Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Poplar Branch Shelter
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · WV · 38.30156, -80.42413
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 site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. 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 — Poplar Branch Shelter · Monongahela National Forest · WV
No MVUM road within 1 mi of the pin; 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 Poplar Branch Shelter
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,592 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Poplar Branch ShelterNIFC · 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 Poplar Branch Shelter · 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
- GGrocery8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- WWater19 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- DDump26 mi
- ShShower38 mi
- PPropane46 mi
- AAir-up54 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 — Poplar Branch Shelter
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
2,592 ft
Ground slope
3.8% · gentle
State
WV
Coordinates
38.30156, -80.42413
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Poplar Branch Shelter · Monongahela National Forest · WV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCranberry River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townRichwood · ~8.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~26.4 mi
- GroceriesDollar General Market · ~7.6 mi
- PharmacyGauley River Pharmacy · ~12.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicCommunity Care of West Virginia · ~16.3 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~12.3 mi
EV charging — from Poplar Branch Shelter · Monongahela National Forest · WV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.8 mi straight-line E — Mitchell Chevrolet, Marlinton, WV (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 96 within 100 · 267 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)30.5 mi — Sutton, WV - Tesla Supercharger, Sutton
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.1 mi — SUMMERSVILLE WV SUMMERSVILLE, Summersville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.9 mi — Richwood City Hall (at a municipal building) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargerFree (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 326089 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Poplar Branch Shelter · Monongahela National Forest · WV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCranberry Campground · ~1.7 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSummit Lake Campground · ~3.8 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBishop Knob Campground · ~4.3 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Bend Picnic Area · ~5.0 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Poplar Branch Shelter · Monongahela National Forest · WV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Cranberry River as a perennial river, 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 3.8% — 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.
- 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.
- 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 Poplar Branch Shelter elsewhere
Other camps near Poplar Branch Shelter
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cranberry Campground~1.9 mi
- Pheasant Hollow Shelter~2.8 mi
- Dogway Shelter~3.7 mi
- Summit Lake Campground~3.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Poplar Branch Shelter
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Poplar Branch Shelter are set by Monongahela National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Poplar Branch Shelter
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Poplar Branch Shelter
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 — Poplar Branch Shelter
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →How to read this page →All field notes →