Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Nelson Lake
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 34.32526, -110.75244
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 — Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0301), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
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 Nelson Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,656 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Nelson LakeNIFC · 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 Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel1 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- WWater4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- DDump4 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- AAir-up12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- EVEV fast charger33 mi
- LLaundry41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 1 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 33-mi run (and back).
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 — Nelson Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
7,656 ft
Ground slope
5.2% · gentle
State
AZ
Coordinates
34.32526, -110.75244
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNelson Lake · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Brad Tank (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townForest Lakes Estates · ~2.9 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.0 mi
- FuelFuel · ~1.4 mi
- Propane / LPGPinnacle Propane · ~11.9 mi
- Dump station~4.3 mi
- GroceriesForest Lakes General Store · ~2.9 mi
- PharmacyWhite Mountain Pharmacy · ~12.0 mi
EV charging — from Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger32.8 mi straight-line W — APS - Payson (Payson, AZ) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 7 within 50 · 105 within 100 · 170 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.1 mi — Payson, AZ - Tesla Supercharger, Payson
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO49.6 mi — Walmart 1328 (Winslow, AZ), Winslow
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)40.5 mi — Best Western Paint Pony Lodge, Show Low, AZ · CHARGELAB · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 238674 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Canyon Rim Cg · ~1.5 mi S · USFS
- RestroomGeneral Crook Road · ~1.5 mi S · USFS
- RestroomHangman Trailhead · ~1.9 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomGentry Lo · ~2.8 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Nelson Lake · Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Nelson Lake as an intermittent lake or pond, ~0.3 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 5.2% — gentle. 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.
- 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 Nelson Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Nelson Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Brookbank~0.2 mi
- Black Canyon Rim Campground~1.5 mi
- Gentry Campground~2.8 mi
- Upper Canyon Creek Campground~3.8 mi
The unit that manages Nelson Lake
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Nelson Lake are set by Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Nelson Lake
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Nelson Lake
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 — Nelson Lake
When the high country opens →Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Power off-grid →All field notes →