Agency-listedNGPCFee
Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 41.16697, -100.78633
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 →Nebraska Game & Parks 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.
Nebraska State Recreation Area (NGPC), Lincoln County. The park's own page says: "Buffalo Bill SRA offers Electric Plus, Electric and Basic camping. The area has 23 camping pads with electricity, and of these, 18 have 30-amp hookups and five sites have 50-amp hookups. The area also has eight non-pad Basic campsites without electricity. Other campground amenities include primitive restrooms and drinking water hydrants available throughout the campground. During peak season, reservations can be made for half of the campsites at Buffalo Bill SRA; the other half are first come, first served. Campers at first-come, first-served sites must register their nightly camping fees in a raised, locked box called an Iron Ranger. Self-service envelopes are provided at each station and accept cash or checks only." The park's own page lists drinking water in the campground. That is the agency's claim about a developed tap, not a field check, and not a claim about any lake or river here -- treat all natural water as NOT potable.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,810 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Buffalo Bill Ranch SRANIFC · 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 Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel1 mi
- GGrocery1 mi
- HHardware2 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- RxPharmacy3 mi
- OOutfitter3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- +Urgent care3 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- WWater27 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 27-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 1 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Dump, 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 — Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
2,810 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~1.5 mi · yard track
Nearest highway
~3.7 mi · Interstate 80
State
NE
Coordinates
41.16697, -100.78633
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Platte River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: area of complex channels, no flow class
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~1.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~1.3 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~3.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicGosnell Family Medicine · ~3.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~2.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.5 mi · yard track
- Nearest highway~3.7 mi · Interstate 80
EV charging — from Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.4 mi straight-line S — North Platte, NE - Tesla Supercharger (at a restaurant) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 7 within 50 · 16 within 100 · 48 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS3.5 mi — Walmart 1585 (North Platte, NE), North Platte
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO3.5 mi — Walmart 1585 (North Platte, NE), North Platte
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.7 mi — SWTCH Energy Inc., North Platte, NE (at an apartment building) · SWTCH · J1772 · 3 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, no confirmation date on the record · 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 222343 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaSutherland Rest Area Westbound · ~15.9 mi W
- Highway rest areaSutherland Rest Area Eastbound · ~16.3 mi W
- Highway rest areaBrady Rest Area Eastbound · ~19.6 mi SE
- Highway rest areaBrady Rest Area Westbound · ~19.6 mi SE
Coming out here — Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Platte River as an area of complex channels (no flow class in the record), ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1% — flat. 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 ~1.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a yard track. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~1.6 mi from the pin. 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 80 is mapped ~3.7 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 Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA elsewhere
Other camps near Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Birdwood Lake WMA~4.3 mi
- Muskrat Run WMA~6.0 mi
- East Hershey WMA~6.5 mi
- Fremont Slough WMA~7.9 mi
Who holds the land at Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists 2 overlapping holdings at this pin: Buffalo Bill State Recreation Area, manager on record: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (state) · Buffalo Bill Ranch State Recreation Area, manager on record: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
Permit
A valid park entry permit is required for all vehicles entering a state park area. Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $7, annual permit $35. Non-Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $14, annual permit $70.
Source
Nebraska Game & Parks (state parks and recreation areas)
Confidence
Agency-confirmed — The managing agency's own record names this as a campsite and puts it at these coordinates. About as good as it gets short of standing here.
How it was placed
Camping confirmed on the park's own NGPC page, https://outdoornebraska.gov/location/buffalo-bill/, read 2026-08-17. Point from the NGPC Parks_Locations FeatureServer (https://services5.arcgis.com/IOshH1zLrIieqrNk/arcgis/rest/services/Parks_Locations/FeatureServer/0), the layer behind the agency's Public Access Atlas; it is a park-level point and may not sit on the campground loop. NGPC statewide rates, https://outdoornebraska.gov/parks/park-pricing/ (read 2026-08-17): camping Primitive $10/night year-round, Basic $15, Electric $25, Electric Plus $30, Full Hookup $35; off-season (roughly mid-Oct to Apr) all tiers $5 less except primitive, which stays $10. A park entry permit is required on top of the camping fee: $7/day or $35/year on a Nebraska-plated vehicle, $14/day or $70/year otherwise. Lake McConaughy and Smith Falls are the two parks priced off this card. Stay limits are posted per park -- several NGPC pages state 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period; confirm on site. Modern facilities (showers, dump/fill, full hookups) are generally closed mid-Oct through April. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go. | nightshift-verified 2026-08-18: RE-FETCHED the park page https://outdoornebraska.gov/location/buffalo-bill/ today (HTTP 200) and it STILL states camping. Camping detail read off that page today: Electric Plus, Electric and Basic camping; 23 camping pads with electricity (18 with 30-amp, 5 with 50-amp) plus 8 non-pad Basic campsites; 8 tent camping areas with grills and tables. NGPC statewide rates were NOT re-read this fire; the rate text already in this note dates from 2026-08-17 and should be re-checked before it is quoted on a page.
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 Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
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 — Buffalo Bill Ranch SRA
Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Power off-grid →All field notes →