Agency-listedNGPCFee
Sandy Channel SRA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 40.66820, -99.37542
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 State Recreation Area (NGPC), Buffalo County. The park's own page says: "Sandy Channel offers 30 non-pad sites without electricity which are available year-round on a first come, first serve basis. Campers register their nightly camping fees in a raised, locked box called an iron ranger. Self-service envelopes are provided at each station and accept cash or checks only." The park's own page does not mention water. Assume none and carry your own; treat all natural water here as NOT potable. NOTE FOR REVIEW: our map already carries 'Blue Hole WMA' about 1.47 mi away (published) -- check these are genuinely different places to camp.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Sandy Channel SRA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,250 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Sandy Channel SRANIFC · 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 Sandy Channel SRA · 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
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- HHardware16 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- DDump24 mi
- LLaundry25 mi
- WWater34 mi
- ShShower37 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 34-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 2 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 — Sandy Channel SRA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
2,250 ft
Ground slope
4.6% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~3.3 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~1.5 mi · Interstate 80
State
NE
Coordinates
40.66820, -99.37542
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Sandy Channel SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Channel Platte River · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelONE9 Fuel Stop · ~1.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.8 mi
- GroceriesONE9 Fuel Stop · ~1.7 mi
- PharmacyPamida Pharmacy · ~15.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicHeartland Surgery Center · ~13.6 mi
- HardwareBuilder's · ~15.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~1.5 mi · Interstate 80
EV charging — from Sandy Channel SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.8 mi straight-line E — COK YOUNES NORTH, Kearney, 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 reach7 within 25 mi · 10 within 50 · 26 within 100 · 74 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)15.3 mi — Kearney, NE - Tesla Supercharger, Kearney
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.3 mi — CENTRAL CC CCCKEARNEY CNTR · 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 187694 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Sandy Channel SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaKearney Rest Area Eastbound · ~11.4 mi E
- Highway rest areaKearney Rest Area Westbound · ~13.3 mi E
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~13.4 mi SE · FWS
- Highway rest areaCozad Rest Area Westbound · ~29.2 mi W
Coming out here — Sandy Channel SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Channel Platte River as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 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 4.6% — 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 ~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 ~1.5 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.
- 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 Sandy Channel SRA elsewhere
Other camps near Sandy Channel SRA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Blue Hole WMA~1.5 mi
- Coot Shallows WMA~4.5 mi
- Union Pacific SRA~6.4 mi · fee
- East Odessa WMA~11.0 mi
Who holds the land at Sandy Channel SRA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Sandy Channel State Recreation Area, manager on record: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Sandy Channel SRA
Permit
A valid park entry permit is required for all vehicles entering a state park area. Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $7, annual permit $35. Non-Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $14, annual permit $70.
Source
Nebraska Game & Parks (state parks and recreation areas)
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Camping confirmed on the park's own NGPC page, https://outdoornebraska.gov/location/sandy-channel/, read 2026-08-17. Point from the NGPC Parks_Locations FeatureServer (https://services5.arcgis.com/IOshH1zLrIieqrNk/arcgis/rest/services/Parks_Locations/FeatureServer/0), the layer behind the agency's Public Access Atlas; it is a park-level point and may not sit on the campground loop. NGPC statewide rates, https://outdoornebraska.gov/parks/park-pricing/ (read 2026-08-17): camping Primitive $10/night year-round, Basic $15, Electric $25, Electric Plus $30, Full Hookup $35; off-season (roughly mid-Oct to Apr) all tiers $5 less except primitive, which stays $10. A park entry permit is required on top of the camping fee: $7/day or $35/year on a Nebraska-plated vehicle, $14/day or $70/year otherwise. Lake McConaughy and Smith Falls are the two parks priced off this card. Stay limits are posted per park -- several NGPC pages state 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period; confirm on site. Modern facilities (showers, dump/fill, full hookups) are generally closed mid-Oct through April. | 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 Sandy Channel SRA
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 — Sandy Channel SRA
Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →Dispersed camping tips →Picking a spot →All field notes →