Agency-listedIDNR · dispersedFree
Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
Dispersed · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA · 43.15502, -91.22767
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 →Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest town per agency page/address: Harpers Ferry.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 682 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow CampNIFC · 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 Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail5 mi
- OOutfitter7 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- WWater8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- MMechanic20 mi
- ShShower21 mi
- LLaundry27 mi
- DDump30 mi
- PPropane48 mi
- AAir-up48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
Access
Dispersed
Land
Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · dispersed
Elevation
682 ft
Ground slope
0.9% · flat
Nearest rail line
~2.1 mi · main line
State
IA
Coordinates
43.15502, -91.22767
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePaint Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Drinking waterWater · ~7.9 mi
- FuelCasey's General Store · ~7.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~30.4 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~7.6 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~8.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicMayo Clinic · ~8.6 mi
- HardwareTrue Value · ~8.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.7 mi straight-line SE — Prairie du Chien, WI - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · 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 reach1 within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 100 within 100 · 313 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS26.5 mi — Brown's Sales and Leasing, Guttenberg
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO45.0 mi — DAHL HYUNDAI STATION2, La Crosse
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.0 mi — Marquette City Park · Blink 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 302958 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~5.0 mi SE · NPS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~8.9 mi S · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~25.5 mi N · FWS
Coming out here — Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Paint Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.6 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 0.9% — 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 ~2.1 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.
- 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 Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp elsewhere
Other camps near Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Yellow River State Forest - Camp John Schultz~1.1 mi
- Yellow River State Forest - Heffern's Hill Camp~1.3 mi
- Yellow River State Forest - Camp Glen Wendel~1.8 mi
- Yellow River State Forest - Ridgetop Canoe Campsite~2.9 mi
Who holds the land at Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Yellow River State Forest, manager on record: a state department of natural resources. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
Stay limit
14 nights (up to 14 consecutive nights)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
Backcountry backpack camp in the Paint Creek Unit, on the Yellow River State Forest backpacking trail system. Designated backcountry camp - this is NOT open dispersed camping. Must sign in at forest headquarters before camping. IDNR Yellow River State Forest: "Additionally, five back-packing areas along the famous 'backpacking trail' are free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis. Each area has four individual sites; however, no restroom facilities are available. Please carry out what you carried in. Campers using these sites must sign in at the forest headquarters prior to camping." Forest-wide rule: "Chainsaws, both electric and gas, are prohibited throughout the Forest. Firewood may be gathered if it is down and dead with hand saws only. Felling of trees is prohibited." Source: https://www.iowadnr.gov/places-go/state-forests/yellow-river-state-forest (read 2026-08-16). CAVEAT: the DNR page says FIVE back-packing areas; the DNR GIS layer publishes FOUR named backcountry camps in the Paint Creek Unit. The forest page separately describes a backpack camping area with three sites in the Paint Rock Unit, which the GIS layer does not map - that is the likely fifth area but it is NOT included here because I have no published coordinate for it. IDNR: "The backpacking campsites at the state forests are not available on the reservation system and are only available as walk-in sites." Source: https://www.iowadnr.gov/places-go/state-parks/make-reservation/overnight-camping (read 2026-08-16). Stay limit: "Campers may camp up to 14 consecutive nights in a state park, recreation area, or forest. Campers must then vacate the park (including removing the camping unit) for a minimum of 3 nights before camping in that park again." Source: https://www.iowadnr.gov/places-go/state-parks/make-reservation/overnight-camping (read 2026-08-16). Coordinates are Iowa DNR published points from the DNR Recreation Amenities GIS layer https://programs.iowadnr.gov/geospatial/rest/services/Recreation/Recreation/MapServer/8 (Type = Campground - Primitive / Campground - Remote), spatially joined to the DNR Public Areas layer https://programs.iowadnr.gov/geospatial/rest/services/Recreation/Recreation/MapServer/11 for the land manager. Both read 2026-08-16. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Yellow River State Forest - Brown's Hollow Camp
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