Agency-listedUSFSFree
Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MS · 33.98465, -88.93637
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 — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS
No MVUM road within 1 mi of the pin; 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 →
What the record says about the site — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS
- Vault toilet
- No drinking water — carry your own
- Listed as a backcountry site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 367 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Paynatha Trail Head - USFSNIFC · 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 Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail2 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- WWater5 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- +Urgent care20 mi
- EVEV fast charger21 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- RxPharmacy22 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
- MMechanic23 mi
- ShShower25 mi
- OOutfitter26 mi
- DDump36 mi
- AAir-up54 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 — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
367 ft
Ground slope
17.3% · steep
State
MS
Coordinates
33.98465, -88.93637
Cost
Free · OpenStreetMap fee tag: no
Nearby & resupply — around Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDicks Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townParkersburg · ~1.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.9 mi
- FuelShell · ~4.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesBlueSky · ~7.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~22.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicProgressive Health of Houston · ~6.9 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~21.5 mi
EV charging — from Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.6 mi straight-line NE — 1410 South Gloster Street Tupelo, MS 38801 · EV Connect · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 30 within 50 · 90 within 100 · 230 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)21.6 mi — PEPA STATION 1, Pontotoc
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO21.6 mi — PEPA STATION 2, Pontotoc
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)26.1 mi — BC CPF50 2, Tupelo, MS · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Red Roof Inn Tupelo - Tesla Destination, Tupelo, 23.7 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 346725 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPayamataha Th · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomDavis Lake Rec Area · ~4.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChickasaw Atv Trailhead · ~4.7 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomOwl Creek Mounds · ~5.0 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS · National Forests in Mississippi · MS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Dicks Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.6 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 17.3% — steep. 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 Paynatha Trail Head - USFS elsewhere
Other camps near Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Davis Lake Rec Area~4.3 mi · fee
- Witch Dance bicycle-only campground (Natchez Trace Parkway milepost 234)~5.1 mi
The unit that manages Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Paynatha Trail Head - USFS are set by National Forests in Mississippi, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
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 — Paynatha Trail Head - USFS
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →