Cimarron National Grassland (dispersed camping)

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

AREA RULE: USFS Forest Order 02-12-00-24-06, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands Occupancy and Use Prohibitions, effective 2024-04-05 through 2026-12-01 (https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/nfs/files/r02/psicc/publication/alerts/fseprd1170908.pdf, read 2026-08-16). Grassland-wide prohibitions, quoted: (1) 'Camping at any location within the same 20-mile radius for more than 14 days within any continuous 30-day period'; (2) 'Camping within 100 feet of a body of water (such as a lake, stream, pond, or river) unless in a Forest Service developed recreation site or designated dispersed site.' Prohibitions 3 (fires) and 4 ('Camping except in developed recreation sites') apply ONLY inside the areas listed on Exhibits D and F. Exhibit F (https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/nfs/files/r02/psicc/publication/alerts/Cimarron%20National%20Grassland%20Table%20%28Exhibit%20F%29.pdf, read 2026-08-16, revised 2024-01-30) lists exactly four named sites: Point of Rocks Overlook (#4, no camping), Cimarron Overlook (#4, no camping), Middle Spring Picnic Area (#3, fires only in FS-provided metal grates) and Cottonwood Picnic Area (#3, same). Everywhere else on the 108,175-acre grassland, dispersed camping is not prohibited by this order. Fee basis: the Forest Service's own record for Cimarron Recreation Area (USFS EDW 'Recreation Opportunities' layer, RECAREAID 12417, read 2026-08-16) gives FEEDESCRIPTION 'No entry fee for the recreation area. Campground is $7 per night.' The only priced sites on the grassland are Cimarron Campground ($7/night) and Cimarron Group Site ($38). No fee is published for dispersed camping. Coordinates and per-site restriction text: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse, https://apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecreationOpportunities_01/MapServer/0, queried 2026-08-16 for the Kansas bounding box (15 features, all Cimarron National Grassland). CAVEAT: this row is an AREA-LEVEL anchor at the grassland's own published point (37.13942, -101.79416), NOT a surveyed campsite. The Forest Service publishes no designated dispersed sites for this grassland -- the MVUM roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01 layer 1, 519 Kansas segments queried 2026-08-16) carries no dispersed-camping attribute at all. NOTE the order expires 2026-12-01; re-check before publishing after that date. NEAREST TOWN: Richfield, 8.7 mi (straight line), from the Census TIGER incorporated-places layer KDWP hosts at https://services1.arcgis.com/q2CglofYX6ACNEeu/arcgis/rest/services/IncorporatedPlaces/FeatureServer/0 , queried 2026-08-16. | 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.

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.

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.