Agency-listedLDWFFree
Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
Drive-up · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA · 30.18885, -90.74978
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 →Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. 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 Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1NIFC · 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 Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- WWater22 mi
- LLaundry23 mi
- DDump41 mi
- ShShower44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 22-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
Access
Drive-up
Land
Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries
Elevation
4 ft
Ground slope
5.4% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~4.2 mi · other track
Nearest highway
~3.1 mi · Interstate 10
State
LA
Coordinates
30.18885, -90.74978
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNew River Canal · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)New River (river) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMcElroy · ~4.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.2 mi · other track
- Nearest highway~3.1 mi · Interstate 10
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesBest Stop · ~5.7 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~10.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicThe Grove Recovery Center - Ascension Residential Campus · ~7.5 mi
- HardwareNAPA Auto Parts · ~17.2 mi
EV charging — from Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.7 mi straight-line W — Gonzales, LA - Tesla Supercharger (at a restaurant) · 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 reach9 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 75 within 100 · 106 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS13.1 mi — Ralph Sellers Jeep, Gonzales
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.5 mi — DES DC FC 1 DES EV DSDCFC, Denham Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.9 mi — DEMCO EV GALVEZ, Gonzales, LA · ChargePoint Network · 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 307824 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaLaPlace Weigh Scale · ~17.1 mi E
- Highway rest areaLaPlace Weigh Scale · ~17.2 mi E
- Highway rest areaBaptist Weigh Scale · ~24.2 mi NE
- Highway rest areaBaptist Weigh Scale · ~24.3 mi NE
Coming out here — Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 · Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries · LA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps New River Canal as a perennial river, 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 5.4% — 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 ~4.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. 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 10 is mapped ~3.1 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 Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1 elsewhere
Other camps near Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
Who holds the land at Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area, manager on record: a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
Stay limit
16 nights (not to exceed 16 consecutive days, regardless of whether the camp is attended or unattended)
Permit
LDWF requires a WMA Access Permit of every user 18 or older on LDWF-administered land -- Annual $20, or a 5-consecutive-day permit $5
Area rules
Camping on WMAs, including trailers, houseboats, vessels, recreational vehicles and tents, is allowed only in designated areas
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
Designated primitive camping area on Maurepas Swamp WMA, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. LDWF's own page for this WMA (https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/maurepas-swamp, read 2026-08-15) states under its Camping heading: "There are two tent-only camping areas; one is on the New River Canal and the other on Reserve Canal." TENT ONLY -- LDWF describes both Maurepas Swamp camping areas as tent-only, so this is not an RV site. LDWF names the two areas (New River Canal and Reserve Canal) but does not publish which is which in coordinate terms; this row does NOT claim to know which of the two it is. 112,615 acres across Ascension, Livingston, St. John the Baptist and St. James parishes; 16 self-clearing permit stations on the WMA. The OSM node carries fee=no. LDWF WMA CAMPING RULE (2026-2027 Louisiana Hunting & WMA Regulations, https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Resources/Publications/Regulations/26LAHD.pdf p.52, read 2026-08-15): 'Camping on WMAs, including trailers, houseboats, vessels, recreational vehicles and tents, is allowed ONLY IN DESIGNATED AREAS and for a period not to exceed 16 (EXCEPT Bodcau WMA is not to exceed 14 days during a 30-day period) consecutive days, regardless of whether the camp is attended or unattended. At the end of the 16-day period camps must be removed from the area for at least 48 hours.' Camping is first-come, first-serve unless otherwise specified. Human waste may not be discharged on a WMA: where no public restroom exists, campers in a camper/trailer must use an operational attached disposal system and TENT CAMPERS MUST CARRY A PORTABLE WASTE UNIT AND PACK ALL HUMAN WASTE OUT. Trash must be contained; burning trash is prohibited; glass containers are prohibited on campgrounds; only hunting dogs are allowed in WMA camping areas. ACCESS PERMIT, NOT A CAMPING FEE: LDWF requires a WMA Access Permit of every user 18 or older on LDWF-administered land -- Annual $20, or a 5-consecutive-day permit $5, same price for residents and non-residents; included with the Sportsman's Paradise, Senior Hunt/Fish and Lifetime licences; not required of anyone 17 or under (https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/wmarefugeconservation-area-licenses-and-permits, read 2026-08-15). A SELF-CLEARING PERMIT is separately required for all activities on a WMA, obtained at an on-site permit station or through the LDWF check-in/check-out app or web portal. The SEPARATE $7.00/night WMA Camping Permit is required only 'for each camping party utilizing a LDWF-OPERATED CAMPGROUND on a WMA' -- LDWF publishes no list of which of its camping areas it counts as 'LDWF-operated', so budget for $7/night and verify with the region office before relying on this being free. COORDINATE PROVENANCE -- READ BEFORE PUBLISHING: LDWF publishes no GIS layer of camp points and its per-WMA maps are raster PDFs with no coordinate grid, so there is no first-party coordinate for this site. This point is an OpenStreetMap campsite feature that falls inside LDWF's OWN WMA boundary polygon (layer LOE_LDWF_WMAs_09262025_WGS84_WMAS, queried 2026-08-15). The legal basis below is LDWF's and is sourced; the POINT is OSM's and is NOT agency-verified. Confirm the location against the WMA map PDF or the region office before publishing. OSM feature used for the coordinate: node/9095914734. No potable water is claimed at this site by the managing agency. This is an active hunting area. Check LDWF season dates before you go and wear hunter orange in season. Nearest town: Sorrento ~6.5 mi -- STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village, NOT a driving distance; in the Atchafalaya and Maurepas basins the way in can be far longer or be water only. Ingest 2026-08-15. | 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 Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
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 — Maurepas Swamp WMA tent camping area 1
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Picking a spot →All field notes →