Agency-listedCountyFree
Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
Drive-up · public land · MN · 44.46180, -94.51058
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 →The land manager 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.
PAY THE DONATION: overnight camping here is free of charge, but Sibley County asks for a suggested $10/night (and $3 for day use) dropped in the donation box in the park -- leave it so it stays free for the next traveler. BEFORE YOU GO you MUST call the Sibley County Sheriff's Office at 507-237-4330 (or 888-880-4567) to get permission for overnight camping -- paper permits are no longer required but that call is. Sibley County caps camping at 10 days. Clear Lake Park is a 42-acre Sibley County park in the farm country south of Gibbon in southwest Minnesota (33150 615 Avenue, Gibbon; from Gibbon go south on County 2 about 3.5 miles, then County 8 about a mile to the park signs). The whole west side of the park runs along Clear Lake, so there is swimming, boating, a boat access and fishing, plus a playground. Camping is PRIMITIVE: a picnic shelter, a water well, porta-potties (May 1-Nov 1), grills and tables, and NO electricity -- come self-contained, good for tents or a self-contained RV. Camping season is May 1 through November 1. These county parks are quiet, primitive, no-electricity spots in the farm country southwest of the Twin Cities -- the deal is the same one small towns offer: camp free (leave the donation), and be a good enough guest that it stays open for the next traveler. Rules change and we have not visited; confirm the current rules with Sibley County before you rely on this.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,024 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Clear Lake Park (Sibley 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 Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- WWater6 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- PPropane10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- DDump11 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- +Urgent care28 mi
- AAir-up28 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 mi out.
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 — Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
1,024 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~4.9 mi · main line
State
MN
Coordinates
44.46180, -94.51058
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureClear Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Judicial Ditch Number One (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townGibbon · ~5.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.9 mi
- FuelCenex · ~5.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~11.0 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~9.2 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~10.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicNew Ulm Medical Center · ~10.4 mi
- HardwareAll-Stor Public Storage · ~8.9 mi
EV charging — from Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.7 mi straight-line S — Chuck Spaeth Ford, New Ulm, MN (at a public site) · FORD_CHARGE · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 18 within 50 · 191 within 100 · 274 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)29.0 mi — Saint Peter, MN - Tesla Supercharger, Saint Peter
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO29.5 mi — HUTCH UTILITIES DC FAST 2, Hutchinson
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.1 mi — WINTHROP DT CITY LOT 2 · 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 358380 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Clear Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~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.
- 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 ~4.9 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 Clear Lake Park (Sibley County) elsewhere
Other camps near Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
How we know this — Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
Stay limit
10 nights (The maximum amount of days allowed to camp is ten days)
Source
public land records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FREE STATUS IS OFFICIAL (donation-based) via the COUNTY's own pages. Sibley County Camping-Permits page https://www.sibleycounty.gov/305/Camping-Permits and the Clear Lake Park detail page https://www.sibleycounty.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Clear-Lake-Park-3 (both fetched 2026-07-22) state verbatim: "Camping is permitted at the following Sibley County parks: Clear Lake, High Island, Rush River"; "Suggested donations are $10.00 for over night camping & $3.00 for day use. A donation box is located in the park"; "The maximum amount of days allowed to camp is ten days"; "you must call the Sibley County Sheriff's office at 507-237-4330 to obtain permission for overnight camping"; "Overnight camping starts May 1st and goes through November 1st". Detail page gives address 33150 615 Avenue, Gibbon MN 55335; 42 acres; amenities "picnic shelter, water well, porta-potties, grills and tables, no electricity". Suggested-donation => fee=0. COORDINATE: OpenStreetMap camp_site NODE 7160750798 (an exact point, no centroid), which Nominatim resolves to "Clear Lake Park, 33150 615th Avenue, Gibbon, Sibley County, MN 55335" -- IDENTICAL to the county page address -> 44.4618014,-94.5105785. NOTE/DISCREPANCY: that OSM node carries fee=yes, but the county's OWN page states a SUGGESTED donation (not a mandatory fee) with a donation box, so fee=0 is honest and the OSM tag is treated as a mapper reading the donation box as a fee. confidence='high' (county's own page). Not visited. Verified 2026-07-22.
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 Clear Lake Park (Sibley 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.
- 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 — Clear Lake Park (Sibley County)
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →