Agency-listedNPSFee
Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
Drive-up · National Park Service · WY · 44.96259, -108.26184
Inside a national park unit
Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) sits inside Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area — a national recreation area run by the National Park Service.
Park rules apply, and they are stricter than dispersed camping: inside a National Park Service unit you camp in a designated campground or on a backcountry permit, not wherever you find a flat spot. Check the park before you go: nps.gov/bica ↗
Placed by point-in-polygon against the National Park Service’s own boundary layer (NPS Land Resources Division, 442 units, fetched 18 Sep 2026; this unit’s polygon edited 2024-09-06). Nothing about the price or the legal status on this page was changed by it.
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 →National Park Service 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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,737 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)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 Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) · National Park Service · WY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump0 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- @Mail16 mi
- FFuel28 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- HHardware28 mi
- +Urgent care29 mi
- LLaundry42 mi
- RxPharmacy49 mi
- EVEV fast charger49 mi
- OOutfitter50 mi
- ShShower50 mi
- WWater51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 51-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 49-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 — Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
Access
Drive-up
Land
National Park Service
Elevation
3,737 ft
Ground slope
3.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~6.7 mi · main line
State
WY
Coordinates
44.96259, -108.26184
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) · National Park Service · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBighorn Lake · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townLovell · ~10.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~27.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~0.2 mi
- GroceriesRed Apple · ~10.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicSerenity Pregnancy Resource Center · ~28.6 mi
- HardwarePowell Ace Hardware · ~28.2 mi
EV charging — from Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) · National Park Service · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger49.3 mi straight-line SW — DENNY MENHOLT CHEVROLET BUICK GMC, CODY, WY · EV Connect · 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 · 1 within 50 · 10 within 100 · 29 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)54.3 mi — Laurel, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Laurel
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO56.0 mi — Denny Menholt Nissan, Billings
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)47.8 mi — Fremont Ford Cody · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Shell WY Tesla Chargers - Tesla Destination, Shell, 37.8 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 330020 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) · National Park Service · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomBLDG Horseshoe Bend Loop A Comfort Station · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomBLDG Horseshoe Bend Loop B Comfort Station · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomBLDG Horseshoe Bend Comfort Station · ~0.3 mi S · NPS
- RestroomBLDG Devil Canyon Floating Comfort Station · ~3.8 mi N · NPS
Coming out here — Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) · National Park Service · WY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Bighorn Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.3 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 3.2% — 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 ~6.7 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.
- 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 Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA) elsewhere
Other camps near Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #88~14.7 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #552~14.9 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #563~15.2 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #579~15.4 mi
How we know this — Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
Source
National Park Service recreation data
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
The first National Park Service camping row we have carried anywhere in Wyoming. Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, 14 miles north of Lovell, WY via WY Hwy 37, overlooking Bighorn Lake and the red sandstone of Sykes Mountain. NO PARK ENTRANCE FEE: the park's fees page (read 2026-08-17) says "An entrance pass is not required to access Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area" and "As of May 25, 2018, Bighorn Canyon has suspended their fee program." CAMPING FEE, NPS's own words: "Improved sites $35 per night - no discounts apply. Unimproved sites $17 per night - with a NPS Senior Pass, discounted price is $9 per night." SITES: "the 68 campsites of the Horseshoe Bend Campground ... There are 28 large RV/boat sites that have water and electrical hook ups. Eight of the improved sites have wind fences. The remaining sites were left unchanged and are a perfect fit for small RVs or tents." RUN BY A CONTRACTOR, NOT NPS: "Horseshoe Bend Campground is run under a commercial use authorization by Hidden Treasure Charters" -- (307) 899-1401. PAYMENT: iron rangers near the bathrooms in each loop, cash or check made out to Hidden Treasure Charters; card accepted at Horseshoe Bend Marina for an extra 4%. First-come first-served except 10 reservable sites. COORDINATE: the mean of NPS's own 20 full-hook-up campsite points from the NPS Public POIs national dataset, so the pin sits in the IMPROVED loop, not at the centre of all 68 sites. ALSO WORTH KNOWING -- FREE CAMPING IN THIS PARK: NPS says "Dispersed/ backcountry camping is allowed on Bighorn Lake below the high water mark of 3640 feet elevation in undeveloped areas ... Dispersed/ backcountry camping is free and does not require a permit." NPS names no specific spot, so it is not pinned here. SOURCE: https://www.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/horseshoe-bend-campground.htm and https://www.nps.gov/bica/planyourvisit/fees.htm | 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 Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
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 — Horseshoe Bend Campground (Bighorn Canyon NRA)
Water on public land →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Leave no trace →All field notes →