Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Panoche Hills
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 36.71228, -120.86278
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Panoche Hills
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,104 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Panoche HillsNIFC · 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 Panoche Hills · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater1 mi
- ShShower1 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- DDump22 mi
- RxPharmacy23 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- @Mail23 mi
- HHardware24 mi
- MMechanic24 mi
- LLaundry24 mi
- PPropane31 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- OOutfitter48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Panoche Hills
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
1,104 ft
Ground slope
1.1% · flat
Nearest highway
~8.9 mi · Interstate 5
State
CA
Coordinates
36.71228, -120.86278
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Panoche Hills · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Fork Little Panoche Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townMercey Hot Springs · ~0.6 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~8.9 mi · Interstate 5
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.6 mi
- FuelValero · ~14.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.8 mi
- GroceriesFood Mart · ~14.0 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~23.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicMemorial Hospital Los Banos · ~24.3 mi
EV charging — from Panoche Hills · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.9 mi straight-line NE — Firebaugh Travel Plaza · EVGATEWAY · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 84 within 50 · 627 within 100 · 1168 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)14.1 mi — Firebaugh, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Firebaugh
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.1 mi — Panoche Shell (Firebaugh, CA), Firebaugh
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.8 mi — Pinnacles National Park - Pinnacles Visitor Center, Paicines, CA (at a national park) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-05-12 · 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 417779 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Panoche Hills · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomPanoche Hills Overlook -Toilet · ~2.8 mi E · BLM
- Highway rest areaJohn Chuck Erreca Northbound · ~11.4 mi NE
- Highway rest areaJohn Chuck Erreca Southbound · ~11.4 mi NE
- Highway rest areaCoalinga/Avenal Southbound · ~11.4 mi NE
Coming out here — Panoche Hills · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Fork Little Panoche Creek as an intermittent stream, under 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 1.1% — 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 5 is mapped ~8.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Panoche Hills elsewhere
Other camps near Panoche Hills
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Griswold Hills~10.4 mi
- Tumey Hills~13.1 mi
- Laguna Mountain~24.0 mi
- Sweetwater Laguna Mountain Campground (Free, BLM)~24.3 mi
The unit that manages Panoche Hills
Panoche Hills is in the Central Coast Field Office, Central California District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Panoche Hills
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No Fees" https://www.blm.gov/visit/panoche-hills
Source
Bureau of Land Management 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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No Fees" Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/panoche-hills (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
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 Panoche Hills
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 — Panoche Hills
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →