Agency-listedODWCFree
Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Drive-up · Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife · OK · 36.69415, -101.18100
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 →Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife 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.
A designated primitive camping area on Optima WMA, mapped by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation itself. There is no camping fee, but everyone 18 or older who enters ODWC land needs a Wildlife Conservation Passport ($26 for three days, $46 a year for residents) unless exempt. Camping is capped at 16 consecutive days and no more than 21 days in any 30. Expect nothing: bare ground. No drinking water is published here. Nearest town is Hardesty, about 5.5 miles as the crow flies.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,756 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Middle Camp (Optima WMA)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 Middle Camp (Optima WMA) · Optima WMA · OK
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- RxPharmacy16 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
- ShShower37 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: fuel & food sit about 5 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Water, Dump, 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 — Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Access
Drive-up
Land
Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife
Elevation
2,756 ft
Ground slope
1.2% · flat
Nearest rail line
~9.8 mi · main line
State
OK
Coordinates
36.69415, -101.18100
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Middle Camp (Optima WMA) · Optima WMA · OK (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBeaver River · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent river
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~11.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~5.4 mi
- PharmacyClinic Pharmacy · ~16.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicTexas County Health Center · ~16.3 mi
- HardwareBearing and Allied Supply Company · ~16.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Middle Camp (Optima WMA) · Optima WMA · OK — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.8 mi straight-line N — TCEC Coop, Hooker, OK · FCN · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 1 within 50 · 4 within 100 · 27 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)82.5 mi — MCFADDEN MCFADDEN 1, Bloom
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.8 mi — TCEC Coop, Hooker, OK · FCN · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 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 156453 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Middle Camp (Optima WMA) · Optima WMA · OK — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Middle Camp (Optima WMA) · Optima WMA · OK
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Beaver River as an intermittent river, ~0.3 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.2% — 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 ~9.8 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 Middle Camp (Optima WMA) elsewhere
Other camps near Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Highway Campground (Optima WMA)~1.2 mi
- Hooker Point Camping Area (Optima WMA)~2.5 mi
- Hardesty Park (Optima WMA)~3.1 mi
The unit that manages Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Middle Camp is in Optima WMA, a wildlife management area managed by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. 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.
How we know this — Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Fire rules
Fires shall be confined to those areas designated for camping and shall be contained in fireplaces, fire rings, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose. Fires shall not be left unattended and must be completely extinguished prior to departure.
Stay limit
16 nights (limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days)
Area rules
Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas.
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
AREA RULE (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/public-hunting-areas-special-regulations, read 2026-08-16): ODWC Special Regulations heading "Optima WMA" (county: Texas) -- Additional Restrictions, verbatim: "Hunter and angler camping is allowed in designated areas." LEGAL BASIS -- ODWC Department-Managed Area Rules, https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/regs/department-managed-area-rules, read 2026-08-16, verbatim: "Camping is limited to a maximum of 16 consecutive days, and for no more than 21 days total in any 30-day period on the same WMA. Camping on these areas is limited to two days longer than the period the camper (hunter) is authorized to hunt. Leaving a campsite unattended for a period longer than 48 hours is prohibited. Unattended camp items will be removed. Quiet hours are enforced from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. All dogs or other pets must be kept on a leash or otherwise confined while in camping areas." FIRE -- same page, verbatim: "Fires shall be confined to those areas designated for camping and shall be contained in fireplaces, fire rings, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose. Fires shall not be left unattended and must be completely extinguished prior to departure." ODWC does not publish a statewide seasonal fire ban on this page; Oklahoma county burn bans are issued separately and are not reflected here. Also verbatim from that page: "Public lands not specifically listed as open are closed." Read the area's own regulation before you go. THIS IS NOT A FEE-FREE PLACE TO ENTER -- fee=0 on this row means ODWC publishes NO per-night camping charge, not that access is free. ODWC's license fee table (https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/licensing/regs/license-fees, read 2026-08-16) states verbatim that an "Annual Wildlife Conservation Passport" is "Required of all persons 18 or older who enter Department owned lands, regardless of residency, unless exempt" at $46 for residents and $239 for nonresidents, and a "3-Day Wildlife Conservation Passport" at $26 / $51. A separate $100 / $200 "Land Access Permit" is "Required for residents ages 18 to 63, and nonresidents of any age, including lifetime license holders to access certain ODWC managed properties." ODWC's fee table says "unless exempt" but does not list the exemptions on that page, so we do not state who is exempt. Treat this as: budget for a permit, and check odwc before you drive. ODWC camp type: "Primitive". Restroom per ODWC: No. Showers per ODWC: No. Picnic area per ODWC: No. Grills per ODWC: No. WATER: ODWC's layer carries no drinking-water field for camping areas and this row claims none. Do not treat any lake, creek or pond near these sites as potable. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: latitude and longitude are ODWC's own, from its public ArcGIS service https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/server/rest/services/PublicWILMA/WILMAFeatures/MapServer/4 (layer 4, 'Camping Areas'), queried 2026-08-16 with where=1=1 outSR=4326. Every ingested point carries OPENTOPUBL='Yes' in that layer. No geocoding was used. Nearest town: Hardesty ~5.5 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance -- on a Corps lake shoreline or in the Ouachitas the road in is routinely two or three times longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published. | 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.
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 Middle Camp (Optima 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.
- 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
Before you go — Middle Camp (Optima WMA)
Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Hot-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →