★ Field-verified · Dave's ownNPS · dispersedFree
San Bernardino County
Drive-up · National Park Service · San Bernardino County, CA · 34.88817, -115.71662
Inside a national park unit
San Bernardino County sits inside Mojave National Preserve — a national preserve run by the National Park Service.
Park rules apply, and they are stricter than dispersed camping: inside a National Park Service unit you camp in a designated campground or on a backcountry permit, not wherever you find a flat spot. Check the park before you go: nps.gov/moja ↗
This page calls it a dispersed camp because that is what the source record says. Inside a park unit that word does not mean camp anywhere.
Placed by point-in-polygon against the National Park Service’s own boundary layer (NPS Land Resources Division, 442 units, fetched 18 Sep 2026; this unit’s polygon edited 2026-06-18). Nothing about the price or the legal status on this page was changed by it.
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 National Park Service land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
A primitive camping area in the Mojave Preserve near the trailhead for the Kelso Dunes. Desert setting off of a washboard road. View of dunes, but otherwise unremarkable. Some other RVs and van-dwellers will likely be here. Sites aren't well defined, so basically camp anywhere. A few fire rings scattered about. Enough room for a few vehicles. No cell service. Recommended if Kelso Dunes is your destination.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 6 February 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 San Bernardino County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,521 ft.
Fire & smoke — around San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino County · National Park Service · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater12 mi
- DDump21 mi
- FFuel23 mi
- GGrocery23 mi
- @Mail23 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- EVEV fast charger31 mi
- PPropane33 mi
- LLaundry47 mi
- ShShower47 mi
- HHardware50 mi
- +Urgent care55 mi
- RxPharmacy56 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 23 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 31-mi run (and back).
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 — San Bernardino County
Access
Drive-up
Land
National Park Service · dispersed
Elevation
2,521 ft
Ground slope
1.8% · flat
Nearest rail line
~6.2 mi · main line
County
San Bernardino County, CA
Coordinates
34.88817, -115.71662
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around San Bernardino County · National Park Service · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelRoy's Gasoline · ~22.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~21.3 mi
- GroceriesRoy's Café · ~22.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 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 San Bernardino County · National Park Service · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger30.7 mi straight-line E — Najah Hi Sahara Oasis (Essex Fenner, CA) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 10 within 50 · 197 within 100 · 768 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)32.9 mi — Baker, CA - Mojave Pointe Rd - Tesla Supercharger, Baker
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)48.2 mi — Terrible Herbst, Inc, Nipton, CA · VIALYNK · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Center - Tesla Destination, Essex, 36.9 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 218174 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around San Bernardino County · National Park Service · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomKD Kelso Dunes Vault Toilet 220 · ~1.1 mi E · NPS
- RestroomKelso Depot 201 · ~9.3 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomKD Kelso Depot Comfort Station 206 · ~9.3 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomHW Picnic Area Vault Toilet · ~21.0 mi NE · NPS
Coming out here — San Bernardino County · National Park Service · CA
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.8% — 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 ~6.2 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.
- 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 San Bernardino County elsewhere
Other camps near San Bernardino County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Trilobite Wilderness~18.4 mi
- Clipper Mountain Wilderness~20.9 mi
- San Bernardino County~21.1 mi
- Amboy Crater National Natural Landmark~22.9 mi
Who holds the land at San Bernardino County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Mojave National Preserve, manager on record: National Park Service (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — San Bernardino 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 (San Bernardino County, CA). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record. | Land manager filled 2026-09-24: this point falls inside Mojave National Preserve (National Preserves), a unit of the National Park Service, by point-in-polygon against the NPS Land Resources Division boundary layer. No other agency record names a manager for it.
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 6 February 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about San Bernardino 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 — San Bernardino County
Water on public land →Hot-weather camping →Bugs & critters →Reading your camp page →All field notes →