Agency-listedNGPCFee
Pawnee Lake SRA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 40.85196, -96.87691
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 →Nebraska Game & Parks 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.
Nebraska State Recreation Area (NGPC), Lancaster County. The park's own page says: "Pawnee SRA offers campers Electric Plus, Electric, Basic, and Equestrian Basic campsites. The area offers 101 all-weather camping pads with 20-, 30- and 50-amp electrical hookups, as well as 34 camping pads without electricity and 97 non-pad sites without electricity. Sites 1-73 have 50-amp hookups. The shady campground offers water, showers and modern restrooms. A dump and fill station is available at the area." The park's own page lists 'water' among campground amenities without saying whether it is potable. Confirm on site; treat all natural water as NOT potable. NOTE FOR REVIEW: our map already carries 'Pawnee Lake WMA' about 0.58 mi away (published) -- check these are genuinely different places to camp.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pawnee Lake SRA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,242 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pawnee Lake SRANIFC · 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 Pawnee Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater1 mi
- DDump1 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- +Urgent care5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- AAir-up8 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- OOutfitter25 mi
- ShShower38 mi
- PPropane59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — Pawnee Lake SRA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
1,242 ft
Nearest rail line
~2.7 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~2.2 mi · Interstate 80
State
NE
Coordinates
40.85196, -96.87691
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Pawnee Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePawnee Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.7 mi
- FuelEmerald Mini Mart · ~3.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~0.7 mi
- GroceriesEmerald Mini Mart · ~3.4 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~9.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicNebraska Urgent Care · ~4.8 mi
- HardwareWestlake Ace Hardware · ~9.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.2 mi · Interstate 80
EV charging — from Pawnee Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.2 mi straight-line E — Casey's Lincoln #30 (Lincoln, NE) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 36 within 50 · 82 within 100 · 126 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)8.2 mi — Lincoln, NE - West O Street - Tesla Supercharger, Lincoln
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO7.7 mi — RUSS'S MARKET SUPER SAVER L3, Lincoln
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.9 mi — LPS NORTHWEST HS, Lincoln, NE · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 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 190446 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pawnee Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaBlue River Rest Area Eastbound · ~9.9 mi W
- Highway rest areaGoehner Rest Area Westbound · ~15.5 mi W
Coming out here — Pawnee Lake SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Pawnee Lake as a perennial lake or pond, 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.
- Rail line mapped ~2.7 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 80 is mapped ~2.2 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 Pawnee Lake SRA elsewhere
Other camps near Pawnee Lake SRA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pawnee Lake WMA~0.6 mi
- Twin Lakes WMA~4.2 mi
- Conestoga Lake SRA~6.1 mi · fee
- Conestoga Lake WMA~6.2 mi
Who holds the land at Pawnee Lake SRA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Pawnee Recreation Area, manager on record: Army Corps of Engineers (federal). Our own record names NGPC as the manager. The two sources disagree, and we have not checked which is right. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Pawnee Lake SRA
Permit
A valid park entry permit is required for all vehicles entering a state park area. Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $7, annual permit $35. Non-Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $14, annual permit $70.
Source
Nebraska Game & Parks (state parks and recreation 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
Camping confirmed on the park's own NGPC page, https://outdoornebraska.gov/location/pawnee/, read 2026-08-17. Point from the NGPC Parks_Locations FeatureServer (https://services5.arcgis.com/IOshH1zLrIieqrNk/arcgis/rest/services/Parks_Locations/FeatureServer/0), the layer behind the agency's Public Access Atlas; it is a park-level point and may not sit on the campground loop. NGPC statewide rates, https://outdoornebraska.gov/parks/park-pricing/ (read 2026-08-17): camping Primitive $10/night year-round, Basic $15, Electric $25, Electric Plus $30, Full Hookup $35; off-season (roughly mid-Oct to Apr) all tiers $5 less except primitive, which stays $10. A park entry permit is required on top of the camping fee: $7/day or $35/year on a Nebraska-plated vehicle, $14/day or $70/year otherwise. Lake McConaughy and Smith Falls are the two parks priced off this card. Stay limits are posted per park -- several NGPC pages state 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period; confirm on site. Modern facilities (showers, dump/fill, full hookups) are generally closed mid-Oct through April. | 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 Pawnee Lake SRA
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 — Pawnee Lake SRA
Camping near a reservoir →Fire rules & restrictions →Power off-grid →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →