Agency-listedNGPC · dispersedFree
Pawnee Lake WMA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 40.85833, -96.88405
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 Wildlife Management Area (NGPC) — 669 acres, Lancaster County. Free primitive camping is allowed — no park permit and no fee — for up to 14 days in any 30, unless the area posts otherwise. Facilities are minimal (parking, sometimes a boat ramp); bring water; fires only in provided rings/grills. Confirm on-site; the mapped point is an area centroid and may sit off the access point on long river-corridor WMAs.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pawnee Lake WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,247 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pawnee Lake WMANIFC · 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 WMA · 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
- GGrocery4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- +Urgent care5 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- AAir-up9 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
- ShShower38 mi
- PPropane59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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 WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks · dispersed
Elevation
1,247 ft
Ground slope
2.5% · flat
Nearest rail line
~3.3 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~2.6 mi · Interstate 80
State
NE
Coordinates
40.85833, -96.88405
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Pawnee Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePawnee Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Middle Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMalcolm · ~3.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.6 mi · Interstate 80
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.2 mi
- FuelCasey's General Store · ~5.7 mi
- Propane / LPGMagellan Ammonia Pipeline · ~22.6 mi
- Dump station~1.2 mi
- GroceriesMalcolm General Store · ~3.5 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~9.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicNebraska Urgent Care · ~5.3 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~10.1 mi
EV charging — from Pawnee Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.7 mi straight-line SE — 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 · 127 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)8.7 mi — Lincoln, NE - West O Street - Tesla Supercharger, Lincoln
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO7.9 mi — RUSS'S MARKET SUPER SAVER L3, Lincoln
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.4 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 WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaBlue River Rest Area Eastbound · ~9.6 mi W
- Highway rest areaGoehner Rest Area Westbound · ~15.2 mi W
Coming out here — Pawnee Lake WMA · 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.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 2.5% — 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 ~3.3 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 ~2.6 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.
- 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 Pawnee Lake WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Pawnee Lake WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pawnee Lake SRA~0.6 mi · fee
- Twin Lakes WMA~4.0 mi
- Bur Oak WMA~6.6 mi
- Conestoga Lake SRA~6.6 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Pawnee Lake WMA
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 WMA
Source
Nebraska Game & Parks (wildlife management areas)
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
NGPC NPGCProperties FeatureServer (AreaType='WMA', Status='Active'), WGS84 centroid + acreage. Camping is category-wide (no per-site flag). Broad-scope ingest 2026-07-19 14:49:09.
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 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.
- 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 WMA
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Stay limits →How to read this page →All field notes →