Agency-listedLoup River Public Power DistrictFreeOpen today

Lake North Park

Drive-up · public land · NE · 41.49627, -97.35513

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The land manager 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.

Free camping WITH FREE ELECTRIC HOOKUPS, four miles north of Columbus, Nebraska -- the Loup River Public Power District puts it in one sentence on its own site: 'Electrical hook-ups and primitive camping available during the summer at no charge.' That makes Lake North one of the genuinely rare ones, a powered site that costs nothing, and it is the reason to know about the Loup system at all. The park is on Lake North, a district reservoir popular for boating, water skiing and fishing, reached by heading four miles north of US Highway 30 on 18th Avenue. Read the limits before you plan around it: the Loup parks are open May 1 to November 1, weather permitting, no reservations are accepted, and there is a limit of seven days per month across the whole Loup park system -- that cap counts every district park together, not each one separately. There are no dump stations and no direct water hookups, so come with water aboard even though the power is there. All district facilities are alcohol free, and there are no lifeguards. If this one is full, the district runs three more parks nearby -- Loup Park on Lake Babcock, Powerhouse Park and Tailrace Park -- all free, with the same seven-day system cap. Columbus is a real town a few minutes south with groceries, fuel and repair, which is the bargain being offered here: camp free on the district's lake, and spend your money in Columbus. Confirm current rules with the district before you go and leave it better than you found it.

Can I go now? — Lake North Park · public land · NE

Open today Season May 1 – Nov 1. Closes after Nov 1. Weather can shorten it.

public land record: “Open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Weather outlook — at Lake North Park

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,533 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Lake North ParkNIFC · 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 Lake North Park · public land · NE

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

FFuel3 mi
GGrocery4 mi
RxPharmacy4 mi
EVEV fast charger4 mi
HHardware4 mi
MMechanic4 mi
@Mail4 mi
+Urgent care20 mi
OOutfitter38 mi
ShShower40 mi
WWater40 mi
LLaundry41 mi
DDump45 mi
AAir-up58 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 40-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — Lake North Park

Access

Drive-up

Land

public land

Elevation

1,533 ft

State

Coordinates

41.49627, -97.35513

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Lake North Park · public land · NE (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureLake North (water) · nearby
Nearest townCollege View Park · ~2.1 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelPump & Pantry · ~2.7 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
GroceriesStore · ~3.8 mi
PharmacyWalgreens · ~4.0 mi
Hospital / clinicColumbus Community Hospital · ~3.3 mi
HardwareMenards · ~4.2 mi

EV charging — from Lake North Park · public land · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger4.0 mi straight-line S — RUSS'S MARKET SUPER SAVER 1, Columbus, NE · 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 · 15 within 50 · 84 within 100 · 120 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)36.9 mi — Norfolk, NE - Tesla Supercharger, Norfolk
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)1.8 mi — CENTRAL CC CENTRALCCCOL, Columbus, NE · 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 300565 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Lake North Park · public land · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.

Open Lake North Park elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps near Lake North Park

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Lake North Park

Open season

Open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)

Stay limit

7 nights (Limit of seven days per month (30-day period) in Loup Park system)

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

Source (FREE stated by the OPERATOR): Loup River Public Power District's own page, loup.com/recreation/lake-north-park/ (read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'Electrical hook-ups and primitive camping available during the summer at no charge.'; '4 miles north of US Highway 30 on 18th Avenue.' District-wide rules printed on the page: 'open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)', 'Limit of seven days per month (30-day period) in Loup Park system', 'No reservations accepted.', 'There are no dump stations or direct water hookups.', 'There are no lifeguards on duty.', 'All facilities are alcohol free.' COORDINATE: OSM way/489436859 'Lake North Camp' (leisure=park). TRUE area-weighted polygon centroid from api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6/way/489436859/full.json (5-node closed ring), ray-cast point-in-polygon inside=True -> 41.496266,-97.355126. NOT Overpass 'out center' (the CO lesson). Consistent with the district's '4 miles north of US-30 on 18th Avenue'. DEDUP NOTE: the DB already holds the district's LOUP PARK / LAKE BABCOCK (rowid 16611, 41.496499,-97.383674); this pin is 1.48 mi from it -- a genuinely separate park on a separate lake, comfortably outside the 0.5 mi radius. GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed by the operator; NO entry fee, access pass, day-use fee or permit to be on the land (utility land, not a state park -- no Discover-Pass-style trap). fee=0; dispersed=0 (designated sites); camp_type NULL for Dave to set on review. water NULL -- the district states 'There are no dump stations or direct water hookups'; the FREE ELECTRIC hookups it does state are recorded in the tags and field_note. SEASONAL: May 1 - Nov 1 only. Ingest 2026-07-28.

Season

Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.

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 Lake North Park

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
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 — Lake North Park

Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →How to read this page →All field notes →

Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →