Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Drive-up · public land · CA · 40.40252, -121.35541
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. 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 Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,460 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Willow Lake Dispersed Camping 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 Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area · Lassen National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater3 mi
- ShShower3 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- FFuel9 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- DDump14 mi
- LLaundry19 mi
- +Urgent care28 mi
- EVEV fast charger37 mi
- MMechanic37 mi
- RxPharmacy38 mi
- OOutfitter40 mi
- AAir-up49 mi
- PPropane51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 9 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 37-mi run (and back).
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 — Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
5,460 ft
Ground slope
12.8% · noticeable
State
CA
Coordinates
40.40252, -121.35541
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area · Lassen National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWillow Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Domingo Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townKelly Camp · ~2.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~2.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~9.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.1 mi
- GroceriesThe Village Mercantile · ~7.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicSeneca Hospital · ~9.2 mi
- HardwareAyoob's Intermountain Hardware · ~9.2 mi
EV charging — from Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area · Lassen National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger36.7 mi straight-line E — Susanville, CA - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 15 within 50 · 100 within 100 · 394 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS47.1 mi — Town of Paradise - 230 Pearson, Paradise
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO47.1 mi — Town of Paradise - 230 Pearson, Paradise
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)36.8 mi — DMND MTN CSO DIAMOND MT1, Susanville, CA · 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 196523 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area · Lassen National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletWillow Lake · at this camp · USFS
- RestroomCXT Comfort Station, Ranger Station (WV) · ~2.9 mi NW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletDomingo Springs · ~2.9 mi S · USFS
- RestroomCXT Comfort Station Lower Campground (WV) · ~3.4 mi NW · NPS
Coming out here — Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area · Lassen National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Willow Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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 12.8% — noticeable. 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 Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Domingo Springs~2.9 mi · fee
- Warner Creek Campground~3.7 mi
- North Fork~4.0 mi
- High Bridge Campground~5.1 mi · fee
The unit that manages Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area are set by Lassen National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Willow Lake Dispersed Camping 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 — Willow Lake Dispersed Camping Area
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →