Agency-listedCountyFree
Rush River Park (Sibley County)
Drive-up · public land · MN · 44.50687, -93.93344
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 →The land manager 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.
PAY THE DONATION: overnight camping here is free of charge, but Sibley County asks for a suggested $10/night (and $3 for day use) dropped in the donation box in the park -- leave it so it stays free for the next traveler. BEFORE YOU GO you MUST call the Sibley County Sheriff's Office at 507-237-4330 (or 888-880-4567) to get permission for overnight camping -- paper permits are no longer required but that call is. Sibley County caps camping at 10 days. Rush River Park is Sibley County's biggest -- 285 acres with about 12.5 miles of trails along the Rush River, about 2.7 miles from Henderson (33503 Rush River Park Road; from Henderson take 6th Street to 9th, which becomes 300th Street, then left on Rush River Park Road to the park entrance). There is river swimming, birding, a children's playground and even a designated horseback-riding area. Camping is PRIMITIVE: a picnic shelter, two water wells, grills and tables, NO electricity -- come self-contained. The park is looked after by a volunteer group, the Friends of Rush River. HEADS UP ON THE PIN: this park is not mapped as a boundary in our data, so the marker sits on the county park access road at the entrance rather than on a specific campsite -- follow the Rush River Park Road signs in to the park. These county parks are quiet, primitive, no-electricity spots in the farm country southwest of the Twin Cities -- the deal is the same one small towns offer: camp free (leave the donation), and be a good enough guest that it stays open for the next traveler. Rules change and we have not visited; confirm the current rules with Sibley County before you rely on this.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Rush River Park (Sibley County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 786 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Rush River Park (Sibley County)NIFC · 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 Rush River Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- WWater3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- ShShower13 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- AAir-up20 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
- PPropane29 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Rush River Park (Sibley County)
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
786 ft
Ground slope
6.1% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~2.3 mi · main line
State
MN
Coordinates
44.50687, -93.93344
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Rush River Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRush River · ~0.4 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townSibley Estates East · ~1.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.3 mi
- FuelFuel · ~2.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~12.7 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~3.2 mi
- PharmacyCoborn's · ~12.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicRidgeview Le Sueur Medical Center · ~3.7 mi
- HardwareHardware Hank · ~11.9 mi
EV charging — from Rush River Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.5 mi straight-line NE — Xcel Energy - Belle Plaine, MN · EV Connect · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach12 within 25 mi · 111 within 50 · 209 within 100 · 284 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)11.8 mi — Saint Peter, MN - Tesla Supercharger, Saint Peter
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.8 mi — HYUNDAI MANKATO DC FAST 1, Mankato
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.3 mi — WINTHROP DT CITY LOT 1 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Parkview Medical Clinic - Tesla Destination, New Prague, 18.7 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 446031 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Rush River Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaMinnesota Valley · ~3.1 mi SE
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~20.9 mi NE · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~21.1 mi NE · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~23.0 mi NE · FWS
Coming out here — Rush River Park (Sibley County) · public land · MN
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rush River as a perennial river, ~0.4 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 6.1% — gentle. 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 ~2.3 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.
- 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.
- 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 Rush River Park (Sibley County) elsewhere
Other camps near Rush River Park (Sibley County)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
How we know this — Rush River Park (Sibley County)
Source
public land records
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
FREE STATUS IS OFFICIAL (donation-based) via the COUNTY's own pages -- SAME confidence as the other two Sibley parks; confidence is held at 'med' ONLY for a coordinate reason (below). Sibley County Camping-Permits page https://www.sibleycounty.gov/305/Camping-Permits and the Rush River Park detail page https://www.sibleycounty.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Rush-River-Park-5 (both fetched 2026-07-22): "Camping is permitted at the following Sibley County parks: Clear Lake, High Island, Rush River"; "Paper camping permits are no longer required by Sibley County. However, you must call the Sibley County Sheriff's Office at 507-237-4330 to obtain permission for overnight camping"; "Suggested donations are $10 for overnight camping and $3 for day use. A donation box is located in the park"; address "33503 Rush River Park Road, Henderson, MN 56044", "2.7 miles from Henderson"; "Size: 285 acres - Approximately 12.5 miles of trails"; amenities "picnic shelter, 2 water wells, grills, tables and a designated horse area", "children's playground", "no electricity"; managed by "The Friends of Rush River" (Tom Bender 612-735-9972). Suggested-donation => fee=0. COORDINATE CAVEAT (why 'med'): OpenStreetMap maps NO park-boundary, park node or camp_site object for Rush River Park -- only its access road, mapped as "Rush River Park Road" (OSM ways 18251313/444287697/444287698) and the service-classified "Rush River County Park Road" (Nominatim, 44.5068684,-93.9334423). Verified via Overpass (maps.mail.ru mirror) + Nominatim 2026-07-22: no leisure/tourism/amenity feature within 1.2 km of the road interior. The pin 44.506868,-93.933442 is placed ON that mapped county park access drive -- the entrance corridor into the 285-acre park, NOT a mapped campsite point. Follow the Rush River Park Road signs from Henderson (6th St -> 9th/300th St -> left on Rush River Park Road) to the park entrance. Not visited. Verified 2026-07-22. | 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 Rush River Park (Sibley County)
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 — Rush River Park (Sibley County)
Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Leave no trace →All field notes →