Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
The Pines
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 37.81761, -120.09501
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 01S16, 340 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 01S16, 340 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 01S16: “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at The Pines
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,305 ft.
Fire & smoke — around The PinesNIFC · 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 The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- EVEV fast charger2 mi
- WWater5 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- DDump6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- PPropane17 mi
- OOutfitter29 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — The Pines
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
3,305 ft
Ground slope
33.6% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
37.81761, -120.09501
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townBuck Meadows · ~1.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterwater pump · ~5.0 mi
- FuelBuck Meadows Gas Station · ~1.8 mi
- Propane / LPG7-Eleven · ~16.9 mi
- Dump station~5.5 mi
- GroceriesBuck Meadows General Store · ~1.8 mi
- PharmacyGroveland Pharmacy · ~7.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicTuolumne MeWuk Indian Health Center · ~12.9 mi
- HardwareHardware · ~5.7 mi
EV charging — from The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger2.0 mi straight-line E — Innsight Buck Meadows Lodge (Groveland, CA) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 46 within 50 · 464 within 100 · 1171 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)7.6 mi — Groveland, CA, Groveland
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.3 mi — GF4EVA GROVELAND M L2 · 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 192748 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletThe Pines · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletThe Pines · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomLittle Golden Forest Trail · ~0.4 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLost Claim · ~2.4 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — The Pines · Stanislaus National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 33.6% — 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 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.
- 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 The Pines elsewhere
Other camps near The Pines
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lost Claim~2.4 mi · fee
- Lumsden~2.8 mi · fee
- South Fork~3.1 mi
- Lumsden Bridge~4.1 mi · fee
The unit that manages The Pines
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at The Pines are set by Stanislaus National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — The Pines
Source
U.S. Forest Service 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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-20: $25 per night for a single family site, operated in summer (about May to September) by American Land & Leisure under Forest Service permit. The group site is listed at $150 per night in the forest's fee table and on recreation.gov for 2026, though the same page's text says $125 -- confirm before booking the group site. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/stanislaus/recreation/pines-campground.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 The Pines
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — The Pines
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Hot-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →