American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedNGPC · dispersedFree

Ponderosa WMA

Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.64494, -103.30739
We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on Nebraska Game & Parks land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

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
USGS topographic map of Ponderosa WMA
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Ponderosa WMA
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,342 ft.
Fire & smokeNIFC · 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 camp

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Fuel · 58 miFStinker · Grocery · 58 miGBody Builders · Mechanic · 59 miMUrgent care · 60 mi+Lusk Post Office · Mail · 59 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel58 mi
  • GGrocery58 mi
  • MMechanic59 mi
  • @Mail59 mi
  • +Urgent care60 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: fuel & food sit about 58 mi out.

Not within 60 mi: Water, Dump, 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). Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks · dispersed
Elevation
4,342 ft
State
NE
Coordinates
42.64494, -103.30739
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureFirst Woman Creek (stream) · nearby
  • Nearest townCrawford · ~6.1 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • Fuelnone within 30 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~15.6 mi
  • GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~19.2 mi
  • PharmacyPetersen Drug · ~20.1 mi

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open this spot elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps nearby

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages this camp

Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions are set by the unit, not by the campsite — check there before you go.

Nebraska National Forest →

How we know this

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.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely until someone does.

What we don’t know

A land record can put you within a few metres of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Before you go

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →