Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Red Mill Pond
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · PA · 41.53930, -78.79049
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 — Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 143 (Big Mill Creek), 230 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as improved native material surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 143 (Big Mill Creek), 230 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 143 (Big Mill Creek): “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 Red Mill Pond
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,688 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Red Mill PondNIFC · 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 Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- ShShower5 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- AAir-up8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- EVEV fast charger13 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- DDump17 mi
- WWater28 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 28-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Red Mill Pond
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,688 ft
Ground slope
37.7% · steep
Nearest rail line
~5.2 mi · main line
State
PA
Coordinates
41.53930, -78.79049
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Mill Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Brush Hollow (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townHighland Corners · ~3.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelNittany Energy · ~12.6 mi
- Propane / LPGPraxis · ~28.7 mi
- Dump station~17.4 mi
- GroceriesElk County Foods · ~6.4 mi
- PharmacySMP Pharmacy · ~8.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicUPMC Kane · ~9.2 mi
- HardwareC. W. Hardware · ~8.9 mi
EV charging — from Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.8 mi straight-line NE — Kane, PA - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 22 within 50 · 190 within 100 · 540 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS28.6 mi — Walmart 1769 (DuBois, PA), DuBois
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO28.6 mi — Walmart 1769 (DuBois, PA), DuBois
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)18.5 mi — Kinzua Bridge State Park, Kane, PA (at a park) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-04-14 · hours: 8am to sunset 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 428670 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBrush Hollow Mill Creek Trailhead · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTimberline Atv Trailhead · ~4.2 mi NW · USFS
- Portable toiletTwin Lakes Day Use Area · ~5.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTwin Lakes Campground · ~5.5 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Red Mill Pond · Allegheny National Forest · PA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Mill Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 37.7% — steep. 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 ~5.2 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.
- 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 Red Mill Pond elsewhere
Other camps near Red Mill Pond
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Red Mill Campground~3.4 mi
- Twin Lakes Campground~5.5 mi
- Nct-Cherry Run Shelter~12.0 mi
- Kelly Pines Campground~12.0 mi · fee
The unit that manages Red Mill Pond
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Red Mill Pond are set by Allegheny National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Red Mill Pond
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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 Red Mill Pond
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 — Red Mill Pond
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading the aerial →All field notes →