★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
San Diego County
Drive-up · public land · San Diego County, CA · 32.72162, -116.13682
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.
Public land near the trailhead for the Goat Canyon hike in the Anza-Borrego desert. This is a large, spacious clearing in the desert, only a short distance from the the Mexican border. It is only ideal if you plan to do the hike. Four-wheel drive strongly recommended. It is at the end of roughly five miles of primitive two-tracks. It is fairly private, but was very hot. The desert is vast and worthy of exploration. Bring water. There are rattlesnakes. Some cell service.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 3 July 2017. 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 Diego County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,840 ft.
Fire & smoke — around San Diego 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 Diego County · public land · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- WWater10 mi
- DDump18 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- +Urgent care21 mi
- LLaundry29 mi
- RxPharmacy33 mi
- MMechanic33 mi
- HHardware33 mi
- PPropane34 mi
- OOutfitter37 mi
- AAir-up48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — San Diego County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
1,840 ft
Ground slope
4.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~1.2 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~3.4 mi · Interstate 8
County
San Diego County, CA
Coordinates
32.72162, -116.13682
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around San Diego County · public land · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePalm Canyon Wash · under 0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townBoulder Park · ~4.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~3.4 mi · Interstate 8
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.8 mi
- FuelOcotillo Chevron Desert Fuel Stop · ~8.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~18.5 mi
- GroceriesWisteria Candy Cottage · ~9.5 mi
- PharmacyFarmacias Roma · ~29.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~30.1 mi
- HardwareMateriales Moisés · ~13.0 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from San Diego County · public land · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.2 mi straight-line S — Jacumba, CA, Jacumba Hot Springs, CA (at a public site) · RIVIAN_ADVENTURE · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 50 within 50 · 346 within 100 · 924 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS33.4 mi — El Centro Public Library, El Centro
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO33.4 mi — BOA El Centro CA0-119 (El Centro, CA), El Centro
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)20.6 mi — San Ysidro Health Center, Campo, CA (at a hospital) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · 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 462434 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around San Diego County · public land · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMccain Lark Cg -Day Use Vault Toilet · ~7.7 mi W · BLM
- RestroomMccain Lark Canyon Cg -Toilet 10 · ~7.9 mi W · BLM
- RestroomMccain Lark Canyon Cg -Toilet 20 · ~8.0 mi W · BLM
- RestroomMccain Lark Canyon Cg -Toilet 30 · ~8.0 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — San Diego County · public land · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Palm Canyon Wash as an intermittent stream, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 4.2% — 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 ~1.2 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.
- Interstate 8 is mapped ~3.4 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.
- 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 Diego County elsewhere
Other camps near San Diego County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Elliot Mine Area Dispersed Camping~7.0 mi
- Carrizo Gorge Wilderness~7.2 mi
- Lark Canyon Campground~8.0 mi
- Lark Canyon Campground~8.1 mi
Who holds the land at San Diego County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, manager on record: California Department of Parks and Recreation (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — San Diego 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 Diego County, CA). 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. He camped here on 3 July 2017. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about San Diego 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 Diego County
Finding water out here →Hot-weather camping →Bugs & critters →How to read this page →All field notes →