Agency-listedBLMFree
Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · NV · 37.49630, -114.22620
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,454 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation SiteNIFC · 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 Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · NV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery18 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- FFuel18 mi
- @Mail18 mi
- MMechanic23 mi
- DDump24 mi
- WWater38 mi
- RxPharmacy39 mi
- AAir-up39 mi
- +Urgent care39 mi
- EVEV fast charger43 mi
- OOutfitter44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 38-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 18 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 43-mi run (and back).
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 — Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management
Elevation
5,454 ft
Ground slope
11.8% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~1.8 mi · main line
State
NV
Coordinates
37.49630, -114.22620
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · NV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureEast Pine Wash · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townCaliente · ~17.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~17.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.8 mi
- GroceriesGreat Basin Foods · ~17.5 mi
- HardwareLincoln True Value · ~17.6 mi
EV charging — from Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · NV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger42.8 mi straight-line SE — St. George, UT - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 13 within 50 · 26 within 100 · 114 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS44.4 mi — 61 S Main St, St. George
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO46.3 mi — EV EXPERIENCE FAST CHARGE 2, St. George
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.4 mi — Kershaw-Ryan State Park, Caliente, NV (at a public site) · RIVIAN_WAYPOINTS · 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 102464 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · NV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletChief Mountain South Trailhead-Vault Toilet · ~13.1 mi SW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletChief Mountain West Trailhead - Vault Toilet · ~14.2 mi SW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletBarnes Canyon Trailhead - Double Vault Toilet · ~14.5 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletDouble Vault Toilet · ~27.8 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site · Bureau of Land Management · NV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps East Pine Wash as a perennial stream, ~0.2 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 11.8% — noticeable. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~1.8 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- 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 Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site elsewhere
Other camps near Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pine Park Dispersed~11.3 mi
- Enterprise Designated Dispersed Camp Area~19.9 mi
- Honeycomb Rocks Campground~20.2 mi · fee
- Honeycomb Rocks Campground~20.3 mi · fee
The unit that manages Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site is in the Caliente Field Office, Ely District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Stay limit
14 nights (STAY LIMIT: "14 days")
Source
public land records
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
BLM recreation site at a flood-control dam in Lincoln County, eastern Nevada. BLM's own record (read 2026-08-17) lists camping among the site's activities and describes the facilities verbatim: "The site contains two shade structures, picnic tables, grills, fire pits, garbage cans, and vault toilets." STAY LIMIT: "14 days". FEE: BLM states no fee for this site; `fee` set to 0 on that basis, but note BLM's fee field is empty rather than an explicit "No Fee", so this is weaker evidence than the Wilson Canyon row. STRUCTURE OWNERSHIP: BLM says "This site is an Army Corps of Engineers flood control dam for the railroad" -- the dam is a Corps structure, the recreation site is BLM-managed. NEAREST TOWN: not stated by BLM; Caliente/Pioche are the nearest communities but that is NOT sourced and should be checked. Contact: 775-726-8100. Coordinate is BLM's own published point from gis.blm.gov/arcgis/rest/services/recreation/BLM_Natl_Recreation_Sites_Facilities (read 2026-08-17). It is a recreation-area pin, not a surveyed campsite. SOURCE: https://www.blm.gov/visit/search-details/274376/1 | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
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 — Mathews Canyon Dam Recreation Site
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →The town run →How to read this page →All field notes →