Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Mcgee Backpacker Cg
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 37.55060, -118.80281
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. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. 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 — Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 04S06 (Mcgee Creek), 450 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 04S06 (Mcgee Creek), 450 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 04S06 (Mcgee Creek): “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 Mcgee Backpacker Cg
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,858 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mcgee Backpacker CgNIFC · 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 Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump3 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- WWater4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- OOutfitter4 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- AAir-up23 mi
- +Urgent care30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Mcgee Backpacker Cg
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,858 ft
Ground slope
8.3% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
37.55060, -118.80281
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMcGee Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMcGee Creek · ~1.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~4.0 mi
- FuelShell · ~3.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~2.6 mi
- GroceriesVons · ~10.8 mi
- PharmacyVons Pharmacy · ~10.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicFirst Aid Lodge · ~29.9 mi
- HardwareHigh Country Lumber (Ace Hardware) · ~10.8 mi
EV charging — from Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.8 mi straight-line NW — Mammoth Lakes, CA - Old Mammoth Road - Tesla Supercharger (at a municipal building) · 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 reach5 within 25 mi · 16 within 50 · 130 within 100 · 352 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS11.1 mi — Mammoth Lakes, CA, Mammoth Lakes
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO26.1 mi — CalTrans - Bishop, Bishop
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.8 mi — Mammoth Lakes, CA - Old Mammoth Rd - Tesla Destination · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- 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 321156 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMcgee Backpacker Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMcgee Pass Th · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMcgee Creek Cg · ~1.3 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCrowley Lake Cg -Vault Toilet #3 · ~2.4 mi NE · BLM
Coming out here — Mcgee Backpacker Cg · Inyo National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps McGee Creek as a perennial stream, 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 8.3% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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 Mcgee Backpacker Cg elsewhere
Other camps near Mcgee Backpacker Cg
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Mcgee Creek Cg~1.3 mi · fee
- Convict Lake Cg~3.9 mi · fee
- Aspen Group Cg~5.4 mi · fee
- Iris Meadow Cg~5.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages Mcgee Backpacker Cg
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Mcgee Backpacker Cg are set by Inyo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Mcgee Backpacker Cg
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review
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 Mcgee Backpacker Cg
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 — Mcgee Backpacker Cg
When the high country opens →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading the aerial →All field notes →