★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Pocahontas County
Drive-up · public land · Pocahontas County, WV · 38.52945, -79.68974
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
A superb free dispersed campsite in a shady wooded valley, surrounded by conifers, and next to a beautiful stream with some good hiking and fishing nearby. Primitive with picnic table and a couple of fire rings. A gravel parking spot with room for two vehicles. Located just off of forest road, so privacy is poor. Likely a busy area in the warm season. No cell service. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 10 December 2019. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pocahontas County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,108 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pocahontas CountyNIFC · 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 Pocahontas County · Monongahela National Forest · WV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail5 mi
- WWater7 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- EVEV fast charger27 mi
- ShShower28 mi
- AAir-up28 mi
- DDump29 mi
- PPropane43 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Pocahontas County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
3,108 ft
Ground slope
5.9% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~7.3 mi · main line
County
Pocahontas County, WV
Coordinates
38.52945, -79.68974
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Pocahontas County · Monongahela National Forest · WV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Run · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Buffalo Fork (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townThornwood · ~3.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.3 mi
- FuelFuel · ~7.9 mi
- Propane / LPGTrent's Arbovale · ~9.4 mi
- Dump station~28.6 mi
- GroceriesTrent's Arbovale · ~9.4 mi
- PharmacyGreen Bank Pharmacy · ~11.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicCommunity Care of Green Bank · ~11.6 mi
- HardwareHardware Store · ~13.5 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Pocahontas County · Monongahela National Forest · WV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger26.8 mi straight-line N — Elkins Fordland WV (at a public site) · RED_E · J1772, 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 · 14 within 50 · 112 within 100 · 557 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)44.3 mi — Staunton, VA - Richmond Avenue - Tesla Supercharger, Staunton
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO44.2 mi — Walmart 1344 (Staunton, VA), Staunton
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.7 mi — The Green Bank Science Center, Arbovale, WV (at a museum) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-12-12 · 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 322288 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pocahontas County · Monongahela National Forest · WV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLocust Springs · ~4.6 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletShaws Fork Horse Camp · ~22.3 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletConfederate Breastworks · ~22.4 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMountain House · ~23.5 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Pocahontas County · Monongahela National Forest · WV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Run as a perennial stream, 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.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 5.9% — gentle. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~7.3 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- 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 Pocahontas County elsewhere
Other camps near Pocahontas County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Island Campground~3.3 mi · fee
- Middle Mountain Road Fs 14 Dispersed~6.4 mi
- West Fork Fs 44 Dispersed~7.9 mi
- Little River Camping Area~9.0 mi
The unit that manages Pocahontas County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pocahontas County are set by Monongahela National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Pocahontas County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Pocahontas County, WV). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 10 December 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Pocahontas County
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — Pocahontas County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Stay limits →Reading your camp page →All field notes →