Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lower Caliente
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 34.53548, -119.56331
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 — Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 5N16 (Big Caliente), 0 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 5N16 (Big Caliente), 0 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Sep 30. That season ends after Sep 30.
MVUM record for FR 5N16 (Big Caliente): “05/01-09/30” 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 Lower Caliente
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,846 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lower CalienteNIFC · 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 Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- WWater9 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- DDump10 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- OOutfitter11 mi
- PPropane12 mi
- AAir-up14 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Lower Caliente
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,846 ft
Ground slope
12.3% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~8.2 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~8.2 mi · US Hwy 101
State
CA
Coordinates
34.53548, -119.56331
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townToro Canyon · ~7.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~8.2 mi · US Hwy 101
- Drinking waterWater · ~9.2 mi
- FuelVillage Service Station · ~7.9 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~11.5 mi
- Dump stationCarpinteria State Beach · ~10.2 mi
- GroceriesPierre Lafond · ~7.8 mi
- PharmacyPavilions Pharmacy · ~9.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicCottage Urgent Care · ~9.0 mi
- HardwareBuena Tool · ~10.8 mi
EV charging — from Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.8 mi straight-line SW — Montecito, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 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 reach18 within 25 mi · 68 within 50 · 598 within 100 · 1106 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS10.0 mi — Shepard Place Shops, Carpinteria
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.0 mi — Shepard Place Shops, Carpinteria
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.9 mi — Las Canchas Homeowners Association, Carpinteria, CA · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — San Ysidro Ranch - Tesla Destination, Montecito, 7.0 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 195781 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomOutdoors Santa Barbara Visitor Center · ~11.7 mi SW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletPine Mountain · ~15.2 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletReyes Peak · ~15.7 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHoliday Group · ~16.3 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Lower Caliente · Los Padres National Forest · CA
- 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 12.3% — 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 ~8.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak 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.
- US Hwy 101 is mapped ~8.2 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 Lower Caliente elsewhere
Other camps near Lower Caliente
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Middle Santa Ynez~1.9 mi · fee
- P-Bar Flat~2.1 mi · fee
- Mono~3.7 mi · fee
- Hidden Potrero Camp~10.2 mi
The unit that manages Lower Caliente
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lower Caliente are set by Los Padres National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Lower Caliente
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. | Fee 2026-08-22: no rate published by the agency. Los Padres publishes no page for this camp -- every slug probed under fs.usda.gov/r05/lospadres/recreation/ (including the Rock Camp recreation-area name the dataset carries) returns 404, as do the forest's passes-permits and recreation-fees paths. The Forest Service recreation-sites record flags fee_charged=Y with fee_type EXPANDED AMENITY FEE but names no amount, and there is no recreation.gov listing. Checked https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0 (objectid 2487922).
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 Lower Caliente
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 — Lower Caliente
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Hot-weather camping →Getting unstuck →All field notes →