★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Pope County
Drive-up · public land · Pope County, IL · 37.51270, -88.68116
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 primitive grassy clearing next to a small stream, with fire ring, in Illinois at Jackson Falls. Sufficient space for a group of vehicle-supported campers. Free camping. Very popular spot for waterfall, hiking, and rock-climbing, and justifiably so. Prepare for outdoor adventure crowds. Amazing hikes, waterfall, and rock formations downstream in the valley. Recommended. Poor cell service.
A night on record
Dave slept here, but his diary does not date the night: this entry carries only a timestamp it shares with 50 other entries in eight states, all written within the same three seconds — a file being saved, not a night. So it says nothing about season.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pope County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 575 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pope 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 Pope County · 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
- ShShower4 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- WWater7 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- MMechanic13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- PPropane15 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- DDump27 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Pope County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
575 ft
Ground slope
3.7% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~0.7 mi · main line
County
Pope County, IL
Coordinates
37.51270, -88.68116
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Pope County · Shawnee National Forest · IL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLittle Bay Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townSimpson · ~5.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~6.9 mi
- FuelCreal Springs Mini Mart · ~11.3 mi
- Propane / LPGHarbison's County Market · ~15.3 mi
- Dump station~27.4 mi
- GroceriesCreal Springs Mini Mart · ~11.3 mi
- PharmacyBode Drug · ~13.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicHMC Clinic · ~16.7 mi
- HardwareDeNeal Building Supply · ~14.1 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 Pope County · Shawnee National Forest · IL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.6 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 reach7 within 25 mi · 26 within 50 · 95 within 100 · 337 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)22.2 mi — Marion, IL - Tesla Supercharger, Marion
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO29.7 mi — LARRY STOVESAND STATION 1, Paducah
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.4 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
- 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 Pope County · Shawnee National Forest · IL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletJackson Falls Access · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomHunting Branch · ~1.3 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBell Smith Springs Interpretive Site · ~1.4 mi E · USFS
- RestroomHunting Branch - Bell Smith Springs · ~1.4 mi NE · USFS
Coming out here — Pope County · Shawnee National Forest · IL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Little Bay 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 3.7% — 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 ~0.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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 Pope County elsewhere
Other camps near Pope County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Redbud - Bell Smith Springs~1.5 mi · fee
- Oak Point - Lake Glendale~7.2 mi · fee
- Duck Bay - Lake Glendale~7.2 mi · fee
- Dixon Springs State Park - Tent Camping Area~8.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Pope County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pope County are set by Shawnee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Pope 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 (Pope County, IL). 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. His diary does not date the night. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Pope 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