★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Somerset County
Drive-up · public land · Somerset County, MD · 38.17650, -75.91099
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.
A large primitive, grassy clearing in Deal Island Wildlife Management Area adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. I'm fairly certain camping is allowed here, though there are no signs. It is very remote. Some human traffic from hunters and fishermen. No amenities whatsoever. Marsh. Expect bugs in summer. Good cell service. Enough space for several vehicles. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 12 February 2018. 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 Somerset County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Somerset 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 Somerset County · public land · MD
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail1 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- WWater12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- OOutfitter14 mi
- EVEV fast charger20 mi
- LLaundry21 mi
- ShShower27 mi
- AAir-up41 mi
- PPropane46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Somerset County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
3 ft
Ground slope
1.9% · flat
County
Somerset County, MD
Coordinates
38.17650, -75.91099
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Somerset County · public land · MD (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Sound Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townDames Quarter · ~1.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelRoyal Farms · ~19.3 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~26.7 mi
- Dump station~12.6 mi
- GroceriesFood Lion · ~11.7 mi
- PharmacyCity Discount Pharmacy · ~20.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicTidalHealth McCready Pavilion · ~12.8 mi
- HardwareLusby's True Value · ~19.8 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Somerset County · public land · MD — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.2 mi straight-line NE — EVsmart - DPL - Salisbury University Academic Commons (at a park) · SWTCH · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 549 within 100 · 949 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)24.4 mi — Salisbury, MD - Tesla Supercharger, Salisbury
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.7 mi — EVsmart - DPL - Somerset County Technical High School, Westover, MD (at a park) · SWTCH · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargerFree (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 197568 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Somerset County · public land · MD — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~20.6 mi NW · FWS
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 20 · ~21.3 mi N
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~21.7 mi NW · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~22.5 mi NW · FWS
Coming out here — Somerset County · public land · MD
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Sound Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.6 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 1.9% — 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Somerset County elsewhere
Other camps near Somerset County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
Who holds the land at Somerset County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Deal Island Wma, for which PAD-US names no manager; it records the owner as MD Department of Natural Resources. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Somerset 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 (Somerset County, MD). 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 12 February 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Somerset 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 — Somerset County
Finding water out here →Stay limits →Your first dispersed night →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →