★ Field-verified · Dave's ownUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · NE · 42.73463, -102.94607
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on U.S. Forest Service land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Primitive but free, and you're right out in nature - wonderful. There's a valley below this spot where the thunderstorms roam; when they do, you can sit up top and look down on the lightning shows. Free dispersed camping high in the Pine Ridge of the Nebraska National Forest.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 773, 130 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 773, 130 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 773: “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,118 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Pine Ridge — Nebraska National ForestNIFC · 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 Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- WWater8 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
4,118 ft
Ground slope
22.4% · steep
Nearest rail line
~6.0 mi · industrial lead
State
NE
Coordinates
42.73463, -102.94607
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townBordeaux · ~7.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.0 mi · industrial lead
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.7 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~3.6 mi · permit required · Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
- GroceriesSafeway · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacyPetersen Drug · ~7.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicPine Ridge Hospital · ~28.6 mi
EV charging — from Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.4 mi straight-line NW — NPPD EV STATION CHDRN BGBTS DCS, Chadron, NE · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 16 within 100 · 40 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)76.5 mi — Lusk, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Lusk
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.0 mi — CCH 825 CCH 2, Chadron, 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 311796 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletCliffs · ~1.4 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRed Cloud · ~4.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRoberts Tract · ~11.1 mi W · USFS
- RestroomBox Butte Recreation Management Area -Precast Restroom Building · ~19.9 mi S · BoR
Coming out here — Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest · Nebraska National Forest · NE
- 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 22.4% — steep. 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 ~6.0 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as an industrial lead. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. 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.
- 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 Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest elsewhere
Other camps near Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Red Cloud Campground~4.0 mi · fee
- Chadron SP~4.1 mi · fee
- Bordeaux WMA~5.1 mi
- Chadron Creek Ranch WMA~5.4 mi
The unit that manages Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest are set by Nebraska National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Pine Ridge — Nebraska National Forest
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- 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