Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirmRoad season: open (MVUM)
Mcdowell Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · TX · 35.21000, -100.86401
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 — Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR B553B (Mc Clellan South Spur Loop), 0.1 mi from the pin. The MVUM lists it as improved native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR B553B (Mc Clellan South Spur Loop), 0.1 mi from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR B553B (Mc Clellan South Spur Loop): “01/01-12/31” 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 Mcdowell Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,922 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mcdowell 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 Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- LLaundry23 mi
- WWater24 mi
- +Urgent care25 mi
- EVEV fast charger35 mi
- PPropane46 mi
- OOutfitter48 mi
- DDump49 mi
- ShShower53 mi
- AAir-up55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 24-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 7 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 35-mi run (and back).
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 — Mcdowell Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,922 ft
Ground slope
8.8% · noticeable
Nearest highway
~1.8 mi · Interstate 40
State
TX
Coordinates
35.21000, -100.86401
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake McClellan · under 0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)McClellan Creek (river) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townRockledge · ~3.5 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~1.8 mi · Interstate 40
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelConoco · ~7.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesOld Time Country Store · ~7.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicPampa Regional Medical Center · ~25.7 mi
- HardwareGroom Hardware & Lumber · ~13.8 mi
EV charging — from Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger34.8 mi straight-line E — Shamrock, TX - Tesla Supercharger (at a municipal building) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 6 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 · 4 within 50 · 19 within 100 · 41 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS48.5 mi — Amarillo, TX - I-40 - Tesla Supercharger, Amarillo
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO60.8 mi — Sam's Club 7676 (Amarillo, TX), Amarillo
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)48.9 mi — Holiday Inn Express & Suites Amarillo East (at a hotel) · UNIVERSAL · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-07-11 · 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 102448 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletEast Bluff #1 · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMcdowell · ~0.3 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMcdowell · ~0.4 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMcdowell · ~0.5 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Mcdowell Campground · McClellan Creek National Grassland · TX
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake McClellan as an intermittent lake or pond, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 8.8% — 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.
- No rail line is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 40 is mapped ~1.8 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 Mcdowell Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Mcdowell Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- East Bluff #1 Campground~0.2 mi
- East Bluff #2 Campground~0.4 mi
- Mcdowell~0.4 mi · fee
- East Bluff #3 Campground~0.5 mi
The unit that manages Mcdowell Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Mcdowell Campground are set by McClellan Creek National Grassland, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Mcdowell 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)
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 Mcdowell 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.
- 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 — Mcdowell Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →