Agency-listedODWCFree
American Horse Lake
Drive-up · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK · 35.63212, -98.50169
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 →Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife 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.
Oklahoma Public Fishing Area (ODWC) — 405 acres. Primitive camping is offered free of camping fees at 1 designated site, but ODWC land access requires an Oklahoma hunting or fishing license OR a Wildlife Conservation Passport (a paid annual permit for non-anglers). 16-day stay limit (21 days in any 30). Confirm current rules with ODWC before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at American Horse Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,614 ft.
Fire & smoke — around American Horse LakeNIFC · 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 American Horse Lake · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- AAir-up11 mi
- MMechanic13 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- ShShower17 mi
- +Urgent care30 mi
- OOutfitter32 mi
- DDump32 mi
- WWater50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 50-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 7 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 — American Horse Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife
Elevation
1,614 ft
Nearest rail line
~8.2 mi · industrial lead
Nearest highway
~7.1 mi · Interstate 40
State
OK
Coordinates
35.63212, -98.50169
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around American Horse Lake · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureAmerican Horse Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townHydro · ~7.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.2 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highway~7.1 mi · Interstate 40
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelPhillips 66 · ~10.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesDeer Creek Market · ~7.1 mi
- PharmacyDeer Creek Pharmacy · ~7.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicWeatherford Regional Hospital · ~11.1 mi
- HardwareDeer Creek Hardware · ~7.3 mi
EV charging — from American Horse Lake · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.9 mi straight-line SW — Cummins Cadillac, Weatherford, OK · EV Connect · CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach6 within 25 mi · 17 within 50 · 95 within 100 · 147 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)11.0 mi — Weatherford, OK - Tesla Supercharger, Weatherford
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.9 mi — ASAP GENERAL 101 EV2, Weatherford
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.2 mi — Sugar Creek Casino, Hinton, OK · LOOP · J1772 · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-07-15 · 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 328191 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around American Horse Lake · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaCanadian Rest Area EB · ~19.0 mi E
- RestroomFort Cobb Wildlife Management Area-Restroom Building · ~28.6 mi S · BoR
- RestroomFort Cobb Wildlife Management Area-Restroom Building · ~28.6 mi S · BoR
- RestroomFort Cobb Wildlife Management Area -Restroom Building · ~28.7 mi S · BoR
Coming out here — American Horse Lake · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps American Horse 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.
- Rail line mapped ~8.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. 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.
- Interstate 40 is mapped ~7.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 American Horse Lake elsewhere
Who holds the land at American Horse Lake
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as American Horse Lake Public Fishing Area, manager on record: a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — American Horse Lake
Stay limit
16 nights (16-day stay limit (21 days in any 30))
Permit
OK license/Conservation Passport required -- this area is NOT fee-free
Source
Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife (public fishing areas)
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.
How it was placed
Location/acreage: ODWC Public_WMA_Boundaries FeatureServer (WMATYPE PFA/PFHA), WGS84 centroid. Camping: ODWC PublicWILMA camping layer, 1 on-site point(s). Access needs OK license/Conservation Passport (not fee-free). Pilot ingest 2026-07-19 13:12:50.
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 American Horse Lake
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 — American Horse Lake
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Off-grid communication →All field notes →