Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
FIRE BAN: WGFD flags this area as 'Fire Ban is in Effect for this Area' -- check before you plan on any open flame. SEASONAL CLOSURE -- READ THIS FIRST: Nov. 16 - May 31 Wyoming closes many of these areas in winter and spring to protect wintering big game, and a closure is not advisory. Confirm the current dates with Game and Fish before you drive out. This is a designated campground on the Kerns Wildlife Habitat Management Area in Sheridan County, land acquired or administered by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The area runs about 4,943 acres. Camping here is genuinely free and first come, first served -- and unlike neighbouring states, Wyoming does NOT make you buy a license or a habitat/entrance pass simply to be on the land or to camp. (If you intend to hunt or fish while you are there, that is a different matter: you need the appropriate Wyoming license and a conservation stamp for that activity.) The rules that bind: you may only camp in the designated spots, no more than 14 consecutive days, and you cannot leave a camp unattended more than 48 hours. After you hit the limit you have to be off that same Game and Fish land for at least 72 hours before returning. Some areas post a limit shorter than 14 days on the sign at the entrance -- if the sign says less, the sign wins. WATCH THIS ONE CAREFULLY -- Game and Fish carves out a spot on this area where camping is NOT allowed: 'No camping or parking on TR Bench between gravel pit and 2'. Camping is permitted on the area, but not there. Note in particular that Wyoming STATE TRUST LAND parcels are often mixed in with wildlife areas, and camping on state trust land is prohibited statewide by the Board of Land Commissioners -- so a boundary you cannot see on the ground can matter. Read the sign and the map at the entrance. Area-specific regulations from Game and Fish: 14 day camping limit. No camping or parking on TR Bench between gravel pit and 2.5 miles up access road.Weed free certified hay only. Exceptions noted for this area: Closed to vehicles Nov. 1 - May 31 Amenities listed by Game and Fish for the area: Parking, Comfort Station, Horse Corrals These are working wildlife areas first and campgrounds second -- they exist for habitat, so expect gravel, expect stock, and leave it cleaner than you found it. We have not visited; confirm current conditions and closures with the Wyoming Game and Fish Sheridan regional office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site · Kerns WHMA · WY
- @Mail13 mi
- FFuel14 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- EVEV fast charger28 mi
- RxPharmacy30 mi
- HHardware31 mi
- +Urgent care31 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- DDump37 mi
The read: fuel & food sit about 14 mi out.
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 — Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
Nearby & resupply — around Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site · Kerns WHMA · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureGay Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Kiewit Stockade Creek Reservoir Number 1 (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townParkman · ~9.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.5 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCenex gas station · ~17.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesIGA · ~25.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicSheridan VA Medical Center · ~27.9 mi
EV charging — from Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site · Kerns WHMA · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger28.4 mi straight-line E — SHERIDAN MOTORS CPE250 · 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 · 2 within 50 · 10 within 100 · 18 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)29.7 mi — Sheridan, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Sheridan
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)28.5 mi — SHERIDAN MOTORS CT4000 · 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 255681 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site · Kerns WHMA · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaI-90 MM 0 Turnout Eastbound · ~11.0 mi E
- Flush restroomBurgess Junction Visitor Center · ~12.4 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBurgess · ~12.7 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletNorth Tongue · ~12.9 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site · Kerns WHMA · WY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Gay Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.6 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 8.2% — noticeable. 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 ~8.5 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 Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site elsewhere
Other camps near Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Kerns WHMA — Gay Creek Campsite~0.6 mi
- Kerns WHMA — camping zone~3.5 mi
- Kerns WHMA — Broderick camping zone~4.1 mi
- Amsden Creek WHMA — Amsden Meadows Campground~10.7 mi
The unit that manages Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site is in Kerns WHMA, managed by Wyoming Game & Fish Department. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Tie Creek at 7,050 ft, about 12 miles away. It sits about 1,912 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
What we don’t know about Kerns WHMA — Kerns Lower Trail Bench Site
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.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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