Agency-listedNGPCFee
Cottonwood Lake SRA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.91228, -101.67483
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), Cherry County. The park's own page says: "Cottonwood Lake SRA offers Basic and Primitive campsites. There are 30 Basic campsites, all of which are located along the shoreline and near mature trees. Water and primitive toilets are available to campers. A water hydrant is available from May 1 through Oct. 1. There is no dump and fill station. All camping at Cottonwood SRA is all first-come, first-served. Campers 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 a water pump/hydrant in the campground. That is the agency's claim about a developed pump, not a field check. Treat all natural water here as NOT potable.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Cottonwood Lake SRA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,240 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Cottonwood Lake 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 Cottonwood Lake 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
- @Mail1 mi
- FFuel18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- GGrocery18 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- LLaundry55 mi
- ShShower55 mi
- MMechanic57 mi
- DDump59 mi
- EVEV fast charger68 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 18 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 68-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Water, 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 — Cottonwood Lake SRA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
3,240 ft
State
NE
Coordinates
42.91228, -101.67483
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Cottonwood Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCottonwood Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~18.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesLynn's Dakotamart · ~18.2 mi
- PharmacyMartin Drug and Mercantile · ~18.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicLacreek District Indian Health Service Clinic · ~18.1 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~18.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Cottonwood Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger68.2 mi straight-line W — NPPD EV STATION CHDRN BGBTS DCN, 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 reachnone within 25 mi · none within 50 · 10 within 100 · 37 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)80.0 mi — Wall, SD - Tesla Supercharger, Wall
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)51.6 mi — GismoPower MEGA - Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, Pine Ridge, SD (at an office building) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-01-13 · hours: 8am-5pm 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 311797 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Cottonwood Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~18.5 mi N · FWS
- RestroomNiobrara River Canoe Launch · ~28.9 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Cottonwood Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Cottonwood Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Cottonwood Lake SRA elsewhere
Other camps near Cottonwood Lake SRA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Shell Lake WMA~18.4 mi
Who holds the land at Cottonwood Lake SRA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Cottonwood Lake 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 — Cottonwood Lake 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/cottonwood-lake/, 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/cottonwood-lake/ today (HTTP 200) and it STILL states camping. Camping detail read off that page today: Basic and Primitive campsites; all camping first-come, first-served; Iron Ranger self-pay. 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 Cottonwood Lake 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 — Cottonwood Lake SRA
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →