Closures, rule changes, fire restrictions, and gear worth knowing about. Everything cited, everything dated.
Camp Life Mammoth Cave Campground and Maple Springs close December 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027. Houchin Ferry stays open all year with 12 tent-only sites and no RVs, trailers or generators. The park bans overnight camping in lots, overlooks and along roads, and the Green River Ferry is out of service for low water. Read November 11, 2026.
CPSC's recall notices, including the November 5, 2026 Bose S1 Pro battery recall and HAIARA power bank warning, say a recalled lithium battery goes to a household hazardous waste center, not the trash or a retail recycling box. Federal hazmat rules limit how one can be shipped. How to handle one when you don't have a home county. Read November 9, 2026.
MDT's rest area page allows overnight parking for up to 12 hours, one space per vehicle, and prohibits camping. A 2025 state law, MCA 60-6-202, caps a rest area stop at 24 hours. Seven rest areas on I-15, I-94, US-2, US-212 and US-310 list a November 15 closing date. Read November 8, 2026.
Shenandoah National Park is handing its four campgrounds to concessioner ExplorUS on January 1, 2027. Early 2027 reservations are unavailable until early January, rates come in mid-December, and the park says pass discounts at concessioner-run campgrounds are up to the concessioner. Read on nps.gov November 8, 2026.
Forest Order 03-01-26-004, posted November 6, 2026 after record flooding, closes FSR 276 from Buffalo Crossing to FSR 37 with seven campgrounds, plus stretches of FSR 116, 504 and 140 and two single crossings. The order runs until December 31, 2027 or until rescinded. Read November 7, 2026.
New River Gorge's eight primitive campgrounds are free and first-come, first-served. This winter, Cunard Road closes past the Brooklyn Mine Trail lot from November 9 and Glade Creek Road closes past Grandview Sandbar from November 10, through March. Read on nps.gov November 7, 2026.
Coconino Forest Order 03-04-06-23-03 bans camping in the Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon area except at Pine Flat, Cave Springs, Manzanita and Chavez Group. All four are on the forest's November 2026 flood closure list, and the Forest Service gives no estimate for reopening. Read November 6, 2026.
La Paz County lists the Quartzsite Transfer Station as open Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. The BLM's free 14-day areas have no amenities, and La Posa LTVA trash needs an LTVA permit. How to plan a week of trash around that, checked November 6, 2026.
ADOT reopened Parks and Christensen as truck parking with porta-johns and an 8-hour caretaker. For a car or RV, the next stop is farther than the map suggests. Plus December construction at Burnt Well on I-10. Checked November 5, 2026.
The BLM's long-term camping brochure says Golden Age, Golden Access and America the Beautiful discounts do not apply to LTVA permit fees, and the Park Service says the Senior Pass generally does not reduce special recreation permit fees. The math on the $180 and $40 permits, checked November 5, 2026.
Forest Order ARP-2024-02 limits camping on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland to 14 days in a 30-day period and 30 days in a 365-day period, through May 23, 2029. The annual cap is the one weekend campers hit. Read November 4, 2026.
Mr. Heater rates the MH9BX Portable Buddy for tents, trailers, truck caps and vans with a 9-square-inch vent, and both owner's manual editions we read say: never operate the heater while sleeping. What it allows, what one cylinder buys, and the 7,000-foot catch. Read November 4, 2026.
We read ALDOT's rest area page, its administrative code chapter and its Guidelines for Operation. None sets an hour limit or bans overnight parking. The one guideline on use, from 1996, says rest areas are for intermittent stops of short duration. Read November 3, 2026.
Coconino Forest Order 03-04-00-26-08 took effect October 29, 2026, the morning the old order expired, with the same wording: no camping for more than 14 days in any 30-day period, anywhere on the forest. What it counts, what it leaves out, and the area bans it sits on top of. Read November 3, 2026.
Arizona State Trust land is not public land in the BLM sense. Camping on it requires an Arizona State Land Department recreational permit ($15 individual, $20 family), and overnight camping is limited to 14 cumulative days per calendar year. Read November 2, 2026.
Deschutes National Forest Order 06-01-25-01 caps camping at 14 consecutive days in one spot and 28 days a calendar year. It runs until November 15, 2026. On November 2 the forest's alerts page listed no order to replace it. Read November 2, 2026.
On national forests, 36 CFR 261.10(d) bans firing a gun within 150 yards of a campsite. The BLM's nationwide rules have no campsite distance: 43 CFR 8365.2-5 bans discharging firearms on developed recreation sites, and state law and local supplementary rules cover the rest. Read November 1, 2026.
CPSC posted eight power bank recalls between November 13, 2025 and October 29, 2026, the newest the HAIARA W5 PRO with 600 reported fire and thermal incidents. The brands, the model numbers, and how to get rid of a recalled one without starting a fire in a dumpster.
The statewide BLM order on fireworks, exploding targets and tracer rounds runs until 11:59 p.m. October 31, and so do the Burns order and the La Pine Basin campfire closure. Medford, Roseburg and Coos Bay already lifted theirs. Vale's June 27 order says it lasts until rescinded, and BLM's page lists no rescission.
Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania write welcome centers into their rest area rules, and Tennessee publishes one set of rules for both. Virginia's 2026 chapter never uses the words welcome center. A staffed building does not buy you a longer stay.
BLM's Bishop, Bakersfield and Central Coast field offices eased fire restrictions on October 26, 2026, so campfires are back there with a California Campfire Permit. Santa Barbara and Ventura counties stay restricted until January 1, 2027. The desert's seasonal order was written to end October 29, but BLM's fire page still listed it on October 30.
CPSC and DREO recalled about 338,800 DR-HSH015 ceramic space heaters on October 29, 2026, because they can overheat and ignite. How to tell if yours is one, what the remedy involves, and what a 1,500-watt heater does to a 30-amp hookup or a power station.
From November 16, 2026, Buffalo National River stops charging camping fees and shuts off water at most campgrounds. The park's compendium still caps you at 14 days in one campsite and 30 days in a calendar year, and five campgrounds stay tent-only. Here is what the rules say.
Starlink asks for a 100W, 20V/5A USB-C source for the Mini. We read US spec pages for ten power stations from five brands. Seven list a qualifying port, Goal Zero's big Yeti 3000X and 6000X stop at 60W, and BLUETTI's AC180 page says 100W without the volts and amps.
Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive is closed for winter and the dump station closed October 18. The park's campground data lists Snake Creek closing November 5, Grey Cliffs November 6, Baker Creek November 10 and Upper Lehman Creek December 3. Lower Lehman Creek stays open, with no water in any campground.
Starlink's spec sheet sets a USB PD minimum of 100W at 20V and 5A for powering the Mini over USB-C, even though the dish averages 25 to 40W. A 60W, 3A port like the EcoFlow RIVER 2's falls short. Here is how to read a port label, and the 12V route that skips the problem.
Dometic rates the 12V heating element in its RM 8551 absorption fridge at 130 watts, about 11 amps, and its own manual says the battery would discharge within a few hours with the engine off. On propane the same fridge burns about 270 grams a day.
From November 1 to May 1, every vehicle in Mount Rainier National Park must carry tire chains, 4WD and AWD included. All three campgrounds are closed, the park says no vehicle camping is available anywhere in winter, and snow camping needs a wilderness permit and 2 to 5 feet of snow.
Colorado's second rifle season runs October 24 to November 1, with the third and fourth through November 22. The orange law binds hunters, not campers. On a national forest, nobody may fire a gun within 150 yards of a campsite.
PVWatts, the Department of Energy lab model, puts a flat 200W array at Quartzsite at 1,259 Wh a day in June and 509 in December. Tilted to 55 degrees, the same panel makes 952 in December. The December number is the one to size from.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore allows camping only in its designated campgrounds, and its 2026 compendium treats an occupied parked vehicle as camping unless you are actively engaged in overnight recreation. From November 30, 2026 the limit becomes 30 days total. Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke are the year-round campgrounds.
The unattended-vehicle rule is separate from the rest area stay limit, and it is often the stricter one. Maryland and Ohio tow after 3 hours unattended, Pennsylvania treats 24 hours as abandoned, Wisconsin starts removal at 24 hours occupied or not, and California bars parking there to go anywhere else.
As of October 21, 2026, Dinosaur National Monument has closed Echo Park Road and Echo Park Campground with no reopening date, and Rainbow Park Campground is closed likely through spring 2027. Green River Campground closes at noon October 29. Here is what is still open and what it costs.
BLM, Forest Service and National Park Service regulations all bar dumping household trash brought from home or other private property into government trash cans. Trash you make while camping can go in a receptacle provided for it. Otherwise you pack it out. The rule text, checked October 24, 2026.
CPSC recalled about 400 ZAREI portable camping showers on October 1, 2026, because the immersion heater can ignite when it is out of water, and about 100 Snow Peak Takibi propane inserts on October 8 because the lava rocks can explode. What to do if you own either, and the power math on heating a bucket at camp.
As of October 23, 2026, every vehicle on the snowy stretches of the Generals Highway must carry chains or cables, 4WD and AWD included. The park's page lists a snow-tire exception at R-1, but Caltrans limits that exception to vehicles under 6,000 pounds and requires chains on any vehicle towing a trailer.
Suburban rates the optional electric element on its Advantage tank water heaters at 1,440 watts and 6.1 gallons an hour of recovery. Off an inverter that is about 120 amps at 12 volts. The propane burner does the same job for about an eighth of a gallon of propane an hour.
Upper Pines, Hodgdon Meadow, Wawona and Camp 4 are Yosemite's winter campgrounds. Only Upper Pines needs a reservation all year. Outside a campsite you are registered for, the park does not allow sleeping in a car, van or RV, and Tioga and Glacier Point Roads are closed to overnight parking.
Apgar's winter status runs November 1 to March 31: free sites with a valid entrance pass, no water, no dump station, vault toilets only. St. Mary Campground closes to all camping January 1 to June 30, 2027. Most other Glacier campgrounds close by October 31.
Rocky Springs, Jeff Busby and Meriwether Lewis are free, first come, first served and open all year. The limit is 14 days per campground per calendar year, nothing else on the parkway is legal overnight, and Meriwether Lewis has no water right now.
The NPS says Government Wash and 8.0 Mile Road should reopen to vehicles and overnight camping in late November 2026. When they do, it is a designated area of 47 sites with no water or hookups, and the park compendium caps it at 28 days in 12 months.
Ohio's rest area rule sets no time limit on an occupied vehicle, bans camping, and tows unattended vehicles after three hours. The Ohio Turnpike runs paid overnight RV parking with hookups at eight service plazas, one night at a time.
A National Park Service final rule published October 16, 2026 replaces Denali's 10,512 seasonal permits with a cap of 160 vehicles a day on the restricted section of the park road, buses included. What it changes for the 2027 season, what it does not, and what still governs driving your own rig to Teklanika River Campground. Read October 19, 2026.
The BLM's Long Term Visitor Area supplementary rules ban camping in a buffer outside four California LTVAs, so the free ground next to the permit area is not where you go to skip the $40. What the rule says, which LTVAs it names, and what it leaves out. Read October 19, 2026.
The 2026 closing dates for every campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Shenandoah and in Acadia, read from the parks' own pages and Recreation.gov on October 18, 2026. Two Parkway campgrounds never opened this year, and none of the three keeps a campground open for winter.
Two BLM El Centro Field Office orders take camping areas out of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area for the 2026-27 season. Cement Flats becomes a temporary ranger station. Osborne Overlook goes day use only from October 26 to November 1 and on three later holiday weeks. Read October 18, 2026.
Four federal regulations set a 6-foot leash for pets. The BLM, Forest Service and Corps of Engineers apply it in developed recreation sites. The National Park Service applies it everywhere pets are allowed. On dispersed BLM and national forest land, state and local law decides.
Forest Service notices scheduled for the October 19, 2026 Federal Register propose new fees in the Eldorado, Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Basin, Apache-Sitgreaves, Helena-Lewis and Clark, and North Carolina forests. None can start before April 19, 2027.
We read the notices on all 5,445 campground listings on Recreation.gov on October 16, 2026. Nine address charging an electric vehicle at the campsite and every one says no or not available. None says yes. Five more point you to a charger somewhere else in the park.
Rocky Mountain National Park closes Moraine Park for the summer season at noon on October 19, 2026 and reopens it for winter camping at 1 p.m. the same day. It is the only campground open in the park all winter, with no reservations, $30 and $55 sites, a dump station, and no plowing of your site.
Big Bend National Park allows vehicle camping only in campgrounds and 67 designated roadside sites, all on a $10-a-night permit. Rain closures have pushed every backcountry permit to the Panther Junction desk until further notice. What that means for a winter trip.
The California Desert District's seasonal Stage I and Stage II order runs through October 29, 2026. After that, a campfire outside a developed BLM campground still needs a California Campfire Permit, and a Red Flag Warning still shuts campfires down. Where the rest of BLM California stood on October 15.
Cosby, Abrams Creek, Big Creek, Cataloochee, Deep Creek and Look Rock close for the season from October 25, 2026. Elkmont follows November 29. What stays open, which loops, and the reservation rule that still applies in January.
43 CFR 8365.2-3(b) cuts the BLM's 10-day unattended property limit to 72 hours in developed camping areas and 24 hours in day use areas. What the rule says, what it leaves open, and how one Idaho campground posts it.
We read all 5,445 campground listings on Recreation.gov on October 14, 2026. 23 publish a free off-season, led by the Buffalo National River, where the listings and the park's own pages give three different end dates for the 2026 fee season.
Three CPSC recalls since July 30, 2026 cover about 1.58 million rechargeable hand warmers whose lithium-ion batteries can overheat and ignite. The model numbers, the refund steps, and what is not included.
43 CFR 8365.2-2(c) prohibits constructing, erecting or using an antenna or aerial for radiotelephone, radio or television equipment in a developed BLM recreation site, other than on a vehicle. It never mentions satellite internet, and it does not reach dispersed land.
CPSC recall 26755, published September 10, 2026, covers Hero Fire Spray canisters marked 09/2024. Nine reports of a canister rupturing or deteriorating in storage, and the disposal route is a hazardous waste center, not the trash.
CPSC recall 26778, published September 17, 2026, covers about 195,000 JKMax heated blankets and heating pads. The internal heating elements overheat. The remedy is a refund, not a repair, and the model number is on the back of the remote.
TDOT's own rest area page says it in two sentences: no overnight parking is allowed, and there is a two-hour parking limit. It also says none of the 35 facilities has a dump station.
The Wind River/Big Horn Basin District terminated three Stage 1 orders on September 23, 2026. The Casper Field Office order covering Natrona County is a different district and is still posted.
CPSC and Goal Zero recalled about 46,200 Yeti 3000X power stations on August 20, 2026 after four reports of fire, overheating and smoking. There is nothing to return. The fix only happens if you open the app on Wi-Fi and install it.
The Bureau of Parks and Lands caps camping at any one Maine state park at 14 nights, but the rule scopes that cap to the last Saturday in June through the third Saturday in August. Plus the 2026 closing dates, which start this week.
One law covers the cap. A different law covers flame getting back into the container, and by statute it only reaches consumer containers of 5 gallons or less. Five of the 448 CPSC recalls posted in 2026 so far were portable fuel containers.
Only 39 of 5,435 campgrounds on Recreation.gov publish a seasonal water shutoff date. Curecanti turns it off around September 19, Yellowstone's Lewis Lake by September 30, and several sites go free once it is off.
Of 5,435 campgrounds on Recreation.gov, 704 publish quiet hours and only 318 publish generator hours. Glacier allows generators six hours a day. Acadia bans them in one loop entirely.
A booking record carries a consecutive-stay number and a separate total-stay number on a different clock. Across 426 national park campgrounds read this run, 206 carry both and 111 carry neither.
Two Corps of Engineers campgrounds in Kentucky limit each pedestal to one camper unit. An Arkansas site starts the same rule March 1, 2027. A Forest Service campground in Tennessee publishes the plug-in sequence. Of 5,435 Recreation.gov campground listings, one tells you who pays for a surge.
A truck's brakes overheated coming down about 5,000 feet off Towne Pass on September 9 and the tractor burned. The park's September 15 advisory names commercial drivers, publishes no RV rule for SR-190, and tells every driver the same thing: shift to low gear on steep downhill grades.
36 CFR 2.1(a)(4) bans using or possessing wood gathered inside a park, with one exception a superintendent has to grant. Great Smoky grants it. Glacier's Apgar and Avalanche campgrounds do not. Of 5,435 campground listings on Recreation.gov, 375 mention the question at all.
Challis, Idaho treats 2,500 acres from September 21 to October 5. Rio Puerco, New Mexico treats 3,775 acres through November 30. Only one of the two announcements tells the public anything, and neither one publishes a map.
The park's September 19 release gives tentative dates for restoring water to South Rim residences and concessionaires: pumping by November 16, distribution by Thanksgiving. It does not give a date for campground water, and Stage 4 restrictions remain in effect.
36 CFR 2.12 sets a 60 decibel ceiling at 50 feet and names electric generating plants directly. The part nobody quotes is paragraph (a)(3), which requires a permit to run any portable engine in a park's nondeveloped areas.
Death Valley's Furnace Creek listing says campers at tent walk-in sites 115-150 may not sleep in their vehicles. Twenty-nine other national park campground listings on Recreation.gov say nothing either way. Silence is not permission.
The NPS park roads table gives every 2026 closing date. Canyon Village to Tower Fall goes first on October 12, everything else on October 31, and exactly one road through the park stays open all winter.
The federal regulation makes spark arresters an area-by-area requirement set by signs or a map at the local BLM office. A BLM field office announcement this month calls it a flat year-round rule. The BLM's own OHV page calls it a best practice for motorcycles.
Recreation.gov says Bonito Campground closes Sunday, September 20 for roadwork. The National Park Service says Forest Road 545 closes to all vehicles September 21 through October 21, and the detour is not suitable for RVs and trailers.
Every aggregator says you get 24 hours at a Texas rest area. TxDOT's own rest area pages, its county pages, and its maintenance manual say nothing about how long you can stay, overnight parking, or camping.
The fire destroyed the volunteer host site and melted the piping to the Lower Springs pools. The park says stay away until the hazards are assessed. The approach is 40 miles of dirt, so check before you drive it.
On December 21 the sun is up 9 hours 55 minutes at Quartzsite and 8 hours 32 minutes at Missoula. Both leave your battery a 14-hour night. US Naval Observatory figures, and the number we could not get.
UDOT closes the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on September 21 to 25 and 28 to 30. Separately, the park's size limits bar anything over 7 feet 10 inches wide between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance.
New Mexico's Environment Department states it plainly: boiling, filtration and other treatments will not remove the toxins from a harmful algal bloom. The BLM is posting signs on the Rio Grande. Here is how to read the water before you pump.
The Coos Bay District dropped from HIGH to MODERATE at 12:01 a.m. on September 17, 2026. Open fire is still prohibited outside eight named campgrounds, and the order requires a shovel, an axe and water or an extinguisher in your vehicle.
Rule 14-28.002 of the Florida Administrative Code lists camping as its own prohibition, bans hooking up to electrical and water outlets, and allows commercial drivers ten hours. The copy FDOT hosts on its own maintenance site is the 2007 version and is missing all of that.
Rocky Mountain writes the formula out: Vehicle + Trailer + Hitch = 40 ft at Moraine Park. Death Valley says it can cancel your reservation on arrival if your total does not fit. Grand Canyon caps Mather at 30 feet and names the five sites that actually take it.
Seven prescribed burn units near Dove Creek, Bayfield, Olathe, Egnar and Chimney Rock are planned from mid-September into November. The BLM publishes acreages and phone numbers, not dates and not closure boundaries.
Fontenelle Creek, Scab Creek and Warren Bridge get winterized September 29 and 30. Drinking water and flush restrooms go away for the season, vault toilets stay, and the BLM stops collecting fees until spring 2027.
A National Park Service final rule flipped the default: powered micromobility devices are now prohibited in national parks except where a superintendent designates them. The rule's own definition excludes electric bicycles.
17 Pa. Code 21.117 splits camping into primitive and motorized, and the dividing line is whether a motor vehicle is part of the trip. Primitive campers also have to stay 200 feet off any forest road.
A federal agency ruled on September 10, 2026 that California cannot require all propane cylinders sold in the state to be refillable from January 1, 2028. Nothing changes on the shelf today, and the ruling can still be petitioned or appealed.
On September 8, 2026 the Forest Service published 11 separate proposed fee notices in the Federal Register, including $5 a night at 10 Malheur campgrounds. Federal law gives you six months of notice, and there is no regulations.gov docket to comment on.
USDA has proposed revising 36 CFR 212 and 261, the regulations that decide where you can legally drive and therefore where you can dispersed camp. Nothing has changed yet: the proposal says existing motor vehicle use maps stay in effect until they are revised.
Three current California forest orders say it in the same sentence: permit holders are not exempt. What the permit buys you under a restriction is a gas or propane device with a shut-off valve, and the required clearance is 3 feet on two forests and 5 feet on the third.
Sequoia allows 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period. Plumas caps you at 30 days for the whole calendar year. Eldorado allows 10 days a year dispersed per ranger district. All three cite the same federal regulation, and all three are in force right now.
The September 3 park release closes Bright Angel and Cottonwood campgrounds, the North Kaibab Trail, and both inner canyon bridges, and says there is no estimated reopening date. The published permit policy refunds nightly fees only until 30 days before your start date.
Recreation.gov's policy refunds all fees on an emergency closure. Cancel the day before arrival yourself and you pay a $10 service fee and forfeit the first night. The difference is who made the call, and this is the season it matters.
The Furnace Creek Campground sites have 30 and 50 amp hookups. The park says on both its own page and the Recreation.gov listing that EV charging is not supported there, that it could permanently damage the vehicle and the campground's electrical system, and that you could be liable.
UDOT's rest area page says both things: all rest areas are posted for no overnight camping, and extended stays are permitted and monitored by staff and the Highway Patrol. That is not a contradiction. It is the camping versus parking line, written down.
The High Desert District terminated Fire Prevention Order BLM-WY-D00000-2026-01 on September 2, 2026. BLM Wyoming's own fire restrictions page still lists Stage 1 orders for the High Plains and Wind River Bighorn Basin districts.
67 Pa. Code 443.2 prohibits remaining anywhere at a roadside rest area for more than 2 hours in a 24-hour period, or longer than the posted limit. It permits sleeping in a legally parked vehicle and nowhere else, and treats a vehicle left 24 hours as abandoned.
SDMC 86.0139 bans oversized and recreational vehicles from streets between 2 and 6 a.m., but only where a sign is posted. SDMC 86.0137(f) bans using any vehicle for human habitation from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and within 500 feet of a residence or school. The RV permit only exempts you from the first one.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife requires everyone 16 or older to hold an SWA pass or a valid hunting or fishing license just to enter a state wildlife area. Camping is a separate permission, set per property.
Furnace Creek books six months out through Recreation.gov for an October 15 to April 15 season and has only 18 hookup sites. Sunset, Stovepipe Wells and Texas Springs have no published opening date.
Virginia replaced 24VAC30-50 with 24VAC30-51 effective March 11, 2026. The new chapter bans overnight parking and camping at rest areas and waysides, and puts VDOT parking lots under the posted sign instead.
The LTVA season opens September 15. Four of the Long Term Visitor Areas allow self-contained units only, and the BLM's supplementary rules exclude port-a-potty systems and portable holding tanks by name.
The Forest Service travel management rule says a forest may designate limited motor vehicle use within a specified distance of certain roads for dispersed camping. If it has not, 36 CFR 261.13 makes driving off the road prohibited.
California's DMV manual says van campers do not meet the ANSI life support criteria for a motorhome and registers them under body type VC. Washington licenses a converted van as a motorhome if it has cooking or sewage disposal inside a solid body shell.
Flash flooding on August 29 knocked out the Transcanyon Waterline. Stage 4 water restrictions started at noon on August 31, 2026: no concession lodging, campground spigots off, no fires on the South Rim.
The Casper Field Office shut the seven-site North Platte campground while Natrona County repairs County Road 412. Other BLM campgrounds near Casper stay open, but the closest one on the river is tent only.
WisDOT defines long-term parking as a 24 hour continuous period or the on-site posted limit, whichever is shorter, occupied or unoccupied. Camping is prohibited separately. Verified August 31, 2026.
COMAR 11.04.07 is one of the strictest rest area chapters on the East Coast. Three hours without a permit, camping and overnight parking prohibited outright, and an explicit tow rule for unattended vehicles.
The Winnemucca District closed Water Canyon on August 25. The Elko District closed Tabor Creek and BLM Road 1275 on August 26. Both are fire closures, both run until conditions improve, and each is posted only on its own district page.
Suburban rates its NT-16SEQ at 16,000 BTU/h and 2.7 amps, and its 20,000 BTU/h SF-Q at 5.1 amps. Six hours of burner time is 16 to 31 amp hours off a 12V bank and about a gallon of propane. Only one of those is easy to replace in October.
The BLM's August 25 hunting-season notice tells Colorado visitors that roads shown on public land generally are open, but some end at private property and access may be legally restricted. For a dispersed camper heading out this fall, that is the sentence that matters.
The Uncompahgre Field Office ended its Gold Mountain Fire closure and the Gunnison Field Office reduced its own. The reopened ground is real, but the remaining closed area is described in section, township and range, which is not something you can navigate from.
The Park Service publishes 14 designated free first-come-first-served sites in eight areas along Grassy Lake Road in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. No water, shared toilets, bear boxes. Inside the park, sleeping in a vehicle outside a campground is prohibited.
More panels stop making a lead acid battery charge faster at a limit the manufacturer publishes. Victron's gel and AGM datasheet caps charge current at 0.2C. Here is what that is in watts, and what it does not limit.
BLM published the monument's fall and winter schedule on August 24, 2026. It dates the campgrounds, the boating restriction and one access gate. It does not date the roads, and the roads are what will actually stop you.
Tuscarora Field Office published one date range in the announcement and a two-phase schedule in the order attached to it. The full closure ends September 3. What follows is weekday working hours only.
The NPS campgrounds page publishes the whole 2026 table. Bridge Bay goes first on September 13, Fishing Bridge RV Park and Madison last on October 17, and Mammoth turns first-come on October 15.
August 25 is fee-free at the National Park Service and is not on the BLM's 2026 list. The BLM waives standard amenity and day-use fees only, and says developed camping fees stay in effect.
The park's marquee backcountry drive closes October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 for a second phase of repairs. Furnace Creek's reservation season starts October 15, and several other roads and one campground are still down from flood damage.
The Kremmling Field Office runs Stage 2 in Summit, Grand and Eagle Counties and Stage 1 in Jackson and Larimer Counties at the same time. The restriction follows the prevention order's boundary, which is not always the field office's.
Two Idaho field offices start closing routes on October 1. Those closures are to motorized use, not to people on foot. Later in the season the same page uses the word to mean human entry, which is a different answer entirely.
MnDOT publishes a seasonal rest area list, but it gives months rather than dates. Four sites shut in late September and five in mid-October. No MnDOT rest area has a dump station.
Rocky Mountain caps you at 7 nights parkwide from May 1 to October 15. Glacier allows 14 days until Labor Day and 30 days after it. Grand Teton caps the year at 30. None of these is the federal 14-day rule.
The pass is honored by six federal agencies and covers standard amenity fees. Developed campgrounds charge expanded amenity fees, which it does not cover. If you camp free and rarely drive through a park gate, it probably does not pay for itself.
Yosemite lists coverage carrier by carrier. Glacier names the valleys with no reception at all. The NPS says its own guidance beats a provider's coverage map, and one park's page has not been updated since 2018.
ODOT's TripCheck page and the Oregon Travel Information Council both publish the rest area rules. Both set the same 12-hour limit. One bans fires outright, the other allows propane and gas camp stoves, and only one mentions alcohol.
Special Recreation Permits exist for commercial use, competitive events and organized groups, not for one truck and a tent. The exceptions are real, and they publish on the unit page rather than the national one.
The National Park Service shut off water at Mather and Desert View campgrounds on August 13, 2026 and prohibited fires in both. Restrooms and the Mather RV dump and water station stay open. Arrive full.
Victron's gel and AGM datasheet says temperature compensation is required above 30C / 85F. At a 40C battery, that is 0.36V off the setpoint. If your controller has no battery temperature sensor it cannot do this at all.
The Royal Gorge and San Luis Valley field offices went from Stage 2 to Stage 1 effective August 18, 2026. Under Stage 1 the BLM allows campfires only in agency-provided grates at developed recreation sites, so a fire at your dispersed site stays prohibited.
The Angeles caps you at 21 total days in a calendar year. The Mendocino bans camping within a mile of any developed recreation site. The Umatilla runs 14 days in any 30. The Cleveland's order expired on July 12, 2026 and is still on the alerts page.
Manufacturers publish the number: 1800 watts, 120 volts, 15 amps. Through an inverter that is roughly 150 amps at the battery, more than a 1000W inverter or light DC wiring will carry. The number to plan around is watt-hours per meal, not the headline wattage.
A mother bear and cub that are not afraid of people closed Fan Creek on the Nestucca River Corridor on August 13, 2026. Dovre and Alder Glen stay open. The closure is in the announcement feed, not on the site page.
BLM Idaho lists its seasonal closures on one page, with dates running from October 1 to May 31. Most close the road, not the ground, but two close public land to human entry entirely.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation publishes both halves on one page: no time limits, no fee, overnight parking allowed at every state-owned park and ride, and a one-word no on sleeping.
Grizzly activity closed one Montana site to soft-sided camping, not to camping. The order runs through December 31, 2026 and covers a full section of BLM land, not just the campground loop.
Apple, Verizon and T-Mobile all publish some form of phone-to-satellite messaging now. It sends a text from a dead zone. It does not carry attachments, and Verizon says it does not carry Wireless Emergency Alerts.
DMM 508.6.4 caps a general delivery piece at 30 days. DMM 507.1.8.6 sets the clock that actually runs: 10 days at an office with city carrier service, 15 at one without, and 30 only if you tell the postmaster you are delayed.
The BLM's Montana State Office set its own camping limit for undeveloped land in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota: 16 days in any 30, and a relocation outside a half-mile radius. It is not the 14 days in 28 that gets quoted everywhere.
California sets its RV license thresholds by GVWR and by length, and none of them involve a CDL. A fifth wheel over 10,000 pounds needs an endorsement added to your Class C. Over 15,000 pounds, it needs a noncommercial Class A.
Verizon lists hotspot allowances from 10 GB to 200 GB by plan and the exact speed you drop to after each. T-Mobile says it prioritizes phone data ahead of tethering. Both numbers are on their own pages, and they decide whether you can work from a dispersed site.
Victron's AGM and gel datasheet publishes the whole curve: 100 percent at the 20 hour rate, 85 percent over 5 hours, 65 percent over 1 hour, and worse under an inverter. Here is what that does to your real bank size.
The rule is not on the Caltrans rest area page. It is in Title 21 of the California Code of Regulations, section 2205, and it caps you at 8 hours in any 24-hour period, bans camping and tents, and explicitly permits a small portable stove.
Washington's list carries a live open or closed status for each dump station, and on August 15 four of them read closed at rest areas that were themselves open. That is the detail an app will not tell you.
There is no BLM-wide generator curfew to look up. 43 CFR 8365.1-4 prohibits making unreasonable noise and never names an hour. The numbers, where they exist at all, are published per recreation site.
The Domestic Mail Manual sets the terms for General Delivery: transient use, one authorized facility per customer, ID on demand, and 30 days per piece. Call the destination office for the right ZIP before anyone mails anything.
RCW 47.38.020 caps a stop at 8 hours in any 24 and bans camping outright. WSDOT's rest area page publishes no rules at all, but it does publish status, and on August 14, 2026 four locations showed closed.
The Sierra Front Field Office issued a temporary public land closure on August 11, 2026 for wildland fire. Everything within 10 miles of Moon Rocks is closed to entry, and the announcement says the area is closed to camping on top of that. No end date is published.
The FCC rule that legalized consumer signal boosters, 47 CFR 20.21, makes carrier consent and registration a condition of operating one. Registration is free by rule, and the warning label on the box says the same thing.
58 Pa. Code 135.41(c)(21) makes it unlawful to be on Pennsylvania state game lands from October 1 through January 31, and again April 20 through May 31, without 250 square inches of fluorescent orange, unless you are hunting, trapping or fishing.
The Prineville District cut its emergency closures back on August 10, 2026, reopening the lower Deschutes, part of the John Day, and most of the district's south and east. Public Use Restrictions Level 2 still bans every campfire on all of it.
IDAPA 39.03.50 caps occupancy at 10 consecutive hours at interstate rest areas and 16 at rest areas on other state highway routes. Camping and fires are separately prohibited, and the rule never defines camping.
Victron's own white paper puts a 100W panel at 100W through an MPPT controller and 81W through a PWM at 25C (77F) cell temperature. At 75C (167F) the two land at 77.5W and 77W. The gain comes from array voltage, not from the box.
The numbers most people quote for BLM land are 14 days in 28 and a move of about 25 miles. Colorado replaced both statewide in 2010. The move is measured straight-line, not on the odometer.
Montana FWP prohibits camping on a WMA except at sites specifically designated or marked for it, caps you at 7 nights in any consecutive 30-day period, and does not let you leave a camp standing overnight with nobody in it.
The National Park Service tells desert visitors to drink at least one gallon a day. That figure covers drinking and nothing else, which is why a fresh tank runs out long before a 14-day stay limit does.
Victron publishes 12W zero load power for its 3000VA Inverter Smart at 12V. Over 24 hours that is 288 watt-hours, about the same as running a 12V fridge. ECO mode drops it to 1.5W. Here is the arithmetic and the catch.
The Park Service dropped entry reservations at Arches, Glacier and Yosemite for 2026, and Mount Rainier followed. Rocky Mountain kept its system, it runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October 12, and you can drive in outside those hours without one.
Maryland bans overnight parking outright. Utah bans overnight camping and says extended stays are permitted. Oregon caps you at 12 hours in any 24. Three states, three different prohibited activities, and that is why a yes-or-no list gets it wrong.
Two BLM Stage 2 orders took effect at the same hour on August 7, 2026, and they answer the generator question differently. Northern Idaho exempts a generator with an approved spark arrester in a cleared three foot circle. The Missoula County announcement does not mention generators at all.
The enforceable rule is that your vehicle stays on designated roads and trails. How far you may pull off to camp comes from the field office's travel management decision, and in three Colorado travel management areas it is one vehicle-width, not 150 feet.
Rocky Mountain National Park's January news release says its only west side campground closes at noon on August 10, 2026. The park's campgrounds page says it stays open to noon on October 5. The campgrounds page is the newer statement and it references the January one.
The BLM Prineville District closed nearly all of its land on July 27, 2026 and issued another order on August 5. Public access is prohibited, not just campfires, and the two kinds of order work differently.
North Rim Campground reopened June 1, 2026 with reservations through October 15. The National Park Service says no potable water is available anywhere on the North Rim for the rest of the season, and Stage 2 fire restrictions stay in force there all year.
Recreation.gov withholds $10 from any cancellation refund, and $10 plus the first night if you cancel the day before or the day of arrival. A no-show costs $20 plus the first night. An agency emergency closure costs you nothing.
36 CFR 261.58 prohibits camping longer than an order allows, and never names a figure. The order is a local document, and 36 CFR 261.51 requires it be posted where you would reasonably see it. That sign is the rule.
The National Park Service drops entrance fees on August 25, 2026 for its 110th anniversary. Camping, timed entry, and reservation fees still apply, and from 2026 the waiver is for US citizens and residents only.
Florida allows the general public 3 hours and commercial drivers 10. Minnesota allows 4 and 10. The split traces back to the federal hours-of-service rule, and it means the semi beside you is legally parked long after you are not.
BLM's Black Rock Field Office is closing about 51,149 acres of the playa, roughly 33 percent of it, from August 24 through September 11, 2026. Dispersed camping continues on the other two thirds.
State trust land is not BLM land. Montana DNRC requires a Conservation License, keeps a motorized camp within 50 feet of the access point, and caps you at 2 days on leased parcels and 16 on unleased ones.
Victron rates its LiFePO4 Smart batteries to charge between 41F and 122F, and the default Allowed-To-Charge cutoff is 41F. The same datasheet shows a 100Ah battery holding 80Ah at freezing and 50Ah at -4F.
The Big Rock fire closed BLM camping from Conant to Byington in eastern Idaho from August 1 at 6 p.m. through August 10 at 11:59 p.m. That includes every dispersed site along River Road, not just the designated campgrounds.
Superior National Forest reopens all water access entry points on the Gunflint and Tofte districts August 4. Permits at entries still closed are cancelled through August 4, and three entry points are cancelled through September 30.
ResMed publishes 56.1W typical draw for the AirSense 11. Over an eight-hour night that is 449 watt-hours at the machine, and more from the battery once an inverter takes its cut. Here is the arithmetic and where it goes wrong.
Aggregator lists put Michigan down as a 48-hour state. MDOT's own page still calls the rules proposed, and no roadside-facility rule shows up in Michigan's published administrative code as of August 3, 2026.
On July 28, 2026, BLM's Vale and Burns Districts in Oregon issued emergency closures around four active wildfires: Coleman Creek, Hat, Crowley, and Big Grass. If you were headed to dispersed camping in Harney or Malheur County, that trip needs a rewrite this week.
As of June 26, 2026, every BLM-managed acre in Utah is under Stage 2 fire restrictions. Open fires are out. Smoking outside a vehicle is out. Chainsaws and generators need functioning spark arresters. Here is exactly what the order allows and what it does not.
A typical portable 12V compressor fridge draws about 0.8 to 1.0 amp-hours per hour on average once running, or roughly 20 to 24 Ah per day. That is the number to size your battery on, not the peak.
36 CFR 2.10 prohibits camping in a national park outside of sites and areas the superintendent has designated. A few parks have designated backcountry roadside zones. Everywhere else is a developed campground or a permit.
Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant, Madison, and Fishing Bridge RV Park leave Yellowstone National Park Lodges for Recreation.gov starting the 2027 season, and the booking window shrinks from 13 months to about 6.
BLM's Bishop Field Office caps dispersed camping at 14 days per calendar year across the entire field office, and Alabama Hills is inside those boundaries. Since September 25, 2024, a free permit is also required for designated camping there.
The BWCAW is closed to overnight paddle, motor, and hiking permits at all 103 quota entry points through Wednesday, July 29. Forest Service planned a July 27 announcement on a phased reopening that starts July 30.
Consumer cell boosters amplify weak signal. They do not manufacture it. FCC rules under 47 CFR 20.21 require carrier registration for consumer boosters, and the rule set exists because a booster that overrides its safeguards can knock a nearby tower offline.
36 CFR 327.7 caps camping at any one Corps of Engineers water resource project at 14 days in a 30-day period, across all sites at that project. Not per campground. Not per district. Per lake.
CDOT is warning drivers about flash flooding and debris flows off fresh burn scars as monsoon moisture surges into Colorado. Here is what that changes if you are camping downstream of one.
Glacier National Park is running a summer parking pilot at Logan Pass, first-come first-served with a 3-hour ceiling enforced 24 hours a day. If you want to hike Highline or the Loop, you need a shuttle ticket. Here is what to book and when.
The Teton Interagency Fire order bans campfires, charcoal, and fireworks across all three units. Gas and liquid-fuel stoves are still allowed on cleared ground. Here is exactly what changes and what does not.
Two southbound-corridor rest areas in south Thurston County lose overnight parking every weeknight during a WSDOT paving project. Here are the exact hours, the daytime access, and where else to stop.
43 CFR 8365.1-2 caps personal property left unattended on BLM public lands at 10 days without written permission. Here is what the rule targets, how it interacts with the 14-day camping rule, and what happens if you leave a rig longer.
The Shoshone Field Office is standing up a new fee program at two south-central Idaho campgrounds, with the same fee planned at Magic Reservoir once upgrades finish. Here is the effective date, the amount, and what stays free.
BLM's own camping page sets the pattern at 14 days in any 28-day period, then a move of about 25 to 30 miles. The federal regulation itself hands the specifics to the local field office, and that is where you have to check.
In the states that publish a policy, the answer is no. Rest areas are for stopping in a vehicle, not for pitching camp. Time limits are short and the rule usually calls out camping specifically.
La Posa and the six other Arizona LTVAs reopen for long-term camping on September 15, 2026. The $180 permit is valid at all of them. Here is what that gets you and whether it beats free BLM camping down the road.
Verified rule changes on federal and state land from the last 18 months, from Fishlake's 16-day order to Kentucky's 12-hour vehicle safe harbor, and what each one means for where you can sleep.
Plan on no. Forest Service regulations require hauling wastewater out or using provided facilities, BLM sites commonly prohibit dumping outright, and the posted rule always wins.
A dated snapshot of fire restrictions on the national forests campers ask about most, with links to each agency page and the statewide lookup maps.
Seven real discounts on power stations, solar panels, and batteries as of July 17, 2026, and why the list price is usually theater.
Plan on a mid-1,000s running draw and a much bigger starting surge for a 13,500 BTU RV AC. Honda rates its 2,600W EU3200i for exactly that job.
Most weekend rigs land at 200 to 400 watts of panels. Here is the arithmetic: add up your daily watt-hours, divide by real sun hours, and derate honestly.
The rest area closures we could confirm on state DOT pages as of July 17, 2026, including the long I-5 Tejon Pass gap, plus how to check your own route.
A 30 amp RV can draw at most 3,600 watts, so a 3,600W generator covers everything. The real question is whether you need to start the air conditioner.
