Agency-listedWyoming Game & Fish CommissionFreeOpen today
North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
Drive-up · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY · 42.85629, -105.66816
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 →Wyoming 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.
ACCESS DATES: Open year round Confirm with Game and Fish before you go -- these areas commonly close seasonally for wintering wildlife. This is a designated campground on the North Platte River-Bixby Public Access Area in Converse County, land acquired or administered by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The area runs about 36 acres. Note what a Public Access Area is: Game and Fish describes PAAs as "permanent or long-term easements, or Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned land managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for allowing public access for recreational purposes." So the ground under you may belong to a private landowner or to another agency -- several PAAs sit on federal land -- while Game and Fish holds the public-access right and its rules are the ones that govern your stay. Do not be surprised by another owner's signage, and respect any posted boundary. Camping here is genuinely free and first come, first served -- and unlike neighbouring states, Wyoming does NOT make you buy a license or a habitat/entrance pass simply to be on the land or to camp. (If you intend to hunt or fish while you are there, that is a different matter: you need the appropriate Wyoming license and a conservation stamp for that activity.) The rules that bind: you may only camp in the designated spots, no more than 14 consecutive days, and you cannot leave a camp unattended more than 48 hours. After you hit the limit you have to be off that same Game and Fish land for at least 72 hours before returning. Some areas post a limit shorter than 14 days on the sign at the entrance -- if the sign says less, the sign wins. Area-specific regulations from Game and Fish: Access road and parking area are not plowed in winter. 14-day camping limit. Amenities listed by Game and Fish for the area: Comfort Station, Parking, Primitive Boat Launch Accessibility: WGFD marks this facility 'Accessible'. These are working wildlife areas first and campgrounds second -- they exist for habitat, so expect gravel, expect stock, and leave it cleaner than you found it. We have not visited; confirm current conditions and closures with the Wyoming Game and Fish Casper regional office before you go.
Can I go now? — North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY
Open today Year-round per the agency record.
Wyoming Game & Fish record: “Open year round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,906 ft.
Fire & smoke — around North Platte River-Bixby PAA CampgroundNIFC · 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 North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail10 mi
- +Urgent care11 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- EVEV fast charger28 mi
- HHardware28 mi
- RxPharmacy31 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- DDump31 mi
- WWater43 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 43-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 15 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: 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 — North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
Wyoming Game & Fish
Elevation
4,906 ft
Ground slope
1.9% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.2 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~3.2 mi · Interstate 25
State
WY
Coordinates
42.85629, -105.66816
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Platte River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townClayton · ~4.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~3.2 mi · Interstate 25
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelShell · ~14.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~14.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicMemorial Hospital of Converse County · ~16.1 mi
EV charging — from North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger27.7 mi straight-line W — Evansville, WY - Tesla Supercharger (at a rest stop) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 9 within 100 · 40 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS30.2 mi — Target T0164 (Casper, WY), Casper
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO123.1 mi — NPPD EV STATION SB SINCLAIR DCN, Scottsbluff
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)96.8 mi — The Butte, Gillette, WY · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Hampton Inn & Suites Douglas - Tesla Destination, Douglas, 14.7 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 164001 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaI-25 MM 152 Turnout Northbound · ~4.4 mi SE
- Highway rest areaI-25 MM 152Turnout Southbound · ~4.4 mi SE
- Highway rest areaI-25 MM 171 Turnout Northbound · ~16.7 mi W
- Highway rest areaI-25 MM 171 Turnout Southbound · ~16.7 mi W
Coming out here — North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Platte River as a perennial river, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.9% — 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 ~0.2 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.
- Interstate 25 is mapped ~3.2 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.
- 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 North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground elsewhere
How we know this — North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
Open dates
Open year round
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day camping limit)
Area rules
Access road and parking area are not plowed in winter. 14-day camping limit.
Amenities
Comfort Station, Parking, Primitive Boat Launch
Source
Wyoming Game & Fish (public access 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, no permit required, per WGFC Chapter 23 Sec. 4(a)(iii): 'Camping shall only be allowed in areas designated by Department publication or sign. No person shall camp in excess of the posted camping limit, and in no case more than fourteen (14) consecutive days, or leave a camp unattended for more than forty-eight (48) hours.' The words 'fee' and 'stamp' do not appear anywhere in Chapter 23, and 'license' appears only for long-term special-use agreements -- there is NO license/pass precondition for camping (unlike SD GFP or OK ODWC). WGFD states directly: 'Camping on WHMAs and PAAs is free and on a first-come, first-served basis' and 'The statewide camping limit is 14 days'. DESIGNATION: this is not inferred -- it is a point in WGFD's own PAA_Facilities feature service with FacilityType='Campground' and PublicView='Public' (FacilityName 'Campground', area 'North Platte River-Bixby'), which is the 'Department publication' the rule requires. Coordinates are that feature's own WGS84 geometry, not a geocode. Area attributes (season, regulations, amenities) come from WGFD's PAA_Locations layer joined on area name. Source: services6.arcgis.com/cWzdqIyxbijuhPLw (PAA_Facilities / PAA_Locations), WGFD open data. Ingested 2026-07-20 19:36:19. SCOPE OF THE RULE (checked 2026-07-21 against the Chapter 23 PDF itself, wgfd.wyo.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/24576_REGULATIONS-CH-23.pdf): the chapter is titled 'REGULATION GOVERNING USES OF LANDS AND WATERS ACQUIRED OR ADMINISTERED BY THE WYOMING GAME AND FISH COMMISSION', and Sec. 3 defines acquired land as taken by the Commission 'by purchase, deed, lease, agreement, gift or devise'. The rule therefore reaches land the Commission holds by lease/agreement/easement, not only land it owns, so the free-camping authority holds on easement areas too. Land status is stated as 'acquired or administered' rather than 'owned' for that reason. This is a PAA, and WGFD defines PAAs as 'permanent or long-term easements, or Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned land managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for allowing public access for recreational purposes' (wgfd.wyo.gov/public-access/public-access-areas), so the underlying land may belong to another owner. Worked example found 2026-07-21: the North Platte River-Miracle Mile PAA lies on Bureau of Reclamation land -- Reclamation's own facilities record for Kortes Reservoir/Miracle Mile (usbr.gov/gp/recreation/korrrec.html) names its Wyoming Area Office as the 'Cooperator (managing entity)'. That record independently corroborates fee=0, listing 'Area Entrance no / Campgrounds no / Picnic Areas no / Boat Launch Facilities no / Parking no / Other no'. AccessDates: 'Open year round'. AreaRegulations: 'Access road and parking area are not plowed in winter. 14-day camping limit.'. Amenities: 'Comfort Station, Parking, Primitive Boat Launch'. NOTE REFRESHED 2026-07-21 01:39:46: this row's stay limit was recomputed after a parser fix -- WGFD states its posted camping limit in several different phrasings ('Camping limit: 5 days', 'Overnight camping (5-day limit)', '5 day camping on Commission Lands') and the original ingester matched only one of them, so some areas were described with Wyoming's 14-day statewide cap when the posted limit is shorter. Coordinates, source and provenance are unchanged.
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 North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
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
- 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 — North Platte River-Bixby PAA Campground
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Cold-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →