★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic landFree
Sumter County
Drive-up · public land · Sumter County, AL · 32.55197, -87.87731
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 quiet, small, free campground on the shore of a lake in Alabama that is frequented by fishermen. I was the only camper. Enough room for one vehicle per site. Good cell service. Wonderful bathroom with running water, electricity an flush toilets. Paved. Lighted pavilion. Some of the campsites are a little rough, and they're closely spaced. Still very nice and relatively unknown. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 23 April 2019. 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 Sumter County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 87 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Sumter 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 Sumter County · public land · AL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- MMechanic19 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- HHardware23 mi
- +Urgent care35 mi
- OOutfitter47 mi
- WWater48 mi
- DDump55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 48-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — Sumter County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
87 ft
Ground slope
6.9% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~2.7 mi · main line
County
Sumter County, AL
Coordinates
32.55197, -87.87731
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Sumter County · public land · AL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTombigbee River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townDemopolis · ~4.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSunoco · ~4.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~4.4 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~19.4 mi
- HardwareJ & B Parts & Hardware · ~22.8 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
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Sumter County · public land · AL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.0 mi straight-line NW — MAPLES BOLIGEE DC 2 · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 19 within 50 · 87 within 100 · 257 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)47.9 mi — Meridian, MS - US-11 - Tesla Supercharger, Meridian
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)38.5 mi — Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Moundville, AL (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-05-09 · 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 222121 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Sumter County · public land · AL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaGreene County Rest Area (NB) · ~20.6 mi N
- Highway rest areaGreene County Rest Area (SB) · ~21.5 mi N
Coming out here — Sumter County · public land · AL
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Tombigbee River 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 6.9% — 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 ~2.7 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.
- 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.
- 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 Sumter County elsewhere
How we know this — Sumter 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 (Sumter County, AL). 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 23 April 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Sumter 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 — Sumter County
Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →