Agency-listedODNR Division of Forestry · dispersedFree
Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
Dispersed · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH · 38.67538, -83.23013
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 →Ohio Division of Forestry lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest town per ODNR office/property address: Portsmouth.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 763 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)NIFC · 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 Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater4 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- DDump5 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- ShShower20 mi
- AAir-up29 mi
- PPropane33 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, 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 — Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
Access
Dispersed
Land
Ohio Division of Forestry · dispersed
Elevation
763 ft
Ground slope
6.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~3.6 mi · passing siding
State
OH
Coordinates
38.67538, -83.23013
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureEast Fork Upper Twin Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBuena Vista · ~3.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.6 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.5 mi
- FuelGarrison Short Stop · ~5.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~4.6 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~5.7 mi
- PharmacySOMC Wheelersburg Pharmacy · ~20.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicKing's Daughters Medical Center Ohio · ~13.7 mi
- HardwareVandervort Ace Hardware · ~13.9 mi
EV charging — from Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.5 mi straight-line NE — Glockner Chevrolet, Portsmouth, OH · EV Connect · CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 15 within 50 · 225 within 100 · 344 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)27.9 mi — LOVE'S 418 - KY #418 DC1, Grayson
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO41.8 mi — COLONY PARK STATION EAST, Hillsboro
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.1 mi — PORTSMOUTH EVCS STATION1 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 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 302837 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaScioto US23 SB · ~22.0 mi NE
- Highway rest areaPike SR32 EB · ~25.3 mi N
- RestroomLewis Lake Fishing Area · ~26.0 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHanging Rock Trailhead · ~28.1 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) · Ohio Division of Forestry · OH
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps East Fork Upper Twin Creek as a perennial stream, 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 6.2% — 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 ~3.6 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.
- 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 Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point) elsewhere
Other camps near Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp 5~1.6 mi
- Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp 4~3.1 mi
- Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp 7~3.6 mi
- Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp 3~5.3 mi
Who holds the land at Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Shawnee State Forest, manager on record: Ohio Department of Natural Resources (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
Stay limit
14 nights (State forest camping rule OAC 1501:3-3-06: no permit for more than 14 days in any 30-day period; max 10 persons per campsite)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
NAME CAVEAT: ODNR GIS labels this only "Primitive Camping". It is the one Shawnee primitive point in that layer not already in our DB, and our other six Shawnee rows are Camps 1-5 and 7, so this is most likely Camp 6 - but the backpack trail map page is a raster image with no extractable labels and I could NOT confirm the number. Reviewer should verify before naming it. Free: "A self-registration permit (no fee) is required of all hikers", filled out at the trail parking area or forest HQ. Backpack trail rules: camp only in designated campgrounds, max 14 days in any 30-day period, CAMPS MUST BE MOVED TO A DIFFERENT BACKPACK CAMPGROUND EACH DAY, max 10 people per party per campground, fires only in designated fire rings or portable stoves, pack out all refuse, quiet 11pm-8am. FIRE RESTRICTION: ODNR warns to be careful with campground fires and smoking during March, April, May, October and November (spring/fall fire danger periods, when forest crews suppress wildfires). FLOOD CAUTION: ODNR warns campgrounds in valleys may flood and stream crossings may be impassable. Sources: https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/ohiodnr.gov/documents/forestry/maps/shawnee_backpack.pdf | https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/shawnee-state-forest (both read 2026-08-14). Coordinates from ODNR Points of Interest GIS layer, https://gis.ohiodnr.gov/arcgis/rest/services/OIT_Services/ODNR_POI/MapServer/0 (read 2026-08-14). State forest camping rule OAC 1501:3-3-06: no permit for more than 14 days in any 30-day period; max 10 persons per campsite. OAC 1501:3-3-01: camping only in designated areas. OAC 1501:3-3-07 caps state forest camping at $46/night and lets the chief waive fees - it is a ceiling, not the charged rate. Sources: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-1501:3-3-06 | https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-1501:3-3-01 | https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-1501:3-3-07 | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Shawnee State Forest Backpack Trail - Camp (unnumbered ODNR GIS point)
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