Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
River Forest Group Site
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · FL · 29.01269, -81.39029
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 — River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 42-29.3A, 150 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 42-29.3A, 150 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 42-29.3A: “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 River Forest Group Site
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 8 ft.
Fire & smoke — around River Forest Group SiteNIFC · 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 River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- AAir-up5 mi
- RxPharmacy6 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- DDump10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- WWater13 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
- PPropane26 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — River Forest Group Site
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
8 ft
Ground slope
0.3% · flat
Nearest rail line
~2.3 mi · passing siding
Nearest highway
~8.8 mi · Interstate 4
State
FL
Coordinates
29.01269, -81.39029
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSaint Johns River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Dean Dead River (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townCrows Bluff · ~0.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.3 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highway~8.8 mi · Interstate 4
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.2 mi
- GroceriesWinn-Dixie · ~4.1 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~5.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicFlorida Hospital Deland · ~4.9 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~6.8 mi
EV charging — from River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.3 mi straight-line E — DeLand, FL - 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 reach41 within 25 mi · 177 within 50 · 386 within 100 · 560 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS8.9 mi — OPTIMUS CPO RESERVE AT OC 4, Orange City
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO5.8 mi — Deland Nissan, Deland
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.9 mi — AdventHealth Deland · CHARGEUP · J1772 · 16 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 374979 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomRiver Forest · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~6.6 mi N · FWS
- Flush restroomClearwater Lake · ~10.1 mi W · USFS
- Flush restroomAlexander Springs · ~12.3 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — River Forest Group Site · National Forests in Florida · FL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Saint Johns River as a perennial river, ~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 0.3% — flat. 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 ~2.3 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. 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.
- Interstate 4 is mapped ~8.8 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 River Forest Group Site elsewhere
Other camps near River Forest Group Site
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Clay Lake Hunt Camp~4.1 mi
- 52 Landing~7.5 mi
- Clearwater Lake~10.1 mi · fee
- Alexander Springs~12.3 mi · fee
The unit that manages River Forest Group Site
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at River Forest Group Site are set by National Forests in Florida, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — River Forest Group Site
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 River Forest Group Site
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 — River Forest Group Site
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Camping with a dog →All field notes →