Agency-listedND Game and Fish · dispersedFree
Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
Drive-up · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND · 47.23147, -101.22602
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 →North Dakota Game & Fish 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.
Arroda Lake Wildlife Management Area is 410 acres of state wildlife land in Oliver County, managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, and you may camp on it free. That is not a rumour off a listing site -- it is how the state rule works. North Dakota Administrative Code 30-04-02-01 opens every WMA to 'public hunting, fishing, and trapping, or other compatible public use', and 30-04-02-11 sets the only real limit: 'camping for longer than ten consecutive days on any wildlife management area is prohibited'. There is no camping fee, and unlike South Dakota and Oklahoma, North Dakota does NOT make you buy a license or a conservation pass just to be on the land. Game and Fish says so itself on its WMA regulations page: 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping.' Now the honest part. This is primitive dispersed camping on a wildlife area, not a campground. Assume NO toilets, NO drinking water, NO tables, NO fire rings and no marked sites unless you happen to find them -- bring all your own water. You may gather downed wood for a campfire, but you may not mow or cut vegetation to clear a campsite, you may not leave a trailer or tent set up unless you are actually sleeping in it, and you may not dump holding tanks on the area. Vehicles must stay on the constructed roads, established trails and parking areas a passenger car would normally use -- do not drive out across the grass. Camping is also prohibited on any WMA where it is posted as such at the road entry, so READ THE SIGN at the entrance you use; the posted sign beats anything we can tell you here. These are working wildlife areas, so expect hunters in season and plan your visibility accordingly. This is one of the smaller units we list, and size is the thing to think about before you drive out: several hundred acres of North Dakota wildlife land can be mostly slough, cattail or a narrow tree belt, with no dry, level, legal place to put a vehicle off the access trail. Have a fallback for the night. The pin is a representative point inside the unit boundary, not a campsite -- you will need to find your own spot off an established access. Confirm current rules with ND Game and Fish at (701) 328-6300 before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,792 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)NIFC · 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 Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail9 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- DDump11 mi
- FFuel19 mi
- GGrocery22 mi
- HHardware26 mi
- OOutfitter29 mi
- EVEV fast charger30 mi
- +Urgent care30 mi
- LLaundry34 mi
- RxPharmacy34 mi
- WWater41 mi
- AAir-up57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 41-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 19 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 — Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
Access
Drive-up
Land
North Dakota Game & Fish · dispersed
Elevation
1,792 ft
Ground slope
9.7% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~0.3 mi · main line
State
ND
Coordinates
47.23147, -101.22602
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~18.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~10.8 mi
- GroceriesScott's · ~22.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicCHI St. Alexius Mandan Clinic North · ~30.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~26.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger29.8 mi straight-line SE — NDAREC NDARECL3, Mandan, ND · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 17 within 100 · 24 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.9 mi — Bismarck, ND - Tesla Supercharger, Bismarck
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.9 mi — Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Washburn, ND (at a museum) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-07-03 · 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 253414 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomVisitor Center · ~10.2 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomRomtec, Vault Toilet @ Awitixa Trail Head · ~10.7 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomRomtec, Vault Toilet @ Two Rivers Trailhead · ~11.2 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~20.0 mi NW · FWS
Coming out here — Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- About the name: this site is called Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County), but no named stream, river or lake is mapped near the pin — none within 1 mi in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset and none named within 1.6 mi in our OpenStreetMap pull. Either the lake is not on those maps or it is further off than the name suggests.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 9.7% — noticeable. 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 ~0.3 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 Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County) elsewhere
Other camps near Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Missouri Breaks WMA (Mercer County)~6.5 mi
- Norman and Lucille Schaefer WMA (Mercer County)~7.5 mi
- Painted Woods WMA (McLean County)~12.6 mi
- Coal Lake WMA (McLean County)~15.8 mi
Who holds the land at Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Arroda Lake, 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 — Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
Fire rules
Campfires are allowed and downed wood may be gathered, subject to any county burn ban in force.
Stay limit
10 nights (camping up to 10 consecutive days)
Area rules
Trailers, campers, motor homes, or tents may not be left on any wildlife management area unless used for daily lodging. Camping is prohibited on those wildlife or fish management areas where posted at public road entry points. Mowing of vegetation for campsites is prohibited on wildlife management areas.
Source
North Dakota Game & Fish (wildlife management 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
Free primitive camping authorised by BINDING RULE, not by a listing: NDAC 30-04-02-01 & -11 (ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf) + gf.nd.gov/wma (WMA Regulations, last updated August 2026). Both sources were downloaded and read in full on 2026-08-16 (this fire), not inherited from an earlier fire's notes. 30-04-02-01 grants open public use with no licence/pass/entrance-fee precondition; 30-04-02-11 (amended eff. 2024-04-01) permits camping up to 10 consecutive days, bans leaving equipment set up when not in use, bans mowing for campsites, and creates NO camping fee -- every dollar figure in the chapter (50/100/250) is a noncriminal-offence penalty, see 30-04-02-19. gf.nd.gov/wma (last updated August 2026) states 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping'; its camping-prohibited and Thursday-Monday-only WMA lists were downloaded raw and string-matched locally, never via a search summary. STAY LIMIT 10 consecutive days. SEASONAL: no seasonal closure is published for WMA camping, but access trails are unplowed and gumbo when wet. FIRE: campfires are allowed and downed wood may be gathered, subject to any county burn ban in force -- check before you light one. Boundary/acreage/county from the ND state ArcGIS Wildlife_Management_Areas layer (gis.dmr.nd.gov/dmrpublicservices/rest/services/OilGasPublicMapDataVectorTiles/Wildlife_Management_Areas/FeatureServer/0), re-pulled live this fire: 410 ac, 1 parcel(s), largest parcel used. Coordinate: representative interior point (centroid), asserted point-in-polygon against the unit boundary, WGS84. NOT a surveyed campsite. CONFIDENCE 'med' NOT 'high' for one reason only -- unit size. The legal basis is identical to the larger units, but at 410 ac this may be all wetland or tree belt with no drivable, campable ground; we have not ground-truthed it. WATER: not recorded -- there is no stated potable supply on these units and any surface water present must not be assumed drinkable. NEAREST TOWN: not determined this fire. Ingest 2026-08-16 08:46:47 (fire 790, ND thin-state fill).
--- REVIEW 2026-08-19 (fire 1100, ND backlog pass 2, reviewer nightshift-verified) --- Re-fetched and re-read IN FULL this fire (nothing inherited from the pass-1 notes): NDAC ch. 30-04-02 (ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf, 8 pp) -- 30-04-02-01 opens every WMA to 'public hunting, fishing, and trapping, or other compatible public use' with no licence/pass/entrance-fee precondition; 30-04-02-11 (amended eff. 2024-04-01) allows camping up to 10 consecutive days, bans leaving equipment set up when not in use, bans mowing for campsites, prohibits camping only where POSTED at public road entry points, and creates no camping fee; 30-04-02-03 restricts motor vehicles to constructed roads, established trails and parking areas normally used by passenger cars; 30-04-02-19 confirms the 50/100/250 dollar figures are noncriminal-offence penalties, not fees. gf.nd.gov/wma (WMA Regulations) still reads 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping' and 'Gathering of downed wood for campfires is permitted', and carries the department phone 701-328-6300. BOTH restriction lists were parsed out of the raw page this fire -- overnight-camping-prohibited (15 units) and closed-Tuesday-and-Wednesday (20 units) -- and THIS UNIT IS ON NEITHER; the per-unit camping sentences on gf.nd.gov/wma-listing (35 units carry one) were parsed separately and this unit carries none. LISTING: gf.nd.gov/wma-listing (243 unit records parsed this fire) carries this unit at 410 ac with directions '3.5 miles east of junction of ND highways 48 and 200A.'. BOUNDARY: ND DMR ArcGIS Wildlife_Management_Areas layer re-pulled live this fire (374 polygons); the unit is present and the stored coordinate asserts point-in-polygon INSIDE it (confirmed). ACCESS: cleared by research/ROAD_PROXIMITY_ND_ALL.md -- the coordinate is within 400 m of a drivable way. Not re-derived this fire. DUPLICATE CHECK (coordinates, never names): no published or approved ND camp lies within 0.62 mi of this coordinate, and no published/approved/later ND coordinate falls inside this unit's polygon. Not a duplicate. WATER: unchanged -- no potable supply is claimed and surface water is not assumed drinkable. CONFIDENCE: 'med' normalised to 'medium' (same meaning, two spellings were in use). DECISION: APPROVED -- legal basis, unit listing, boundary and coordinate all re-confirmed against the agency's own sources this fire; on neither camping-restriction list.
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 Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
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.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Arroda Lake WMA (Oliver County)
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Cold-weather camping →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →