
- GroceriesFamily Dollar · ~3.7 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~4.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorthern Arizona Healthcare Children's Health Center · ~3.7 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight · ~4.7 mi
EV charging — from Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.4 mi straight-line S — Flagstaff, AZ - US-89 - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 24 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 13 within 50 · 31 within 100 · 138 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS6.1 mi — Walmart 4252 (Flagstaff, AZ), Flagstaff
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO6.1 mi — Walmart 4252 (Flagstaff, AZ), Flagstaff
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.9 mi — Timberline Firearms and Training, Flagstaff, AZ (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-11-06 · hours: 10am-7pm 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 254406 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLittle Elden Spring · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSchultz Tank · ~2.9 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLockett Meadow · ~6.0 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomSUCR Visitor Center · ~6.3 mi N · NPS
Coming out here — Little Elden Spring Horse Camp · Coconino National Forest · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Government Tank as an intermittent lake or pond, ~1.0 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 5% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~4.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. 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 40 is mapped ~4.3 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 Little Elden Spring Horse Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lockett Meadow Campground~5.9 mi
- Bonito~6.4 mi · fee
- O'Leary Group Campground~6.6 mi
- Coconino National Forest~10.6 mi
The unit that manages Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Little Elden Spring Horse Camp are set by Coconino National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
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 Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
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 — Little Elden Spring Horse Camp
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →