Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Pioneer Trail
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 38.18711, -119.98811
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 — Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 04N35E, 300 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 04N35E, 300 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 15 – Dec 15. That season ends after Dec 15.
MVUM record for FR 04N35E: “04/15-12/15” 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 Pioneer Trail
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,838 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pioneer TrailNIFC · 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 Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery1 mi
- @Mail1 mi
- WWater1 mi
- LLaundry1 mi
- ShShower1 mi
- PPropane4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- EVEV fast charger4 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- RxPharmacy17 mi
- OOutfitter19 mi
- +Urgent care21 mi
- DDump27 mi
- AAir-up57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 1 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 — Pioneer Trail
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,838 ft
Ground slope
10.6% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
38.18711, -119.98811
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Fork Tuolumne River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townStrawberry · ~1.4 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~1.1 mi
- FuelChevron · ~4.1 mi
- Propane / LPGChevron · ~4.1 mi
- Dump station~27.4 mi
- GroceriesPinecrest General Store · ~0.6 mi
- PharmacyTwain Harte Pharmacy · ~17.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicTuolumne MeWuk Indian Health Center · ~20.6 mi
- HardwareTwain Harte Lumber / Ace Hardware · ~16.6 mi
EV charging — from Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger4.1 mi straight-line SW — Cold Springs Market - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 21 within 50 · 418 within 100 · 1149 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS25.8 mi — Innsight Buck Meadows Lodge (Groveland, CA), Groveland
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO25.8 mi — Innsight Buck Meadows Lodge (Groveland, CA), Groveland
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.6 mi — The Lodge Christian Retreat Center, Mi Wuk Village, CA · CHARGELAB · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.55 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 466125 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomPioneer Trail · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomPinecrest Fishing Pier · ~0.3 mi N · USFS
- Flush restroomPinecrest · ~0.4 mi NW · USFS
- Flush restroomPinecrest Boat Ramp · ~0.5 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Pioneer Trail · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Fork Tuolumne River as a perennial river, ~0.2 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 10.6% — 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 Pioneer Trail elsewhere
Other camps near Pioneer Trail
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pinecrest~0.5 mi · fee
- Meadowview~0.9 mi · fee
- Kerrick Corrals~1.9 mi
- Teleli Pulaya~3.5 mi · fee
The unit that manages Pioneer Trail
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pioneer Trail are set by Stanislaus National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Pioneer Trail
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. | Fee 2026-08-24: GROUP site -- the figure buys the whole unit, not one pitch. $133 per night for up to 50 people, $184 per night for up to 100. recreation.gov listing 232293 posts the same $133 and $184 for the current season (7 May - 19 Oct 2026). Operated by Dodge Ridge Corporation under a Forest Service special use permit. In winter it becomes first-come first-served and is FREE for groups of 15 or fewer; for 16 or more it is $1 per person per night, paid at the Dodge Ridge Mountain Resort administration office. There is no water in winter. Sources: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/stanislaus/recreation/pioneer-trail-group-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232293.
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 Pioneer Trail
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 — Pioneer Trail
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →