Agency-listedNGPCFee
Chadron SP
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.70921, -103.01906
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 Park (NGPC), Dawes County. The park's own page says: "Chadron State Park offers Electric Plus and Basic campsites year-round. Amenities for campers include showers, dump station, laundry, picnic tables, grills and a playground for the kids." The park's own page does not mention water. Assume none and carry your own; treat all natural water here as NOT potable. NOTE FOR REVIEW: our map already carries 'Red Cloud' about 1.21 mi away (later) -- check these are genuinely different places to camp. NOTE FOR REVIEW: our map already carries 'Red Cloud Campground' about 1.16 mi away (published) -- check these are genuinely different places to camp.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Chadron SP
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,009 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Chadron SPNIFC · 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 Chadron SP · Nebraska National Forest · NE
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump0 mi
- ShShower0 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- WWater9 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Chadron SP
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
4,009 ft
Ground slope
28.2% · steep
Nearest rail line
~8.6 mi · main line
State
NE
Coordinates
42.70921, -103.01906
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Chadron SP · Nebraska National Forest · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureChadron Creek · ~0.5 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townChadron · ~8.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.6 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~9.0 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~0.5 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~8.1 mi
- PharmacyPetersen Drug · ~8.3 mi
- HardwareArrow Building Center · ~8.2 mi
EV charging — from Chadron SP · Nebraska National Forest · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.3 mi straight-line N — NPPD EV STATION CHDRN BGBTS DCS, Chadron, NE · 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 reach2 within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 16 within 100 · 40 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)72.8 mi — Lusk, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Lusk
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.8 mi — CCH 825 CCH 2, Chadron, NE · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 311796 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Chadron SP · Nebraska National Forest · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRed Cloud · ~1.2 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCliffs · ~4.5 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRoberts Tract · ~7.0 mi W · USFS
- RestroomBox Butte Recreation Management Area -Precast Restroom Building · ~17.2 mi S · BoR
Coming out here — Chadron SP · Nebraska National Forest · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Chadron Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.5 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.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 28.2% — steep. 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 ~8.6 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.
- 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 Chadron SP elsewhere
Other camps near Chadron SP
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Red Cloud Campground~1.2 mi · fee
- Chadron Creek Ranch WMA~2.9 mi
- Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest~4.1 mi
- Roberts Tract~7.0 mi · fee
The unit that manages Chadron SP
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Chadron SP are set by Nebraska National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Chadron SP
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/chadron/, 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/chadron/ today (HTTP 200) and it STILL states camping. Camping detail read off that page today: Electric Plus and Basic campsites year-round; showers, dump station, laundry, picnic tables, grills, playground; Iron Ranger self-pay for first-come sites. 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 Chadron SP
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 — Chadron SP
Reading a forest MVUM →Fire rules & restrictions →Gear & rig loadout →Off-grid communication →All field notes →