Agency-listedUSFS Tongass National Forest -- Ketchikan-Misty Fjords Ranger District · dispersedFree
McDonald Lake Shelter
Dispersed · U.S. Forest Service · AK · 55.93229, -131.80473
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 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 McDonald Lake Shelter
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 95 ft.
Fire & smoke — around McDonald Lake ShelterNIFC · 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 McDonald Lake Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail22 mi
- GGrocery35 mi
- RxPharmacy40 mi
- +Urgent care40 mi
- HHardware40 mi
- FFuel41 mi
- WWater41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 41-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 35 mi out, no EV fast charger is listed within 150 mi.
Not within 60 mi: Dump, Propane. Plan those before you head up.
EV fast charger: none listed within 150 straight-line mi (US DOE data). Charge before the turn-off.
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 — McDonald Lake Shelter
Access
Dispersed
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
95 ft
Ground slope
24.6% · steep
State
AK
Coordinates
55.93229, -131.80473
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around McDonald Lake Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK (OpenStreetMap)
- Resupply lookup unavailable — try the map links below.
EV charging — from McDonald Lake Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast chargerNone listed within 150 straight-line miles. Plan the charge before the turn-off.
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)57.2 mi — ELECTRIC BUS MPL ELEC BUSS, Metlakatla, AK · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around McDonald Lake Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomMcdonald Lake Shelter · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomMcdonald Lake · ~0.3 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomLake Shelokum Shelter · ~6.5 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlind Pass · ~6.6 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — McDonald Lake Shelter · Tongass National Forest · AK
- 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 24.6% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (5 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 McDonald Lake Shelter elsewhere
Other camps near McDonald Lake Shelter
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lake Shelokum Shelter (hot springs)~6.5 mi
- Thoms Creek Crossing~22.7 mi
The unit that manages McDonald Lake Shelter
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at McDonald Lake Shelter are set by Tongass National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — McDonald Lake Shelter
Source
public land records
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
https://www.fs.usda.gov/r10/tongass/recreation/mcdonald-lake-shelter (read 2026-08-17). Fee field reads: "Free". CAVEAT FOR THE REVIEWER: this Forest Service page is almost empty -- beyond the name, the coordinates and the fee it publishes no description, no directions, no season and no facility list. Shelter type, condition, access route and capacity are all UNVERIFIED. McDonald Lake is in the Ketchikan-Misty Fjords Ranger District and is reached by boat or float plane. Worth a call to the district (907-225-2148) before we publish anything about it. Restrooms: Not stated on the page. Water: the page states plainly that potable water is not available at this site. Nearest town/access per the page: Ketchikan -- access by boat or float plane. | 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 McDonald Lake Shelter
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 — McDonald Lake Shelter
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →