★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Unicoi County
Drive-up · public land · Unicoi County, TN · 36.10836, -82.36554
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.
Found this vehicle accessible clearing near Erwin, Tennessee. Slightly twisty terrain driving in, 4wd required for distance of 10 feet. High elevation. Wooded. Some cell service. Primitive with fire ring. Along Appalachian Trail. Enough room for one or two vehicles. Along a dead end forest road so very quiet with little or no traffic. Best spot close to town. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 11 May 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 Unicoi County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,493 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Unicoi 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 Unicoi County · National Forests in North Carolina · TN
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- HHardware4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- ShShower16 mi
- WWater17 mi
- AAir-up28 mi
- DDump46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Unicoi County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
3,493 ft
Ground slope
2.6% · flat
Nearest rail line
~1.8 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~4.2 mi · US Hwy 19W
County
Unicoi County, TN
Coordinates
36.10836, -82.36554
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Unicoi County · National Forests in North Carolina · TN (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureShinbone Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Right Prong Rock Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townPoplar · ~2.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~4.2 mi · US Hwy 19W
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelShell · ~6.9 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~16.9 mi
- GroceriesFood Lion · ~4.0 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~4.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicClinic · ~4.0 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~3.7 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Unicoi County · National Forests in North Carolina · TN — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.5 mi straight-line N — Johnson City, TN - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-04-21 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 64 within 50 · 212 within 100 · 400 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS14.4 mi — BRIGHTRIDGE EV STATION 2 (R), Johnson City
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.4 mi — BRIGHTRIDGE EV STATION 1 (L), Johnson City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.3 mi — FBEMC BAKERSVILLE EV1 · 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 450790 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Unicoi County · National Forests in North Carolina · TN — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomRock Creek Recreation Area · ~2.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletChestoa Launch · ~4.6 mi W · USFS
- Highway rest areaNHS Welcome Center, I-26 · ~8.9 mi SW
- Highway rest areaWeigh Scale Complex, No Facilities · ~15.1 mi SW
Coming out here — Unicoi County · National Forests in North Carolina · TN
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Shinbone Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.3 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 2.6% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~1.8 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.
- US Hwy 19W is mapped ~4.2 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 Unicoi County elsewhere
Other camps near Unicoi County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- A.T. Curley Maple Gap Shelter~1.8 mi
- Rock Creek Recreation Area~2.2 mi · fee
- A.T. No Business Knob Shelter~4.8 mi
- A.T. Bald Mountain Shelter~9.8 mi
The unit that manages Unicoi County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Unicoi County are set by National Forests in North Carolina, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Unicoi 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 (Unicoi County, TN). 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 11 May 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Unicoi 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 — Unicoi County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Power off-grid →All field notes →