Agency-listedUSFSFee
Payne Lake Recreation Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AL · 32.88127, -87.44588
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 — Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL
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 0801), 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 Payne Lake Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 259 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Payne Lake Recreation AreaNIFC · 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 Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery3 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- MMechanic13 mi
- AAir-up17 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- WWater24 mi
- DDump54 mi
- ShShower54 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 24-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — Payne Lake Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
259 ft
State
AL
Coordinates
32.88127, -87.44588
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePayne Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townGreensboro · ~15.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelChevron · ~11.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesValley Grocery · ~2.9 mi
- PharmacyKC Drug · ~13.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicMoundville Medical Associates · ~13.0 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~12.7 mi
EV charging — from Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.4 mi straight-line N — TUSCALOOSA FORD POWER LINK 2 · ChargePoint Network · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach17 within 25 mi · 30 within 50 · 121 within 100 · 256 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)20.3 mi — Cottondale, AL - Tesla Supercharger, Cottondale
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO20.2 mi — TUSC HYUNDAI LEVEL 3 #2, Tuscaloosa
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.7 mi — Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Moundville, AL (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-05-09 · 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 374831 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomPayne Lake Recreation Area · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSouth Sandy Shooting Range · ~8.6 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletVick Shooting Range · ~21.8 mi E · USFS
- Highway rest areaTuscaloosa County Rest Area (NB) · ~22.3 mi N
Coming out here — Payne Lake Recreation Area · National Forests in Alabama · AL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Payne Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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.
- 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 Payne Lake Recreation Area elsewhere
The unit that manages Payne Lake Recreation Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Payne Lake Recreation Area are set by National Forests in Alabama, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Payne Lake Recreation Area
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.
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 Payne Lake Recreation Area
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 — Payne Lake Recreation Area
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →How to read this page →All field notes →