Agency-listedKDWPFree
Hain State Fishing Lake
Drive-up · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS · 37.85472, -99.85587
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 →Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & 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.
Small Kansas State Fishing Lake about 5 miles north and 8 miles east of Dodge City, managed by the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks -- 20 acres of upland and a 35-acre shallow lake that is primarily a waterfowl marsh. KDWP's own page says "Camping is allowed on the area, but there are few facilities and no restroom is available," and KDWP states there is currently no cost to camp at its state fishing lakes and wildlife areas -- free, first-come first-served, no reservations, camping in designated areas only, 7 consecutive nights maximum (then five days off the area). GO IN WITH YOUR EYES OPEN: there is NO TOILET and no drinking water, KDWP says the lake "may go dry during drought periods," and the area is CLOSED TO VEHICLE TRAFFIC DURING WATERFOWL SEASONS -- when the gates are shut it is walk-in only from the parking lots at the two entrances. The pin is KDWP's own east information center and parking area; KDWP does not publish a coordinate for the camping spot itself, so read the information board at the entrance to see where camping is designated. Pack everything in and out. A fishing license is required only if you fish. Confirm the current rules with KDWP before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hain State Fishing Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,409 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hain State Fishing LakeNIFC · 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 Hain State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- +Urgent care5 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- HHardware33 mi
- LLaundry47 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 10 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 — Hain State Fishing Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Elevation
2,409 ft
Ground slope
4.8% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~3.1 mi · main line
State
KS
Coordinates
37.85472, -99.85587
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hain State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHains Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townSpearville · ~5.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFlying J · ~9.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesFarmers Country Market · ~10.7 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~16.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicCommonSpirit - St. Catherine Hospital - Dodge City · ~10.0 mi
EV charging — from Hain State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.1 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 · 8 within 100 · 42 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)29.9 mi — MCFADDEN MCFADDEN 2, Bloom
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO78.0 mi — Walmart 664 (Hays, KS), Hays
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)54.8 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, 35.2 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 Hain State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 31 · ~25.1 mi S
Coming out here — Hain State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Hains 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 4.8% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~3.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak service on it. 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 Hain State Fishing Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Hain State Fishing Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Free camping~4.1 mi
- Hodgeman State Fishing Lake~13.5 mi
Who holds the land at Hain State Fishing Lake
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Hain State Fishing Lake and Wildlife Area, manager on record: Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Hain State Fishing Lake
Stay limit
7 nights (7-consecutive-night limit)
Source
Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks (state fishing lakes)
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
KDWP's OWN page https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/about-kdwp/where-we-work/state-fishing-lakes/hain-state-fishing-lake (read 2026-07-28) states camping is allowed/permitted on this area; coordinate is KDWP's own published "Location of Facility" decimal-degree value on that same page (not OSM, not a listing site) -- an Overpass sweep found no mapped camp/toilet/parking object here. FREE confirmed by KDWP itself at https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/outdoor-activities/kansas-state-parks/make-a-campsite-or-cabin-reservation: "There is currently no cost to camp at state fishing lakes and wildlife areas." No entry/vehicle permit applies: https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/licenses-permits-fees/kansas-state-park-entrance-and-camping-fees restricts the State Park Vehicle Permit ($5/day, $25/yr) and the $10/night camping permit to STATE PARKS. 7-consecutive-night limit + 5-day absence per KDWP (https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/programs-services/law-enforcement/regulations-statutes). County Ford County, KS confirmed by Nominatim reverse geocode of the pin and by KDWP's own directions. Not visited. Night-shift backlog ingest 2026-07-28 22:15:44. | 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 Hain State Fishing Lake
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 — Hain State Fishing Lake
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Reading your camp page →All field notes →