Agency-listedIllinois DNRFee
Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
Hike-in · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL · 39.98245, -90.06710
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 →Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources 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 Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 614 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter CampNIFC · 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 Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- ShShower0 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- @Mail9 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- RxPharmacy20 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- +Urgent care20 mi
- AAir-up22 mi
- EVEV fast charger22 mi
- WWater22 mi
- LLaundry24 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
- PPropane32 mi
- DDump33 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 22-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 7 mi out.
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 — Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
Access
Hike-in
Land
Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources
Elevation
614 ft
Ground slope
0.8% · flat
Nearest rail line
~9.1 mi · main line
State
IL
Coordinates
39.98245, -90.06710
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCasey's General Store · ~7.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~7.8 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~19.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicMemorial Health Systems · ~20.3 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~20.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger21.8 mi straight-line N — Red Lion Motor Lodge, Havana, IL (at a hotel) · UNIVERSAL · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-08-12 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 26 within 50 · 201 within 100 · 371 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.7 mi — Springfield, IL - West Jefferson Street - Tesla Supercharger, Springfield
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO26.2 mi — GREEN AUTO FRONT CHARGE 1, Springfield
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.9 mi — Inclusion City, Pleasant Plains, IL · Blink 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 416752 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~25.6 mi N · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~25.6 mi N · FWS
- RestroomS-34 Visitor Center · ~25.7 mi SE · NPS
- Highway rest areaRailsplitter SB · ~25.7 mi E
Coming out here — Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp · Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources · IL
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- About the name: this site is called Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp, but no named stream, river or lake is mapped near the pin — none within 1 mi in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset and none named within 1.6 mi in our OpenStreetMap pull. Either the creek is not on those maps or it is further off than the name suggests.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.8% — 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 ~9.1 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 Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp elsewhere
Who holds the land at Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area, manager on record: Illinois Department of Natural Resources (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
Stay limit
14 nights (not to exceed 14 consecutive nights)
Source
public land records
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
IDNR's own words: the site has "seven three-sided shelters to camp near or in for a fee of $6 per night". IDNR's GIS carries exactly seven points named "Primitive" inside the Jim Edgar Panther Creek boundary, spanning 182 m -- the count matches the page exactly, which is why this is high confidence. This row is their centroid. $6 is the Class D rate and the class table lists Class D for this site. IDNR defines Class D as "Tent camping or primitive sites (walk-in or backpack) with no vehicular access". Source: https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/camp/park.jimedgarpanthercreek.html (read 2026-08-14). Camp class for this park is IDNR's own, from the Camp Classifications table at https://dnr.illinois.gov/parks/camp/camp-classifications.html (data feed read 2026-08-14). NOT FREE. IDNR statewide fee schedule (https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/parks/camp/documents/campingfeeschedule.pdf, read 2026-08-14) prices Class C at $10/night and Class D at $6/night. Illinois residents 62+ pay $8 (Class C) or $6 (Class D); Illinois disabled with a Class 2/2A card pay $0. STAY LIMIT, from IDNR's own administrative rule 17 Ill. Adm. Code 130.60 (https://www.ilga.gov/Commission/jcar/admincode/017/017001300000600R.html, read 2026-08-14): between May 1 and September 30 "a camp permit may be issued for a period not to exceed 14 consecutive nights" and a camper is limited to "a maximum of 14 nights in a 30 day period" at a given IDNR facility. From October 1 through April 30 "a camping permit may be issued for an unlimited number of nights". Coordinates are IDNR's own, unrounded, WGS84, from the agency ArcGIS Online layer Campground_Types (https://services.arcgis.com/b9DHj1BjfdLLFv11/arcgis/rest/services/Campground_Types/FeatureServer/0), park attribution by point-in-polygon against IDNR IDNRSiteBoundary (https://services.arcgis.com/b9DHj1BjfdLLFv11/arcgis/rest/services/IDNRSiteBoundary/FeatureServer/0). Both read 2026-08-14. NEAREST TOWN: Chandlerville, IL -- 6.3 mi straight-line from the campsite to the town's internal point. Source: US Census Bureau 2025 Gazetteer place files (https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2025_Gazetteer/2025_gaz_place_<FIPS>.txt, read 2026-08-14), restricted to FUNCSTAT='A' incorporated places across IL, IA, IN, KY, MO and WI. This is the nearest INCORPORATED place, which is not a promise that it has fuel, water or a store. Straight-line, not road miles. | 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 Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
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 — Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA - Primitive Shelter Camp
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Camping with a dog →All field notes →