★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Geary County
Drive-up · public land · Geary County, KS · 38.89668, -96.85507
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
A recreation area next to a lake in Kansas where overnight camping is allowed. Features picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets. Popular destination for boaters, fishermen, and picnickers. A reasonably short drive from interstate so it's a convenient place to stay if driving cross-country. Poor cell service. Enough room for multiple vehicles. Recommended due to convenience.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 2 June 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Geary County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,202 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Geary CountyNIFC · 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 Geary County · public land · KS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- WWater9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- AAir-up10 mi
- ShShower14 mi
- DDump15 mi
- RxPharmacy19 mi
- MMechanic19 mi
- EVEV fast charger20 mi
- LLaundry25 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 mi out.
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 — Geary County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
1,202 ft
Ground slope
8.1% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~5.9 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~7.1 mi · Interstate 70
County
Geary County, KS
Coordinates
38.89668, -96.85507
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Geary County · public land · KS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureGeary County State Lake · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Geary State Fishing Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSkiddy · ~3.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~7.1 mi · Interstate 70
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.2 mi
- FuelConoco · ~8.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.0 mi
- GroceriesSapp Bros · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacyPatterson Healthcare Pharmacy · ~19.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicStormont Vail - Flint Hills Campus · ~8.1 mi
- HardwareLondeen's Do-it Best · ~10.2 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Geary County · public land · KS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.5 mi straight-line W — Abilene, KS Rechargery Relay - Buckeye Ave · IONNA · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 10 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 16 within 50 · 52 within 100 · 132 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO26.9 mi — MAX HYUNDAI MAX MOTORS WEST, Manhattan
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)15.8 mi — HERINGTON EV 1 · 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 390102 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Geary County · public land · KS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 26 · ~17.1 mi NE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 27 · ~17.4 mi NE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 20 · ~29.1 mi W
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 21 · ~29.1 mi W
Coming out here — Geary County · public land · KS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Geary County State Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 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 8.1% — noticeable. 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 ~5.9 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.
- Interstate 70 is mapped ~7.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Geary County elsewhere
Other camps near Geary County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Geary State Fishing Lake~0.6 mi
Who holds the land at Geary County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Geary State Fishing Lake And Wildlife Area, manager on record: a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Geary County
Source
Dave's own travels
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
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Geary County, KS). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 2 June 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Geary 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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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