Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Free camping
Drive-up · public land · KS · 37.82386, -99.92084
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Free camping
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,473 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Free campingNIFC · 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 Free camping · public land · KS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- HHardware29 mi
- LLaundry50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Water, Dump, 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 — Free camping
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
2,473 ft
Ground slope
2.1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~3.2 mi · other track
State
KS
Coordinates
37.82386, -99.92084
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Free camping · public land · KS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFord County Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townWright · ~3.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.2 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFlying J · ~5.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesFarmers Country Market · ~6.5 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~18.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicCommonSpirit - St. Catherine Hospital - Dodge City · ~5.9 mi
EV charging — from Free camping · public land · KS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.1 mi straight-line SW — Lewis Chevrolet of Dodge City - DCFC · Blink Network · CCS · 2 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 · 3 within 50 · 9 within 100 · 46 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)27.0 mi — MCFADDEN MCFADDEN 1, Bloom
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO81.4 mi — Walmart 664 (Hays, KS), Hays
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)51.6 mi — Lewis Nissan, Garden City, KS (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-01-13 · hours: Dealership business hours
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — The Big Well Museum Visitor Info Center Greensburg - Tesla Destination, Greensburg, 37.4 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 457557 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Free camping · public land · KS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 31 · ~23.0 mi S
Coming out here — Free camping · public land · KS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Ford County 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 2.1% — 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 ~3.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~3.3 mi from the pin. 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Free camping elsewhere
Other camps near Free camping
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Hain State Fishing Lake~4.1 mi
- Hodgeman State Fishing Lake~16.3 mi
Who holds the land at Free camping
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Ford State Fishing Lake and Wildlife Area, manager on record: Ford County Public Works (local government). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Free camping
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Free camping
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