Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · IL · 37.60251, -88.37945
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 — Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 163 (Garden Rec Sites Rd), 30 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as bituminous surface treatment surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 163 (Garden Rec Sites Rd), 30 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 163 (Garden Rec Sites Rd): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
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 Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 831 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pharaoh-Garden Of The GodsNIFC · 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 Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery2 mi
- PPropane3 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- WWater6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- ShShower13 mi
- EVEV fast charger30 mi
- DDump43 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 30-mi run (and back).
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 — Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
831 ft
Ground slope
11.7% · noticeable
State
IL
Coordinates
37.60251, -88.37945
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLittle Eagle Creek · ~0.4 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townEquality · ~9.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~5.8 mi
- FuelHarbison's County Market · ~3.1 mi
- Propane / LPGHarbison's County Market · ~3.1 mi
- GroceriesGarden of the God's Outpost · ~1.6 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~12.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicSouthern 7 Health Department · ~10.2 mi
- HardwareDeNeal Building Supply · ~6.0 mi
EV charging — from Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger30.1 mi straight-line SW — Acees BP Vienna (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 26 within 50 · 99 within 100 · 363 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.3 mi — Marion, IL - Tesla Supercharger, Marion
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO38.9 mi — LARRY STOVESAND STATION 1, Paducah
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.9 mi — WARREN TUTTLE STATION 1, Harrisburg, IL · 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 — Shawnee Forest Cabins - Tesla Destination, Herod, 1.6 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 429736 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGarden Of The Gods Recreation Area · ~0.3 mi NW · USFS
- RestroomGolden Circle · ~0.8 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods · Shawnee National Forest · IL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Little Eagle Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.4 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 11.7% — noticeable. 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 Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods elsewhere
Other camps near Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pine Ridge-Pounds Hollow~6.2 mi · fee
- Camp Cadiz~7.6 mi · fee
- Tower Rock Cg~12.8 mi
- Redbud - Bell Smith Springs~16.1 mi · fee
The unit that manages Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods are set by Shawnee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
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 Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Pharaoh-Garden Of The Gods
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Getting unstuck →All field notes →