★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFee
Nueces County
Drive-up · public land · Nueces County, TX · 27.79521, -97.08263
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 — a fee site. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Camping on the beach in Port Aransas, Texas. Inexpensive $12 permit required, valid for remainder of calendar year. Trash cans. Porta-johns. Clean beach with ample room for numerous vehicles. Very popular destination, so you will be surrounded by other campers. Still a pleasing experience with soothing sound of the surf. Good cell service. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 11 April 2019. 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 Nueces County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Nueces 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 Nueces County · public land · TX
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- ShShower0 mi
- FFuel1 mi
- GGrocery1 mi
- MMechanic2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- HHardware2 mi
- OOutfitter2 mi
- LLaundry3 mi
- DDump3 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- WWater15 mi
- AAir-up17 mi
- EVEV fast charger18 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 1 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 — Nueces County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
5 ft
Ground slope
1.2% · flat
Nearest rail line
~7.5 mi · industrial lead
County
Nueces County, TX
Coordinates
27.79521, -97.08263
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Nueces County · public land · TX (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWater · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townPort Aransas · ~2.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.5 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~3.2 mi
- GroceriesThe Texan · ~0.8 mi
- PharmacyH-E-B Pharmacy · ~8.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicFamily Health Clinic & Minor Emergency Room · ~15.2 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~2.2 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Nueces County · public land · TX — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.6 mi straight-line W — 2519 AutoNation Honda South Corpus Christi · Blink Network · J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 25 within 100 · 131 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.4 mi — Corpus Christi, TX - Tesla Supercharger, Corpus Christi
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO17.6 mi — CC HYUNDAI DC2, Corpus Christi
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.8 mi — ALISTER SQUARE2 ALISTER UNIT 1, Port Aransas, TX · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Hampton Inn & Suites Port Aransas - Tesla Destination, Port Aransas, 1.5 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Amelia's Landing Hotel, Port Aransas, 2.8 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; call front desk · AFDC lists it “Free for guest use; pricing varies for non-guest use” - 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 349105 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Nueces County · public land · TX — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBoat Ramp Vault Toilet-BIB · ~26.2 mi SW · NPS
- RestroomBIB Center Vault Toilet (Day-Use Area) · ~26.4 mi SW · NPS
- RestroomWindsurfer Double Vault Toilet · ~26.8 mi SW · NPS
- RestroomMalaquite Campground Showers · ~28.3 mi SW · NPS
Coming out here — Nueces County · public land · TX
- Surface water mapped nearby: Water. That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.2% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~7.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. 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 Nueces County elsewhere
Other camps near Nueces County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- North Beach (Padre Island National Seashore)~24.9 mi · fee
How we know this — Nueces 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 (Nueces County, TX). 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 11 April 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Nueces 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