Agency-listedODWCFree
East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
Drive-up · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK · 35.90149, -99.60550
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 →Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife 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.
A designated primitive camping area on Packsaddle WMA, mapped by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation itself. There is no camping fee, but everyone 18 or older who enters ODWC land needs a Wildlife Conservation Passport ($26 for three days, $46 a year for residents) unless exempt. Camping is capped at 16 consecutive days and no more than 21 days in any 30. Expect nothing: bare ground. No drinking water is published here. Nearest town is Leedey, about 14.6 miles as the crow flies.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,242 ft.
Fire & smoke — around East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)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 East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) · Packsaddle WMA · OK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel15 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- @Mail15 mi
- RxPharmacy20 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- WWater20 mi
- MMechanic20 mi
- +Urgent care35 mi
- EVEV fast charger36 mi
- HHardware37 mi
- ShShower38 mi
- AAir-up54 mi
- DDump57 mi
- OOutfitter57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 20-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 15 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 36-mi run (and back).
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 — East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
Access
Drive-up
Land
Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife
Elevation
2,242 ft
Ground slope
3.5% · gentle
State
OK
Coordinates
35.90149, -99.60550
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) · Packsaddle WMA · OK (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townLeedey · ~14.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelBison Shortstop · ~14.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesBison Shortstop · ~14.6 mi
- PharmacyCheyenne Professional Drug · ~20.2 mi
EV charging — from East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) · Packsaddle WMA · OK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger36.4 mi straight-line S — Hutch's - Tesla Supercharger (Francis Energy), Elk City, OK (at a gas station) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 5 within 50 · 15 within 100 · 109 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO37.7 mi — Northwestern EC, Woodward
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)37.7 mi — Northwestern EC, Woodward, OK · FCN · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.48 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 466519 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) · Packsaddle WMA · OK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Kettle Picnic · ~12.2 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Kettle Boating Site · ~12.2 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Kettle · ~12.4 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSpring Creek Cg · ~15.9 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) · Packsaddle WMA · OK
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.5% — gentle. 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.
- 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 East Unit (Packsaddle WMA) elsewhere
Other camps near East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Shahan (Packsaddle WMA)~3.2 mi
- Dunn Unit Camp 2 (Packsaddle WMA)~5.0 mi
- Hulbert (Packsaddle WMA)~5.3 mi
- Dunn Unit Camp 1 (Packsaddle WMA)~5.8 mi
The unit that manages East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
East Unit is in Packsaddle WMA, a wildlife management area managed by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
Fire rules
Fires shall be confined to those areas designated for camping and shall be contained in fireplaces, fire rings, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose. Fires shall not be left unattended and must be completely extinguished prior to departure.
Stay limit
16 nights (limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days)
Area rules
Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas during open hunting seasons.
Source
public land records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
AREA RULE (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/public-hunting-areas-special-regulations, read 2026-08-16): ODWC Special Regulations heading "Packsaddle WMA" (county: Ellis) -- Additional Restrictions, verbatim: "Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas during open hunting seasons." LEGAL BASIS -- ODWC Department-Managed Area Rules, https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/department-managed-area-rules, read 2026-08-16, verbatim: "Camping is limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days, and for no more than 21 days total in any 30-day period on the same WMA. Camping on these areas is limited to two days longer than the period the camper (hunter) is authorized to hunt. Leaving a campsite unattended for a period longer than 48 hours is prohibited. Unattended camp items will be removed. Quiet hours are enforced from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. All dogs or other pets must be kept on a leash or otherwise confined while in camping areas." FIRE -- same page, verbatim: "Fires shall be confined to those areas designated for camping and shall be contained in fireplaces, fire rings, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose. Fires shall not be left unattended and must be completely extinguished prior to departure." ODWC does not publish a statewide seasonal fire ban on this page; Oklahoma county burn bans are issued separately and are not reflected here. Also verbatim from that page: "Public lands not specifically listed as open are closed." Read the area's own regulation before you go. THIS IS NOT A FEE-FREE PLACE TO ENTER -- fee=0 on this row means ODWC publishes NO per-night camping charge, not that access is free. ODWC's license fee table (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/licensing/regs/license-fees, read 2026-08-16) states verbatim that an "Annual Wildlife Conservation Passport" is "Required of all persons 18 or older who enter Department owned lands, regardless of residency, unless exempt" at $46 for residents and $239 for nonresidents, and a "3-Day Wildlife Conservation Passport" at $26 / $51. A separate $100 / $200 "Land Access Permit" is "Required for residents ages 18 to 63, and nonresidents of any age, including lifetime license holders to access certain ODWC managed properties." ODWC's fee table says "unless exempt" but does not list the exemptions on that page, so we do not state who is exempt. Treat this as: budget for a permit, and check odwc before you drive. ODWC camp type: "Primitive". Restroom per ODWC: No. Showers per ODWC: No. Picnic area per ODWC: No. Grills per ODWC: No. WATER: ODWC's layer carries no drinking-water field for camping areas and this row claims none. Do not treat any lake, creek or pond near these sites as potable. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: latitude and longitude are ODWC's own, from its public ArcGIS service https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/server/rest/services/PublicWILMA/WILMAFeatures/MapServer/4 (layer 4, 'Camping Areas'), queried 2026-08-16 with where=1=1 outSR=4326. Every ingested point carries OPENTOPUBL='Yes' in that layer. No geocoding was used. Nearest town: Leedey ~14.6 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance -- on a Corps lake shoreline or in the Ouachitas the road in is routinely two or three times longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published. | 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.
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 East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
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.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — East Unit (Packsaddle WMA)
Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Hot-weather camping →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →