Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
North Platte River
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · WY · 42.55040, -106.71660
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 →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at North Platte River
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,338 ft.
Fire & smoke — around North Platte RiverNIFC · 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 · Bureau of Land Management · WY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- OOutfitter1 mi
- MMechanic24 mi
- FFuel24 mi
- GGrocery24 mi
- RxPharmacy25 mi
- +Urgent care26 mi
- HHardware27 mi
- DDump30 mi
- @Mail30 mi
- EVEV fast charger31 mi
- WWater53 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 53-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 24 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 31-mi run (and back).
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
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
5,338 ft
State
WY
Coordinates
42.55040, -106.71660
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around North Platte River · Bureau of Land Management · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureNorth Platte River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townAlcova · ~0.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~26.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~30.3 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~25.3 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~25.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicWyoming Behavioral Institute · ~29.1 mi
- HardwareFerguson Plumbing Supply · ~26.9 mi
EV charging — from North Platte River · Bureau of Land Management · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger30.8 mi straight-line NE — Flying J 758, Casper, WY · eVgo Network · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-15 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 8 within 100 · 37 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)32.7 mi — Evansville, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Evansville
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO144.0 mi — MAVERIK SB SPRINGS PL1, Steamboat Springs
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)58.7 mi — Fremont Motor Rawlins (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-10-13 · hours: 8am-6pm M-Sat
- 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 429570 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around North Platte River · Bureau of Land Management · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomAlcova Powerplant & Government Camp-Restroom Building · ~0.2 mi E · BoR
- RestroomBlack Beach Campground Bathroom 1 Building · ~1.0 mi S · BoR
- RestroomBlack Beach Campground Bathroom 2 Building · ~1.0 mi S · BoR
- RestroomBlack Beach Campground Bathroom 3 Building · ~1.2 mi S · BoR
Coming out here — North Platte River · Bureau of Land Management · 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- 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 North Platte River elsewhere
Other camps near North Platte River
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pete's Draw Campground~2.6 mi · fee
- Golden Currant Campground~9.0 mi · fee
- Chalk Bluffs Campground~9.9 mi · fee
- Shirley Mountains~22.2 mi
The unit that manages North Platte River
North Platte River is in the Casper Field Office, High Plains District, Bureau of Land Management. 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 — North Platte River
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No Fee." https://www.blm.gov/visit/north-platte-river
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No Fee." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/north-platte-river (worker_W, statement verified on that 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
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 — North Platte River
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Cold-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →