Agency-listedNGPC · dispersedFree
Smith Lake WMA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.40709, -102.45508
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) — 641 acres, Sheridan 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 Smith Lake WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,801 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Smith Lake 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 Smith Lake WMA · 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
- FFuel22 mi
- GGrocery22 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- @Mail22 mi
- MMechanic30 mi
- LLaundry31 mi
- DDump32 mi
- ShShower36 mi
- RxPharmacy40 mi
- WWater41 mi
- EVEV fast charger41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 41-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 22 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 41-mi run (and back).
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 — Smith Lake WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks · dispersed
Elevation
3,801 ft
State
NE
Coordinates
42.40709, -102.45508
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Smith Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSmith Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelBossfuel · ~21.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesPump & Pantry · ~21.5 mi
- HardwareHardware · ~21.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Smith Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger40.8 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 8 within 100 · 39 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)92.8 mi — Sidney, NE - Tesla Supercharger, Sidney
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)22.1 mi — Northwest Rural Public Power District, Hay Springs, NE (at an office building) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-05-12 · 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 Smith Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Smith Lake WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Smith Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Smith Lake WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Smith Lake WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Walgren Lake SRA~18.2 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Smith Lake WMA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Smith Lake Wildlife Management 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 — Smith Lake 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 Smith Lake 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 — Smith Lake WMA
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →How to read this page →All field notes →