Agency-listedUSACE · dispersedFree
Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)
Drive-up · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS · 37.33715, -95.43843
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 →U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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.
The only free camping the Corps of Engineers appears to offer in Kansas. Big Hill Lake's 17-mile horse trail has three parking areas that the Corps says may be used for overnight camping by trail riders. It is an equestrian-oriented gravel lot, not a campground -- no hookups, no fee booth, limited facilities.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 883 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)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 Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump5 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- ShShower19 mi
- WWater24 mi
- AAir-up44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 24-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · dispersed
Elevation
883 ft
Ground slope
1.5% · flat
Nearest rail line
~4.7 mi · main line
State
KS
Coordinates
37.33715, -95.43843
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Hill Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelPump 'N Pete's · ~8.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~4.9 mi
- GroceriesG & W · ~7.9 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~8.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~8.6 mi
- HardwareHardware · ~9.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.8 mi straight-line E — EVERGY @PRSONCITY-437A, Parsons, KS · 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 reach2 within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 76 within 100 · 211 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)53.9 mi — Joplin, MO - Highway 43 - Tesla Supercharger, Joplin
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.8 mi — EVERGY @PRSONCITY-436A, Parsons, KS · 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 333502 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 37 · ~5.0 mi W
Coming out here — Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · KS
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Hill Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 1.5% — 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 ~4.7 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.
- 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 Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake) elsewhere
Other camps near Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Neosho State Fishing Lake~14.4 mi
- Montgomery State Fishing Lake~18.4 mi
How we know this — Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill Lake)
Stay limit
None published
Source
public land records
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
AREA RULE: US Army Corps of Engineers, Corps Lakes Gateway project page for Big Hill Lake, https://corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/projects.cfm?ID=M501450 , read 2026-08-16. Quoted: 'Other features of the lake include the Big Hill Lake Horse Trail. This trail is 17 miles long ... It also offers tethering areas and three parking area which are equipped with limited facilities and may be used for overnight camping by trail riders.' The same page's area table marks Cherryvale Park, Down Stream Point, Mound Valley, Overlook and Timber Hill Park with a fee symbol and Hwy 160 Horse Trail without one. FEE CORROBORATION: USACE Tulsa District Recreation (SWT) feature service, https://services8.arcgis.com/GvI5dZtQIoT0Fznq/arcgis/rest/services/District_Recreation_Features_SWT/FeatureServer/42 , queried 2026-08-16 -- the recreation feature at 37.33715, -95.43843 carries feeIndicator='no'. COORDINATE: the same service's Trailheads layer (0) puts 'HWY 160 HORSE TRAIL NORTH CAMP TO WEST RAE BRIDGE SIGN' at 37.33736, -95.43856 and the east sign at 37.33629, -95.43847, i.e. the no-fee feature sits between the two signs; the layer's own name for this spot contains 'NORTH CAMP'. CAVEAT 1: the Corps wording restricts overnight use to 'trail riders' -- a reviewer should decide whether we present this to non-equestrian campers. CAVEAT 2: the Corps names three horse-trail parking areas but publishes a no-fee point for only this one, so only one row is created. CAVEAT 3: nwk.usace.army.mil and swt.usace.army.mil both return HTTP 403 to this network, so the lake's own USACE district page could not be read to confirm a stay limit. No stay limit is recorded. NEAREST TOWN: Cherryvale, 7.9 mi (straight line), from the Census TIGER incorporated-places layer KDWP hosts at https://services1.arcgis.com/q2CglofYX6ACNEeu/arcgis/rest/services/IncorporatedPlaces/FeatureServer/0 , queried 2026-08-16. | 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 Hwy 160 Horse Trail North Camp (Big Hill 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