Agency-listedNGPCFree
Straight Water WMA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 40.86915, -97.23257
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) — 240 acres, Seward 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 Straight Water WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,547 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Straight Water 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 Straight Water 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
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- WWater19 mi
- DDump19 mi
- +Urgent care23 mi
- AAir-up27 mi
- RxPharmacy27 mi
- OOutfitter34 mi
- ShShower51 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Straight Water WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
1,547 ft
Ground slope
0.1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~1.7 mi · other track
Nearest highway
~3.2 mi · Interstate 80
State
NE
Coordinates
40.86915, -97.23257
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Straight Water WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCentral Valley Ag · ~5.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~19.4 mi
- GroceriesBronco Spur · ~6.5 mi
- PharmacyDavid City Discount Pharmacy · ~27.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicNebraska Urgent Care · ~23.4 mi
- HardwareBeaver Hardware & Supply · ~6.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~1.7 mi · other track
- Nearest highway~3.2 mi · Interstate 80
EV charging — from Straight Water WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.3 mi straight-line SE — Meyer Automotive, Seward, NE (at a public site) · FORD_CHARGE · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 22 within 50 · 82 within 100 · 121 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)26.7 mi — Lincoln, NE - West O Street - Tesla Supercharger, Lincoln
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.5 mi — NPPD EV STATION YORK HUDDLE DCE, York
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.5 mi — SEWARD DOWNTOWN · 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 358406 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Straight Water WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaGoehner Rest Area Westbound · ~4.5 mi SE
- Highway rest areaBlue River Rest Area Eastbound · ~9.6 mi E
- Highway rest areaYork Rest Area Westbound · ~17.3 mi W
- Highway rest areaYork Rest Area Eastbound · ~21.7 mi W
Coming out here — Straight Water WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 0.1% — flat. 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 ~1.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. 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 ~3.2 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 Straight Water WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Straight Water WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Shypoke WMA~5.5 mi
- North Lake Basin WMA~6.7 mi
- Marsh Duck WMA~8.9 mi
- Bur Oak WMA~12.3 mi
Who holds the land at Straight Water WMA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Straight Water 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 — Straight Water 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 Straight Water 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 — Straight Water WMA
Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →Gear & rig loadout →Off-grid communication →All field notes →