★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Union County
Drive-up · public land · Union County, GA · 34.65845, -84.09371
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 primitive, wooded knob at the end of a forest road spur in northern Georgia not far from the Appalachian Trail. Rough, uneven terrain. The main forest road sees a decent amount of traffic so likely hear cars and trucks pass 50 yards away. Otherwise private. Fire ring. Enough room for one or two vehicles. Good cell service. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 27 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 Union County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,943 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Union 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 Union County · Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests · GA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- +Urgent care5 mi
- OOutfitter5 mi
- WWater7 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- DDump11 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- AAir-up15 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Union County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
2,943 ft
Ground slope
24.1% · steep
County
Union County, GA
Coordinates
34.65845, -84.09371
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Union County · Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests · GA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMauldin Creek · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townDahlonega · ~11.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~6.7 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.6 mi
- GroceriesWolf Pen Gap Country Store · ~4.6 mi
- PharmacyDahlonega Pharmacy · ~10.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicUnion General Hospital - Suches Clinic · ~4.7 mi
- HardwareC & W True Value Hardware · ~8.9 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 Union County · Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests · GA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.8 mi straight-line NE — BRMEMC STATION 2, Blairsville, GA · ChargePoint Network · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 90 within 50 · 400 within 100 · 616 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO16.8 mi — BRMEMC STATION 1, Blairsville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.7 mi — CHOICE ST CHIOCE AVE LOT1, Dahlonega, GA · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — The Dahlonega Square Hotel & Villas - Tesla Destination, Dahlonega, 10.6 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Kaya Vineyard & Winery, Dahlonega, 13.9 mi · J1772 · hours: Business hours; for customer use only; see front desk for access · AFDC lists it “Free” - 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 302512 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Union County · Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests · GA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~4.6 mi NW · FWS
- Vault / pit toiletWhissenhunt Ohv · ~5.1 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomGATC Woody Gap Vault Privy · ~5.5 mi E · NPS
- RestroomGATC Dockery Lake Trail Vault Privy · ~6.7 mi E · NPS
Coming out here — Union County · Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests · GA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mauldin 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 24.1% — 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.
- 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 Union County elsewhere
Other camps near Union County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- A.T. Gooch Mountain Shelter~2.5 mi
- A.T. Hawk Mountain Shelter~2.5 mi
- Montgomery Creek Dispersed Area~3.1 mi
- Frank Gross Recreation Area~4.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages Union County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Union County are set by Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Union 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 (Union County, GA). 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 27 April 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Union 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 — Union County
Reading a forest MVUM →Stay limits →Your first dispersed night →How to read this page →All field notes →