CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Spring Mountains National Recreation Area · NV

McWilliams

Reservable, and full this SaturdayEvery one of the 36 sites on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 15:52 UTC

We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →

Watch for a cancellation Book on recreation.gov ↗

Right now: OpenThe agency lists it open
A night: $25–$50Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 7775 on recreation.gov
Season: May 1 – October 31Open May 1 through October 31

Photos · Local staff

64 ftLongest rig

8,580 ftElevation

1.8 miWater · an unnamed stream

11.9 miNE of Pahrump, NV

23%Tree cover

Open May 1 through October 31Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices

In the agency’s own words

McWilliams Campground is located in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, just 50 miles from downtown Las Vegas. Visitors enjoy hiking, mountain biking and scenic driving in this forested desert oasis. Keep reading

Recreation

Hiking and mountain biking are popular activities on the 6.2-mile Bristlecone Trail. Upper and lower trailheads are located just above and below the campground. The 1.3-mile Sawmill Trail begins about four miles below the campground just off State Route 156.

Facilities

This campground contains several single and double-family sites with picnic tables, grills and campfire rings. Flush toilets, drinking water, and trash collection are provided. Roads and parking spurs are paved.

Natural Features

The Spring Mountains National Recreation Area is a beautiful island in the desert, brimming with breathtaking scenery and diverse flora and fauna. The Bristlecone pine, the world's oldest organism, and the rare Mount Charleston blue butterfly are both found within the Spring Mountains. More than 100 springs create the namesake for the mountain range, making it an ideal place to escape the heat of the city. The campground is situated in a scenic Ponderosa and white pine forest, which offers partial shade. The area affords breathtaking views of the surrounding Spring Mountains.

Nearby Attractions

More than 60 miles of hiking and horseback riding trails crisscross the area. Rock climbing, picnicking and scenic driving are popular activities. The Spring Mountains Visitor Center in Kyle Canyon offers guided hikes and educational and evening programs. Interpretive displays provide information on local plants, animals and history.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

This campground has first-come, first-served sites

Rule

Campsite must be occupied first night of reservation. Contact host or employee if you do not plan to stay any other night of reservation after first night.

Rule

Opening dates may vary due to snow levels

Everything else this campground posts · 3

Rule

Call 702-872-5486 to check current fire restrictions

Rule

Click here for more info about the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 77
Hookups: None
Longest rig: 64 ft
Paved pads: All
Accessible sites: None listed
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Flush Toilets; “…tables, grills and campfire rings. Flush toilets, drinking water, and trash collection are provided.…”
Drinking water: Yes; “…and campfire rings. Flush toilets, drinking water, and trash collection are provided. Roads and…”
Stay limit: 14 nights; recreation.gov facility rule maxStay

Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

Biking; Hiking
Night sky · 48th darkest of 65 in NV: Bortle 4

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 15:52 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBooked

Booking windowThrough October 17Bookable now through October 17, 2026, the end of the reservable season. On November 15, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 15, 2027.recreation.gov Add to calendar (.ics)

Max stay14 nightsthe facility record

A night$25–$50plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$58–$108DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

Watch for a cancellation

Watch this campground

One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Tell me when the season opens

Watch for the season to open

One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.

Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov ↗

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 13

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, per site$25–$50

Standard Nonelectric Single$25

Standard Nonelectric Double$50

Rates for the season the campground is in now, May 15, 2026 to Oct 17, 2026.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$33–$58

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$58–$108

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $25–$50 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

Who keeps the booking fee

The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →

How we know this receipt · 5

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

recreation.gov availability, read 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

77 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 75 mapped sites

97 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most room5 - OldD 071 252 ft2 - McWill 015 213 ft5 - OldD 070 175 ft3 - Dolomite 045 163 ft3 - Dolomite 042 158 ft

Least room3 - Dolomite 039 68 ft3 - Dolomite 043 68 ft4 - Oxbow 056 69 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 77 sites

75 of 77 sites located

Standard75

001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 073 074 075

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 77 of the 77 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.


1 - Eureka	001	standard nonelectric	50 ft	83 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	002	standard nonelectric	50 ft	86 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	003	standard nonelectric	58 ft	113 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	004	standard nonelectric	58 ft	98 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	005	standard nonelectric	58 ft	109 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	006	standard nonelectric	54 ft	140 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	007	standard nonelectric	53 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	008	standard nonelectric	45 ft	83 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	009	standard nonelectric	57 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	010	standard nonelectric	60 ft	83 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	011	standard nonelectric	56 ft	113 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	012	standard nonelectric	27 ft	129 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	013	standard nonelectric	50 ft	83 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
1 - Eureka	014	standard nonelectric	44 ft	129 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	015	standard nonelectric	50 ft	213 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	016	standard nonelectric	53 ft	78 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	017	standard nonelectric	53 ft	78 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	018	standard nonelectric	52 ft	83 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	019	standard nonelectric	30 ft	122 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	020	standard nonelectric	45 ft	130 ft	1.8 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	021	standard nonelectric	48 ft	154 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	022	standard nonelectric	52 ft	137 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	023	standard nonelectric	47 ft	121 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	024	standard nonelectric	50 ft	133 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	025	standard nonelectric	50 ft	112 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	026	standard nonelectric	52 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	027	standard nonelectric	50 ft	81 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	028	standard nonelectric	48 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	029	standard nonelectric	52 ft	81 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	030	standard nonelectric	48 ft	113 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	031	standard nonelectric	50 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	032	standard nonelectric	30 ft	100 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
2 - McWill	033	standard nonelectric	29 ft	94 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	034	standard nonelectric	25 ft	102 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	035	standard nonelectric	29 ft	95 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	036	standard nonelectric	28 ft	95 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	037	standard nonelectric	24 ft	96 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	038	standard nonelectric	24 ft	82 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	039	standard nonelectric	21 ft	68 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	040	standard nonelectric	24 ft	93 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	041	standard nonelectric	24 ft	97 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	042	standard nonelectric	22 ft	158 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	043	standard nonelectric	25 ft	68 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	044	standard nonelectric	25 ft	138 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
3 - Dolomite	045	standard nonelectric	26 ft	163 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	046	standard nonelectric	20 ft	140 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	047	standard nonelectric	50 ft	140 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	048	standard nonelectric	64 ft	85 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	049	standard nonelectric	48 ft	107 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	050	standard nonelectric	48 ft	85 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	051	standard nonelectric	51 ft	107 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	052	standard nonelectric	58 ft	99 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	053	standard nonelectric	50 ft	127 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	054	standard nonelectric	48 ft	128 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	055	standard nonelectric	48 ft	99 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	056	standard nonelectric	30 ft	69 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	057	standard nonelectric	30 ft	76 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	058	standard nonelectric	20 ft	76 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	059	standard nonelectric	25 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	060	standard nonelectric	48 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	061	standard nonelectric	31 ft	69 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	062	standard nonelectric	18 ft	114 ft	2.0 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	063	standard nonelectric	50 ft	104 ft	2.0 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	064	standard nonelectric	50 ft	85 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	065	standard nonelectric	61 ft	85 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	066	standard nonelectric	31 ft	138 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	067	standard nonelectric	53 ft	88 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
4 - Oxbow	068	standard nonelectric	52 ft	88 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	069	standard nonelectric	48 ft	106 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	070	standard nonelectric	38 ft	175 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	071	standard nonelectric	52 ft	252 ft	2.0 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	072	standard nonelectric	23 ft	97 ft	2.0 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	073	standard nonelectric	26 ft	97 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	074	standard nonelectric	28 ft	87 ft	1.9 mi	$25–$50
5 - OldD	075	standard nonelectric	32 ft	87 ft	2.0 mi	$25–$50
S&P	Standard Double S&P	type not stated	57 ft			$25–$50
S&P	Standard S&P	type not stated	50 ft			$25–$50

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.

25 of 77 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate36.30917, -115.68250

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone702-872-5486

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Mahogany GroveSpring Mountains National Recreation Area · 3.7 mi

HilltopSpring Mountains National Recreation Area · 4.2 mi

Fletcher ViewSpring Mountains National Recreation Area · 4.9 mi

Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway Group Picnic SitesSpring Mountains National Recreation Area · 6.0 mi Campsite 11Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area · 21 mi

Red Rock Canyon CampgroundRed Rock Canyon National Conservation Area · 21 mi

Getting there

From Las Vegas, Nevada, take Highway 95 north 29 miles to junction with State Route 156/Lee Canyon. Turn left and travel 19.5 miles to the campground, which is on the right.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight36°Mostly Clear

Saturday50°Mostly Sunny1% rain

Saturday Night37°Mostly Cloudy1% rain

Sunday48°Mostly Sunny3% rain

NWS forecast for Mount Charleston, NV

Source: National Weather Service, VEF forecast office · Oct 17, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send

What threatens this place

Watch

Nevada BLM Lands for Disposaltransfer · 21 mi

Roadless

Charleston - Carpenter17,828 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Charleston - Clark4,674 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Charleston - Mcfarland2,465 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Sep 28, 2026

Who answers for this land

McWilliams is in Nevada’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Steven Horsford (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Write to somebody who can change it

Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.

The member who votes the moneySteven HorsfordU.S. Representative · Nevada’s 4th district
Open their contact form ↗Their record →
Your senator, on the same appropriationCatherine Cortez MastoU.S. Senator · Nevada
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationJacky RosenU.S. Senator · Nevada
Open their contact form ↗

Read the draft, or change the wording

For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.

To Steven Horsford

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada

Dear Steven Horsford,

I’m a constituent in Nevada’s 4th district. I tried to camp at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 75 of the 77 campsites the agency files at McWilliams, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McWilliams keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run McWilliams. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about McWilliams (Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada) via campanac.com

To Catherine Cortez Masto

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada

Dear Catherine Cortez Masto,

I’m a constituent in Nevada. I tried to camp at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 75 of the 77 campsites the agency files at McWilliams, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McWilliams keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run McWilliams. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about McWilliams (Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada) via campanac.com

To Jacky Rosen

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada

Dear Jacky Rosen,

I’m a constituent in Nevada. I tried to camp at McWilliams, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada, and couldn’t.

recreation.gov lists 75 of the 77 campsites the agency files at McWilliams, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. McWilliams keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run McWilliams. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about McWilliams (Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: The agency lists it open right now.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 75 of the 77 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Season: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 75 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 1.3 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 65 rated federal campgrounds in Nevada · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest place of any size: Mount Charleston, NV, 1.5 mi NW (a census designated place). Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026