Agency-listedBLMUnpriced · confirm
McCabe Flat Campground
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 37.59705, -120.00264
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 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.
What the record says about the site — McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Basic site, no services
- Tent camping
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at McCabe Flat Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,130 ft.
Fire & smoke — around McCabe Flat 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 McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery5 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- WWater8 mi
- ShShower9 mi
- DDump19 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- OOutfitter26 mi
- PPropane32 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — McCabe Flat Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management
Elevation
1,130 ft
Ground slope
34.3% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
37.59705, -120.00264
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMerced River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Good Gulch (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMidpines · ~5.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.1 mi
- FuelStage Stop · ~7.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~19.0 mi
- GroceriesHigh Country Health Food Store & Cafe · ~7.3 mi
- PharmacyGroveland Pharmacy · ~20.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicJohn C Fremont Healthcare District · ~6.8 mi
- HardwareCoast Hardware · ~8.0 mi
EV charging — from McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.6 mi straight-line S — Mariposa, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 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 · 46 within 50 · 338 within 100 · 1168 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS15.5 mi — Innsight Buck Meadows Lodge (Groveland, CA), Groveland
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO15.5 mi — Innsight Buck Meadows Lodge (Groveland, CA), Groveland
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.8 mi — MACT MARIPOSA MACT MARIPOSA · 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 261456 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMerced River -Mccabe Flat -Toilet 40 · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomMerced River -Mccabe Flat -Toilet 30 · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomMerced River -Cable Rock -Toilet 10 · ~0.8 mi E · BLM
- RestroomMerced River -Willow Placer -Toilet 10 · ~1.0 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — McCabe Flat Campground · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Merced River as a perennial river, ~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 34.3% — steep. 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 McCabe Flat Campground elsewhere
Other camps near McCabe Flat Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Railroad Flat Campground~1.7 mi
- Montgomery Gulch~7.9 mi
- Jerseydale~9.7 mi
- Dirt Flat Campground~10.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages McCabe Flat Campground
McCabe Flat Campground is in the Mother Lode Field Office, Central California 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 — McCabe Flat Campground
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)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 McCabe Flat 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.
- 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 — McCabe Flat Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →