Agency-listedIDNR · dispersedFree

Lake Shawtee WMA

Drive-up · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA · 40.84526, -95.50723

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Iowa 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.

Iowa DNR Wildlife Management Area — about 1,166 acres across 3 separate parcels, Freemont/Fremont Counties. Primitive camping is allowed statewide on Iowa DNR wildlife areas by rule — no permit, no camping fee — for up to 14 consecutive days, UNLESS that area posts restrictions on site (Iowa Admin. Code r. 571-51.11). The DNR can close any individual area to camping just by putting up a sign, and there is no statewide list of which ones have, so read the signs at the entrance and treat a posted restriction as final. Iowa DNR's own camping article also says to stay 100+ yards from parking lots, boat ramps and jetties; that sentence was dropped from the rule in the June 2025 rewrite, but it is still good practice and may be posted locally. These are working wildlife areas, not campgrounds: expect a gravel parking area and nothing else — no water, no toilet, no table, no fire ring. Pack water in and everything out. Fall is a hard time to use these: Iowa's shotgun deer seasons and waterfowl season put a lot of hunters on WMAs, and blaze orange plus a different destination is the smarter call. The pin is a representative point inside the official DNR boundary, NOT a campsite or a parking lot — scout the actual access off the DNR atlas before you commit to it after dark.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Lake Shawtee WMA

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Weather outlook — at Lake Shawtee WMA

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,027 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Lake Shawtee WMANIFC · 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 Shawtee WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

@Mail4 mi
ShShower5 mi
GGrocery8 mi
RxPharmacy8 mi
WWater9 mi
MMechanic9 mi
FFuel9 mi
EVEV fast charger10 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
LLaundry12 mi
HHardware19 mi
DDump28 mi
AAir-up29 mi
PPropane32 mi
OOutfitter33 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Lake Shawtee WMA

Access

Drive-up

Land

Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · dispersed

Elevation

1,027 ft

State

Coordinates

40.84526, -95.50723

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Lake Shawtee WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA (OpenStreetMap)

Nearest townRandolph · ~3.6 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.9 mi
FuelFuel · ~9.9 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~27.8 mi
GroceriesHy-Vee · ~8.5 mi
PharmacyHy-Vee Pharmacy · ~8.5 mi
Hospital / clinicShenandoah Medical Center · ~9.7 mi
HardwareWestlake Ace Hardware · ~18.6 mi

EV charging — from Lake Shawtee WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger9.9 mi straight-line SW — 505 Filmore Street, Sidney, IA · CHARGELAB · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 71 within 100 · 206 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.3 mi — Sapp Bros Travel Center - Tesla Supercharger, Percival
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.6 mi — Shenandoah Hospital · NOODOE · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
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 455593 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Lake Shawtee WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaWatson NB (TPF) · ~21.3 mi S

Open Lake Shawtee WMA elsewhere

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

Other camps near Lake Shawtee WMA

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

Riverton WMA~10.7 mi
Rakes Creek WMA~18.5 mi
Riverview SRA~20.8 mi · fee
Star School Hill Prairie Conservation Area~21.4 mi

How we know this — Lake Shawtee WMA

Stay limit

14 nights (14 consecutive days, unless posted)

Source

Iowa DNR (wildlife management areas)

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

Iowa DNR public ArcGIS, Boundaries/Public_Lands/MapServer/0 (programs.iowadnr.gov), TYPE=State Wildlife Management Area, MANAGER='DNR - Wildlife', all 3 parcel(s) OWNER='DNR'; outSR=4326, fetched 2026-07-20. Coordinate = centroid (verified inside boundary) of the largest parcel, so it is inside the official boundary. Independently cross-checked against OpenStreetMap/Overpass: matched 'Lake Shawtee Wildlife Management Area' at 0.6 mi. Camping basis: Iowa Admin. Code r. 571-51.11(481A) (IAC 5/14/25, ARC 9226C, eff. 6/18/25) — primitive camping allowed on all game management areas, 14 consecutive days, unless posted; r. 571-51.2 puts all DNR land in that class. No per-area camping flag exists in the GIS, so this is a category-wide rule applied to a verified DNR-owned unit → confidence='med'. Corps/USFWS-owned units excluded on purpose. Batch 1 (top 50 by acreage) of 396 qualifying areas.

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 Shawtee WMA

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 — Lake Shawtee WMA

Camping near a reservoir →Stay limits →Your first dispersed night →Dispersed camping tips →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 →