BLM Near Smith Rock?

Is the NF-1395 road by Skull Hollow Campground considered BLM land, and can you camp in your van there for free?  I am going to be heading down Friday night after work from Seattle and it has been a few years.  I also did not have my van last time. I plan to stay at Skull Hollow, not sure how busy it will be in January when the weather is predicted dry and in the 60s?

Thanks for any info.

Skull hollow will be close to empty. Supposedly if you keep driving up past skull hollow you can camp for free

Jon Rhoderick wrote:

Skull hollow will be close to empty. Supposedly if you keep driving up past skull hollow you can camp for free

Thanks Jon. I always like a backup plan if driving 6 hours in the middle of the night to an area I’m not to familiar with. 

Dan Cooksey wrote:

Thanks Jon. I always like a backup plan if driving 6 hours in the middle of the night to an area I’m not to familiar with. 

Have fun, man. Super jealous! 

Theres a free blm campsite a few miles north with picnic tables and pit toilets, and horse corrals (not sure if thats the term). If youre in a van you can just pull off the road anywhere along there. Take a right off 97 onto sw norris ln, then another right onto rd 5740

You just need to get all the way  past Skull Hollow, Larry the Tool's kid will run you off the large flat area past the cattleguard.

Yeah, you just need to go past the campground, like half mile to be ok. 

Link to closure area

Sam Miller wrote:

Theres a free blm campsite a few miles north with picnic tables and pit toilets, and horse corrals (not sure if thats the term). If youre in a van you can just pull off the road anywhere along there. Take a right off 97 onto sw norris ln, then another right onto rd 5740

Thanks Sam I think I founf that on google maps.  Ill check it out. 

Drederek wrote:

You just need to get all the way  past Skull Hollow, Larry the Tool's kid will run you off the large flat area past the cattleguard.

Point of clarification: should you be worried about Larry, the Tool's kid, or the child of Larry the Tool?

#sorry

I would like a back story on Larry the Tool and his kid, for safety reasons as well as entertainment please. 

Larry the Tool was an LEO that would regularly roust people sleeping in their vehicles along Icicle creek back in the 90's.  Rudeness was his go to attitude, no attempt to politely ask people to move on.  Many of his exploits are chronicled on Cascadeclimbers. 

 Not sure what his kid tapped the back window of my van with but I was surprised the glass didn't break.  We said sure no prob we'll leave, we were kind of expecting it.  The fellas next to us must have given him an unsatisfactory response as we could hear him getting nasty with them as we were driving off.  

In dozens of trips to Smith in the last four years I've camped just a couple hundred yards up the way from Skull Hollow and never had a problem.

For the record I found plenty of van camping just passed the campground. Thanks for the suggestions.  Also the campgorund is closed for the winter.  Which is odd because the weather is prime time for climbing and hiking.