Agency-listedMunicipalFree
Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
Drive-up · public land · SD · 44.36119, -97.12955
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 →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.
The second of Arlington's two city campgrounds, on the north side of Lake Arlington off US-14 and US-81, with what the city calls a scenic view of Lake Arlington and Nordland Isle. Same deal as the city's Maxwell Park downtown, and the same catch: the GRASS AREA FOR TENT CAMPERS IS FREE, while the five camper pads (three 50-amp, two 30-amp) cost $10.00 per night for the electricity. Tent or self-contained and unplugged, you stay free; plug in and it is ten dollars. The dump station is at Maxwell Park, about a third of a mile away, not here. As at Maxwell, the city's page states no stay limit and no payment method -- worth a call rather than an assumption, and do not read the silence as permission to settle in. Arlington is offering this to pull travelers off the US-14/US-81 junction and into town, so buy your fuel and dinner locally. Be a good guest and it stays free for the next traveler. Town rules change often and we have not visited -- confirm current rules with the City of Arlington before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,827 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)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 Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) · public land · SD
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail9 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- DDump12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- WWater17 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- ShShower24 mi
- PPropane49 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 — Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
1,827 ft
Ground slope
3.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
State
SD
Coordinates
44.36119, -97.12955
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) · public land · SD (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCasey's · ~10.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~11.8 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~10.6 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~18.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicSanford Health Lake Norden Clinic · ~15.7 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~10.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) · public land · SD — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.9 mi straight-line E — Brookings Activity Center SD (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 28 within 100 · 67 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)25.4 mi — PROSTROLLOAUTO PROSTROLLO 01, Madison
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)16.9 mi — Brookings Activity Center SD (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 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 250744 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) · public land · SD — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 4 · ~23.3 mi SE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 3 · ~27.2 mi NE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 5 · ~27.3 mi NE
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~27.5 mi S · FWS
Coming out here — Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) · public land · SD
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.3% — gentle. 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 ~0.1 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 Nordland Park Campground (Arlington) elsewhere
Other camps near Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
How we know this — Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
Source
municipal park 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
Camping rules and price: City of Arlington official camping page, https://cityofarlingtonsd.com/camping , fetched 2026-07-20, which states verbatim "Both are free for non-electrical spots but if electricity is needed the cost is just $10.00 per night." and for this park "There is a $10.00/night charge for the electricity." Free tier = grass area for tent campers; 5 camper pads (3x50-amp, 2x30-amp) are the paid tier. Located north side of Lake Arlington on Highways 14 & 81. Coordinates: OSM node 7633859598, tourism=camp_site. NAME DISCREPANCY, disclosed deliberately: OSM spells this 'Northland Park Campground' but the City of Arlington calls it NORDLAND Park, and the nearby OSM way 152644220 'Nordland Cemetery' supports Nordland as the local spelling -- we use the city's spelling and treat the OSM name as a typo. NOTE: 0.33 mi from the Maxwell Park lead, inside the usual 0.5 mi dedup radius, but a distinct city campground per the city's own page -- not a duplicate. fee=0 reflects the genuinely free non-electric tier; the $10 electric charge is stated plainly in field_note. Verified 2026-07-20. Not visited.
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 Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
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 — Nordland Park Campground (Arlington)
Water on public land →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Power off-grid →All field notes →