Agency-listedKDWPFree
Hamilton State Fishing Lake
Drive-up · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS · 38.02687, -101.81876
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.
Kansas State Fishing Lake & Wildlife Area on the shortgrass prairie of far western Kansas, managed by the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks. KDWP's own page says "Camping is permitted; however only primitive facilities are available on the area," 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 you must be off the area for five days). TWO THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO. First, OPEN FIRES ARE NOT PERMITTED here -- that is KDWP's own posted rule, so plan on a stove, not a campfire. Second, DO NOT COUNT ON THE LAKE: KDWP says this corner of Kansas averages only about 18 inches of rain a year and "the lake is dry more often than not." Bring all your own water. There is an ADA-compliant vault toilet and a concrete boat ramp; vehicles must stay on the established gravel roads and parking areas, and a no-trash policy is in effect, so pack everything out. A fishing license is required only if you fish. Confirm current rules and where camping is allowed with KDWP or the area information board before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hamilton State Fishing Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,318 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hamilton 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 Hamilton 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
- MMechanic4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- DDump13 mi
- @Mail27 mi
- RxPharmacy32 mi
- LLaundry44 mi
- EVEV fast charger44 mi
- OOutfitter44 mi
- AAir-up45 mi
- +Urgent care52 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 5 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 44-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 — Hamilton State Fishing Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks
Elevation
3,318 ft
Ground slope
2% · flat
Nearest rail line
~2.0 mi · main line
State
KS
Coordinates
38.02687, -101.81876
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hamilton State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePlum Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Hamilton County State Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMedway · ~3.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.0 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesSyracuse Food Center · ~5.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicHamilton County Hospital · ~5.1 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
EV charging — from Hamilton State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger43.7 mi straight-line W — HION NETWORK LAMAR DC1 · 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 · 4 within 50 · 21 within 100 · 42 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)43.7 mi — Lamar, CO - Tesla Supercharger, Lamar
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)30.9 mi — Santa Fe Trail Liquor, Lakin, KS · Blink Network · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 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 252180 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hamilton State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaHolly Rest Area · ~12.8 mi W
Coming out here — Hamilton State Fishing Lake · Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks · KS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Plum Creek 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% — 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 ~2.0 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 Hamilton State Fishing Lake elsewhere
Who holds the land at Hamilton State Fishing Lake
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Hamilton 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 — Hamilton State Fishing Lake
Stay limit
7 nights (7-consecutive-night limit)
Source
Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks (state fishing lakes)
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
KDWP's OWN page https://www.ksoutdoors.gov/about-kdwp/where-we-work/state-fishing-lakes/hamilton-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 Hamilton 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.
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 Hamilton 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 — Hamilton State Fishing Lake
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Off-grid communication →All field notes →