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Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

Drive-up · public land · WI · 44.18859, -90.29133
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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.

SEASONAL, FREE, PRIMITIVE. This is FREE camping, but ONLY during the property's open camping windows -- the Wisconsin DNR's own page says Meadow Valley Wildlife Area camping is "Only open Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 and during the spring turkey seasons"; it is closed to camping the rest of the year. Within those windows the DNR page states: "Primitive camping is permitted at designated sites, free of charge during the open seasons. Campers are required to self-register." There is no fee and no camping permit fee, and Wisconsin does NOT require a vehicle admission sticker on a wildlife area (that sticker is only for state parks, forests and recreation areas). Under Wis. Admin. Code NR 45.10 you may camp on a wildlife area ONLY in a designated area, so pitch only at a marked/self-register designated site. Primitive conditions: no electric, no hookups, bring your own water, and pack out all garbage; some of the property's sites have a pit toilet. There are 9 designated primitive camping areas spread across this ~50,000-acre property (Juneau/Wood counties, in the central Wisconsin sand country near Necedah). CAVEAT ON THIS PIN: the coordinate is an OpenStreetMap-mapped camp site that was confirmed to lie on DNR-managed Meadow Valley land, but the site number shown in the name comes from OpenStreetMap and may NOT match the DNR's on-site sign or property map (OSM even labels two different areas "MVWA 6") -- when you arrive, self-register and follow the posted numbering and the DNR property map. HEADS UP: this is working wildlife land and the open season overlaps fall hunting and spring turkey seasons -- wear blaze orange or plan around it. Rules can change or a site can be closed by posting -- confirm the current camping rules, the designated-site locations and any stay limit with the DNR before you go.

Can I go now? — Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") · public land · WI
Open today Season Sep 1 – Dec 31. Closes after Dec 31. The record adds conditions — read it.
public land record: “Only open Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 and during the spring turkey seasons” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")
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Weather outlook — at Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 969 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")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 Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") · public land · WI

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 11 miWDump · 17 miDInsight FS · Propane · 50 miPWarrens Mall · Fuel · 11 miFGrocery · 13 miGDaly Drug · Pharmacy · 26 miRxTrue Value · Hardware · 16 miHMechanic · 26 miMLaundry · 26 miLShower · 12 miShAir-up · 43 miAGundersen Tomah Clinic · Urgent care · 16 mi+American Outfitters · Outfitter · 23 miOWarrens Post Office · Mail · 11 mi@Tomah, WI - Tesla Supercharger · EV fast charger · 16 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • WWater11 mi
  • FFuel11 mi
  • @Mail11 mi
  • ShShower12 mi
  • GGrocery13 mi
  • HHardware16 mi
  • EVEV fast charger16 mi
  • +Urgent care16 mi
  • DDump17 mi
  • OOutfitter23 mi
  • MMechanic26 mi
  • LLaundry26 mi
  • RxPharmacy26 mi
  • AAir-up43 mi
  • PPropane50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
969 ft
State
WI
Coordinates
44.18859, -90.29133
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") · public land · WI (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureBig Lake (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townMather · ~3.3 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelWarrens Mall · ~11.1 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump station~17.3 mi
  • GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~15.8 mi
  • PharmacyDaly Drug · ~26.5 mi
  • Hospital / clinicTomah VA Medical Center · ~16.2 mi
  • HardwareAce Hardware · ~26.7 mi

EV charging — from Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") · public land · WI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") · public land · WI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9") elsewhere

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Other camps near Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

Open season
Only open Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 and during the spring turkey seasons
Area rules
Primitive camping is permitted at designated sites, free of charge during the open seasons. Campers are required to self-register.
Source
public land records
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
Wisconsin DNR Meadow Valley Wildlife Area page, https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/lands/wildlifeareas/meadowvalley.html (Recreation section, read 2026-07-22), which states VERBATIM "Primitive camping is permitted at designated sites, free of charge during the open seasons. Campers are required to self-register.", "There are 9 dispersed/primitive camping areas throughout the property", and "Only open Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 and during the spring turkey seasons". Legal basis: Wis. Admin. Code NR 45.10(1)(a) (camping allowed only in designated areas) with fees only "where required" per NR 45.10(1)(b) -- and here the DNR page affirmatively says free. No access gate: WI's vehicle admission sticker (s. 27.01 Stats.) applies only to state parks/forests/recreation areas, not wildlife areas (dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/admission), and no licence is needed for general recreation on a wildlife area. COORDINATE: OpenStreetMap node 12169339975 (tourism=camp_site, backcountry=yes, name="MVWA 9"), CONFIRMED on DNR-managed 'MEADOW VALLEY WILDLIFE AREA' by an authoritative point-in-polygon against the DNR managed-lands cadastre (dnrmaps.wi.gov/arcgis/rest/services/LF_DML/LF_DNR_Managed_Lands_Dissolved_WTM_Ext/MapServer/0/query, spatialRel=Intersects, 2026-07-22). NOTE the OSM site NUMBER is unreliable (two nodes are both labelled 'MVWA 6'; one is truncated to 'Meadow Valley W'), so it is carried for reference only, not asserted as the DNR's number -> confidence='med' on per-site identity (free-status is high). OSM node 12169339978 ('MVWA 3') was EXCLUDED this fire because the DNR intersects query returns no DNR land at its coordinate. Juneau and Wood counties (Pin = the OSM node lat/lon). | 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.
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 Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

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.

Before you go — Meadow Valley Wildlife Area – Designated Primitive Camp Site (OSM "MVWA 9")

Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →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 →