Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Merrill
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 40.54980, -120.81036
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 — Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 31N62E (Aspen Loop), 100 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 31N62E (Aspen Loop), 100 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 31N62E (Aspen 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 Merrill
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,120 ft.
Fire & smoke — around MerrillNIFC · 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 Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump0 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- WWater12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- MMechanic13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- ShShower28 mi
- OOutfitter43 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Merrill
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,120 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
State
CA
Coordinates
40.54980, -120.81036
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMerrill Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townSpaulding · ~7.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelDiamond Mountain · ~11.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~0.2 mi
- GroceriesDiamond Mountain Mini Mart · ~11.5 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~13.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicNortheastern Health Center · ~12.4 mi
- HardwareDiamond Saw Shop · ~12.9 mi
EV charging — from Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.5 mi straight-line SE — Susanville, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 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 reach1 within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 93 within 100 · 325 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS54.4 mi — Caboose Park - Portola, Portola
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO69.9 mi — Town of Paradise - 230 Pearson, Paradise
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.5 mi — DMND MTN CSO DIAMOND MT1, Susanville, CA · 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 196523 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomMerrill · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomMerrill Rv Dump Station · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomMerrill Amphitheater · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomWest Eagle · ~1.2 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Merrill · Lassen National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Merrill Creek as an intermittent stream, ~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 1% — flat. 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 Merrill elsewhere
Other camps near Merrill
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- West Eagle~1.2 mi · fee
- Eagle~1.4 mi · fee
- Christie~1.9 mi · fee
- Aspen Grove~1.9 mi · fee
The unit that manages Merrill
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Merrill are set by Lassen National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Merrill
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-22: $35 per night for a single site with no hook-up, $50 with a partial/electric hook-up, $60 with full hook-ups and $80 for a double with full hook-ups. THE PAGE CONTRADICTS ITSELF -- its prose claims 'Standard campsites are $20/night. Group sites are $60/night', which is stale. recreation.gov 232902 arbitrates decisively in favour of the structured figures: for the season live right now, 2026-05-15 to 2026-09-07, it books NO HOOK-UP/DRY CAMP $35, PARTIAL HOOK-UP $50, FULL HOOK-UP $60 and DOUBLE FULL HOOK-UP $80. Sources: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/lassen/recreation/merrill-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232902.
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 Merrill
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 — Merrill
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →