Agency-listedBLMFree
Simms Camp
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 39.04483, -123.04154
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 →Bureau of Land Management 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.
What the record says about the site — Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Listed as a backcountry site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Simms Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,881 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Simms CampNIFC · 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 Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- WWater6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- RxPharmacy6 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- OOutfitter7 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- DDump12 mi
- PPropane43 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 — Simms Camp
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management
Elevation
2,881 ft
Ground slope
22.3% · steep
Nearest highway
~7.9 mi · US Hwy 101
State
CA
Coordinates
39.04483, -123.04154
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWillow Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townNacomis Indian Rancheria · ~4.2 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~7.9 mi · US Hwy 101
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.1 mi
- FuelChevron · ~6.3 mi
- Propane / LPGFerrellgas · ~7.4 mi
- Dump station~12.3 mi
- GroceriesSafeway · ~6.2 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~6.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicSutter Lakeside Hospital · ~8.4 mi
- HardwareFriedman's · ~10.2 mi
EV charging — from Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.0 mi straight-line S — Brutacao Family Vineyards - Hopland (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 30 within 50 · 441 within 100 · 976 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.5 mi — Upper Lake, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Upper Lake
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.0 mi — Brutacao Family Vineyards - Hopland (at a public site) · EVRANGE · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 462373 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomCow Mtn - Buckhorn Toilet 10 Re4Placement · ~0.5 mi S · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn -Red Mtn Cg Toilet 2 Replacement · ~3.6 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn -Red Mtn Cg -Toilet 1 · ~3.6 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn - Red Mtn Cg Toilet 1 · ~3.6 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — Simms Camp · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: Willow Creek (stream). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 22.3% — 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.
- No rail line is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- US Hwy 101 is mapped ~7.9 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 Simms Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Simms Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Jerky Camp~0.3 mi
- Cow Mountain Recreation Management Area~0.4 mi
- Tucker Camp~0.7 mi
- South Willow Creek Camp~1.3 mi
The unit that manages Simms Camp
Simms Camp is in the Ukiah Field Office, Central California District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Simms Camp
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)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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 Simms Camp
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
Before you go — Simms Camp
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Leave no trace →All field notes →