★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
McDowell County
Drive-up · public land · McDowell County, NC · 35.91331, -81.91921
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Nice! A secluded campsite next to Linville Gorge, just off of forest road, down a short 4x4 trail and very well hidden. Enough room for one or two vehicles. Fire ring. It is in a wooded valley, adjacent to a grassy pasture and a trickling stream. Very poor cell service. Might be popular in peak season. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 6 January 2020. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at McDowell County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,652 ft.
Fire & smoke — around McDowell CountyNIFC · 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 County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- WWater12 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- AAir-up25 mi
- PPropane44 mi
- DDump50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — McDowell County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
3,652 ft
Ground slope
16% · steep
Nearest rail line
~2.7 mi · main line
County
McDowell County, NC
Coordinates
35.91331, -81.91921
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around McDowell County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLaurel Branch · under 0.1 mi · USGS: stream, no flow class
- Nearest townCrossnore · ~7.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelMobil · ~4.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesLinville Falls General Store · ~3.4 mi
- PharmacyCrossnore Drug Store · ~8.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicMessino Cancer Centers · ~8.3 mi
- HardwareGrassy Creek Hardware · ~8.3 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from McDowell County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.3 mi straight-line SE — MORGANTON, NC FAST CHARGER #1 · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach14 within 25 mi · 54 within 50 · 269 within 100 · 460 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)21.8 mi — DC FAST CHARGER CALDWELLDCFAST1, Lenoir
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.5 mi — GRANDFATHER MTN ENTRANCE GATE, Linville, NC · 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 312278 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around McDowell County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomLfal Mp 316.4 B794 Lf Vc · ~2.9 mi N · NPS
- RestroomLFAL MP 316.4 B436 LF CG Loop A (Back) CS · ~3.7 mi N · NPS
- RestroomLFAL MP 316.4 B363 LF CG Loop B (Front) CS · ~3.8 mi N · NPS
- RestroomLFAL MP 316.5 B118 LF PA Front CS · ~4.4 mi N · NPS
Coming out here — McDowell County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Laurel Branch as a stream (no flow class in the record), under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 16% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~2.7 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.
- 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 McDowell County elsewhere
Other camps near McDowell County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Brown Mountain Cua Roadside Campsites~10.1 mi
- Mortimer Campground~10.3 mi · fee
- Johns River Game Land camping area #1~14.4 mi
- A.T. Stan Murray Shelter~16.0 mi
The unit that manages McDowell County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at McDowell County are set by National Forests in North Carolina, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — McDowell County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (McDowell County, NC). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 6 January 2020. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about McDowell County
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — McDowell County
Water on public land →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →