Agency-listedND Game and Fish · dispersedFree
McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
Drive-up · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND · 46.81002, -100.41409
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 →North Dakota Game & Fish 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.
McKenzie Slough Wildlife Management Area is 736 acres of state wildlife land in Burleigh County, managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, and you may camp on it free. That is not a rumour off a listing site -- it is how the state rule works. North Dakota Administrative Code 30-04-02-01 opens every WMA to 'public hunting, fishing, and trapping, or other compatible public use', and 30-04-02-11 sets the only real limit: 'camping for longer than ten consecutive days on any wildlife management area is prohibited'. There is no camping fee, and unlike South Dakota and Oklahoma, North Dakota does NOT make you buy a license or a conservation pass just to be on the land. Game and Fish says so itself on its WMA regulations page: 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping.' Now the honest part. This is primitive dispersed camping on a wildlife area, not a campground. Assume NO toilets, NO drinking water, NO tables, NO fire rings and no marked sites unless you happen to find them -- bring all your own water. You may gather downed wood for a campfire, but you may not mow or cut vegetation to clear a campsite, you may not leave a trailer or tent set up unless you are actually sleeping in it, and you may not dump holding tanks on the area. Vehicles must stay on the constructed roads, established trails and parking areas a passenger car would normally use -- do not drive out across the grass. Camping is also prohibited on any WMA where it is posted as such at the road entry, so READ THE SIGN at the entrance you use; the posted sign beats anything we can tell you here. These are working wildlife areas, so expect hunters in season and plan your visibility accordingly. The pin is a representative point inside the unit boundary, not a campsite -- you will need to find your own spot off an established access. Confirm current rules with ND Game and Fish at (701) 328-6300 before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,703 ft.
Fire & smoke — around McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)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 McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- DDump15 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- @Mail17 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- LLaundry19 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 6 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 — McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
Access
Drive-up
Land
North Dakota Game & Fish · dispersed
Elevation
1,703 ft
Ground slope
0.6% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.4 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~1.8 mi · US Hwy 83
State
ND
Coordinates
46.81002, -100.41409
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMcKenzie Slough · ~0.1 mi · USGS: swamp or marsh, no flow class
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCenex · ~6.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.0 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~6.0 mi
- PharmacyThe Medicine Shoppe · ~13.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicSanford South Clinic · ~17.2 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~17.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~1.8 mi · US Hwy 83
EV charging — from McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.5 mi straight-line W — AIRPORT BIS AIRPORT, Bismarck, ND · 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 reach9 within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 17 within 100 · 27 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.7 mi — Bismarck, ND - Tesla Supercharger, Bismarck
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.0 mi — Days Inn by Wyndham Bismarck - Tesla Destination (at a hotel) · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- 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 193286 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaApple Creek EB · ~8.3 mi W
- Highway rest areaApple Creek WB · ~8.3 mi W
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~10.8 mi SE · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~13.1 mi SE · FWS
Coming out here — McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps McKenzie Slough as a swamp or marsh (no flow class in the record), ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.6% — 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 ~0.4 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.
- US Hwy 83 is mapped ~1.8 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County) elsewhere
Other camps near McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Robert W. Henderson WMA (Burleigh County)~8.6 mi
- MacLean Bottoms WMA (Burleigh County)~15.2 mi
- Kimball Bottoms WMA (Burleigh County)~16.1 mi
- Graner Bottoms WMA (Morton County)~16.6 mi
Who holds the land at McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Mckenzie Slough, manager on record: a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
Fire rules
Gathering of downed wood for campfires is permitted.
Stay limit
10 nights (camping up to 10 consecutive days)
Area rules
Trailers, campers, motor homes, or tents may not be left on any wildlife management area unless used for daily lodging. Camping is prohibited on those wildlife or fish management areas where posted at public road entry points. Mowing of vegetation for campsites is prohibited on wildlife management areas.
Source
North Dakota Game & Fish (wildlife management areas)
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
Free primitive camping authorised by BINDING RULE, not by a listing: NDAC 30-04-02-01 & -11 (ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf) + gf.nd.gov/wma (WMA Regulations, last updated August 2026). Both sources were downloaded and read in full on 2026-08-16 (this fire), not inherited from an earlier fire's notes. 30-04-02-01 grants open public use with no licence/pass/entrance-fee precondition; 30-04-02-11 (amended eff. 2024-04-01) permits camping up to 10 consecutive days, bans leaving equipment set up when not in use, bans mowing for campsites, and creates NO camping fee -- every dollar figure in the chapter (50/100/250) is a noncriminal-offence penalty, see 30-04-02-19. gf.nd.gov/wma (last updated August 2026) states 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping'; its camping-prohibited and Thursday-Monday-only WMA lists were downloaded raw and string-matched locally, never via a search summary. STAY LIMIT 10 consecutive days. SEASONAL: no seasonal closure is published for WMA camping, but access trails are unplowed and gumbo when wet. FIRE: campfires are allowed and downed wood may be gathered, subject to any county burn ban in force -- check before you light one. Boundary/acreage/county from the ND state ArcGIS Wildlife_Management_Areas layer (gis.dmr.nd.gov/dmrpublicservices/rest/services/OilGasPublicMapDataVectorTiles/Wildlife_Management_Areas/FeatureServer/0), re-pulled live this fire: 736 ac, 2 parcel(s), largest parcel used. Coordinate: representative interior point (centroid), asserted point-in-polygon against the unit boundary, WGS84. NOT a surveyed campsite. WATER: not recorded -- there is no stated potable supply on these units and any surface water present must not be assumed drinkable. NEAREST TOWN: not determined this fire. Ingest 2026-08-16 08:46:47 (fire 790, ND thin-state fill).
--- NIGHT-SHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-18 (reviewer nightshift-verified) ---
Every source below was re-fetched and read IN FULL this fire; nothing inherited.
(1) NDAC ch. 30-04-02, https://www.ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf -- 30-04-02-01 (all WMAs open for 'public hunting, fishing, and trapping, or other compatible public use', no licence/pass/entrance-fee precondition) and 30-04-02-11 Camping (>10 consecutive days prohibited; trailers/campers/tents may not be left unless used for daily lodging; mowing vegetation for campsites prohibited; CAMPING PROHIBITED WHERE POSTED AT PUBLIC ROAD ENTRY POINTS; $100 noncriminal-offence fee) both verified word-for-word against what this row already recorded -- they match. 30-04-02-19 confirms the 50/100/250 dollar figures are penalties, not camping fees. 30-04-02-08 confirms 'Gathering of downed wood for campfires is permitted.'
(2) https://gf.nd.gov/wma -- 'Wildlife Management Areas - Regulations (Last updated August 2026)'; still carries 'Most WMAs are ideal for nature study, hiking and primitive camping.' Its camping-prohibited list and its Tuesday/Wednesday-closed list were re-transcribed verbatim this fire.
(3) https://gf.nd.gov/wma-listing -- 'WMA Listing'. SOURCE NOT USED BY THE INGEST FIRE. It gives the agency's own per-unit county, acreage and directions, and it carries PER-UNIT camping notes that the regulations page's summary lists do not fully reproduce. 243 unit records parsed.
(4) ND DMR ArcGIS Wildlife_Management_Areas layer, https://gis.dmr.nd.gov/dmrpublicservices/rest/services/OilGasPublicMapDataVectorTiles/Wildlife_Management_Areas/FeatureServer/0 -- re-pulled live (374 parcel polygons, 236 distinct unit names).
UNIT: found in the live GIS layer as 1 parcel polygon(s), largest 736 ac, parcel sum 736 ac. AGENCY LISTING: 'McKenzie Slough', Burleigh County, 738 ac. PER-UNIT CAMPING NOTE in the listing: none -- the listing states no camping restriction for this unit. COORDINATE: point-in-polygon against the live unit boundary = PASS -- the recorded lat/lon is inside the unit. DUPLICATE CHECK (by coordinate, never by name): no published or approved ND camp lies within 1.0 mi of this coordinate, and no published/approved ND camp point falls inside this unit's boundary. Not a duplicate. DECISION: APPROVED. The legal basis, the unit's existence, its boundary, its acreage and its coordinate all check out against the agency's own sources today, and no camping restriction applies that the public field_note does not already state. WATER: unchanged and still not asserted -- no potable supply is published for these units and no natural water here may be assumed drinkable.
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 McKenzie Slough WMA (Burleigh County)
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
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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