Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lookout Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 39.58887, -120.07366
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 — Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 31008 (Lookout Campground), 160 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 31008 (Lookout Campground), 160 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 31008 (Lookout Campground): “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 Lookout Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,755 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lookout CampgroundNIFC · 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 Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- DDump8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- WWater12 mi
- AAir-up13 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- ShShower30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Lookout Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,755 ft
Ground slope
7% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~5.5 mi · industrial lead
Nearest highway
~6.5 mi · US Hwy 395
State
CA
Coordinates
39.58887, -120.07366
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (recreation.gov, read 2026-09-18)
Nearby & resupply — around Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Branch Dog Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townVerdi-Sierra Pines · ~5.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.5 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highway~6.5 mi · US Hwy 395
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelARCO (Marathon Petroleum) · ~11.6 mi
- Propane / LPGChevron ExtraMile Store · ~14.9 mi
- Dump station~29.1 mi
- GroceriesQuik Mart · ~10.4 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~11.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicATS Physical Therapy · ~10.4 mi
- HardwareMata Hardware Store · ~10.8 mi
EV charging — from Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.1 mi straight-line SE — Verdi, NV - Tesla Supercharger · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 16 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach24 within 25 mi · 46 within 50 · 177 within 100 · 468 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS11.8 mi — 7th & McCarran NV2-125 (Reno, NV), Reno
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO18.9 mi — DC CORRIDOR TRUCKEE DC1, Truckee
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.4 mi — Silver Lake Apartments, Reno, NV · OpConnect · 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 353826 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLookout Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSardine Peak Lookout · ~6.9 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletStampede Vista · ~8.2 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletEmigrant · ~8.6 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Lookout Campground · Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Branch Dog Creek as a perennial stream, 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 7% — 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 ~5.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. 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.
- US Hwy 395 is mapped ~6.5 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 Lookout Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Lookout Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Dog Valley Campground~1.8 mi
- Hunter Camp 4~2.1 mi
- Hunter Camp 2 Campground~3.3 mi
- Smithneck~4.6 mi
The unit that manages Lookout Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lookout Campground are set by Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Lookout Campground
Fee note
$20 a night per the Recreation.gov page, read 18 Sep 2026: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234728
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234728
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there) | Fee 2026-09-18: $20 per night, by site type and season (Recreation.gov rates table). Source: https://www.recreation.gov/api/camps/campgrounds/234728/rates (fee_backfill, figure verified on that page).
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 Lookout Campground
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 — Lookout Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Power off-grid →All field notes →