Agency-listedNGPC · dispersedFree
Ponderosa WMA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.64494, -103.30739
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) — 4,831 acres, Dawes 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 Ponderosa WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,342 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ponderosa 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 Ponderosa WMA · 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
- @Mail6 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- DDump16 mi
- GGrocery19 mi
- MMechanic19 mi
- FFuel19 mi
- HHardware20 mi
- EVEV fast charger20 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- RxPharmacy20 mi
- WWater20 mi
- +Urgent care55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 20-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 19 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 — Ponderosa WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks · dispersed
Elevation
4,342 ft
Ground slope
30.3% · steep
Nearest rail line
~2.4 mi · main line
State
NE
Coordinates
42.64494, -103.30739
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Ponderosa WMA · Nebraska National Forest · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFirst Woman Creek · ~0.9 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townCrawford · ~6.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.6 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~19.2 mi
- PharmacyPetersen Drug · ~20.1 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
EV charging — from Ponderosa WMA · Nebraska National Forest · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.5 mi straight-line NE — 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 · 12 within 100 · 43 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)58.7 mi — Lusk, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Lusk
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)19.3 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 Ponderosa WMA · Nebraska National Forest · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRoberts Tract · ~8.3 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSoldier Creek · ~14.2 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRed Cloud · ~15.8 mi E · USFS
- RestroomBox Butte Recreation Management Area -Precast Restroom Building · ~16.8 mi SE · BoR
Coming out here — Ponderosa WMA · Nebraska National Forest · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps First Woman Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.9 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 30.3% — 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 ~2.4 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.
- 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 Ponderosa WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Ponderosa WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- West Ash~3.1 mi
- Bighorn WMA~3.9 mi
- Fort Robinson SP~8.2 mi · fee
- Roberts Tract~8.3 mi · fee
The unit that manages Ponderosa WMA
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Ponderosa WMA are set by Nebraska National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Ponderosa 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 Ponderosa 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 — Ponderosa WMA
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →