Agency-listedBLM · dispersedUnpriced · confirm
South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · CA · 39.06129, -123.05639
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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,067 ft.
Fire & smoke — around South Cow Mountain Ohv Management AreaNIFC · 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 South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area · 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
- WWater5 mi
- EVEV fast charger6 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- OOutfitter8 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- ShShower9 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- AAir-up10 mi
- DDump13 mi
- PPropane44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, 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 — South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
3,067 ft
Ground slope
52.7% · steep
Nearest highway
~6.8 mi · US Hwy 101
State
CA
Coordinates
39.06129, -123.05639
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRocky Lake · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townHopland · ~7.2 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~6.8 mi · US Hwy 101
- Drinking waterHorse Trough · ~5.2 mi
- FuelFuel · ~7.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~13.3 mi
- GroceriesHopland Farms Gas and Mart · ~7.0 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~7.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicMendocino Orthopedic Medical Clinc · ~9.0 mi
- HardwareFriedman's · ~8.9 mi
EV charging — from South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.8 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 · 31 within 50 · 421 within 100 · 972 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)9.9 mi — Ukiah, CA, Ukiah
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.8 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 South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomCow Mtn - Buckhorn Toilet 10 Re4Placement · ~1.8 mi SE · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn -Red Mtn Cg Toilet 2 Replacement · ~2.2 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn - Red Mtn Cg Toilet 1 · ~2.3 mi NW · BLM
- RestroomCow Mtn -Red Mtn Cg -Toilet 1 · ~2.3 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area · Bureau of Land Management · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rocky Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 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 52.7% — 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 ~6.8 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 South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area elsewhere
Other camps near South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- South Willow Creek Camp~1.1 mi
- Simms Camp~1.4 mi
- Tucker Camp~1.5 mi
- Jerky Camp~1.7 mi
The unit that manages South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area 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 — South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
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 — South Cow Mountain Ohv Management Area
What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Bugs & critters →Reading the aerial →All field notes →