Agency-listedVillage of ExelandFree
Swan Creek Park
Drive-up · Village of Exeland · WI · 45.66755, -91.23676
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 →Village of Exeland 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.
FREE small-town camping at Swan Creek Park in the village of Exeland, Sawyer County, northwest Wisconsin -- and please LEAVE A DONATION in town at the Exeland Depot gas station (that's how this little park stays free). There's a free tent area plus a center loop with about five free electric hookups, first-come with a 3-night maximum and no reservations; restrooms and water in season (shut off in cold weather), a ballfield and pavilions, and Windfall Lake a mile east for swimming and a boat ramp. This is bear country -- pack out ALL your trash. It's the honest camp-free, shop-and-eat- in-town spirit; the Village of Exeland closes it after Labor Day for the hard northern winters. NOTE this is a MEDIUM-confidence lead: the village's own site confirms the park and camping but doesn't state a price, so the 'free' comes from OpenStreetMap plus several traveler listings rather than an official price page -- please confirm the current fee and rules with the Village of Exeland (715-943-2200), leave a donation at the Depot, and be a courteous, self-contained guest.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Swan Creek Park
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at the elevation shown above.
Fire & smoke — around Swan Creek ParkNIFC · 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 Swan Creek Park · Village of Exeland · WI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- ShShower15 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- MMechanic15 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- WWater16 mi
- DDump17 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
- RxPharmacy27 mi
- OOutfitter27 mi
- AAir-up40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Swan Creek Park
Access
Drive-up
Land
Village of Exeland
Ground slope
1.9% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.3 mi · main line
State
WI
Coordinates
45.66755, -91.23676
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Swan Creek Park · Village of Exeland · WI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSwan Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townNew Post · ~16.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelBP · ~7.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~16.6 mi
- GroceriesBP Shop · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~26.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicMarshfield Clinic Ladysmith Physical Therapy Center · ~15.1 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~15.3 mi
EV charging — from Swan Creek Park · Village of Exeland · WI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.9 mi straight-line SE — FairBridge Inn Express - Ladysmith · FCN · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 76 within 100 · 267 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)30.1 mi — Kwik Trip #922, Cameron
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO56.6 mi — Wheelers Chevrolet of Medford, Medford
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)31.0 mi — River County Convenience Store, Holcombe, WI (at a convenience store) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-11-13 · 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 417709 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Swan Creek Park · Village of Exeland · WI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomND Stinnett Landing Vault Toilet · ~5.4 mi S · NPS
- RestroomND Springbrook Landing Vault Toilet · ~10.7 mi SW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Lake Cg · ~26.2 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Lake Bl · ~26.3 mi NE · USFS
Coming out here — Swan Creek Park · Village of Exeland · WI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Swan Creek as a perennial stream, 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.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.9% — 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 ~0.3 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 Swan Creek Park elsewhere
Other camps near Swan Creek Park
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Flambeau River State Forest - Hervas Landing Camp (free canoe campsite)~21.4 mi
- Flambeau River State Forest - George's Island Camp (free canoe campsite)~22.8 mi
- Flambeau River State Forest - Babb's Island Camp (free canoe campsite)~24.3 mi
How we know this — Swan Creek Park
Stay limit
3 nights (com's WI boondocking roundup -- all describe ~5 free sites, a 5-electric-hookup center loop, 3-night max, no reservations, and 'donations should be left in town)
Source
municipal park 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
Source: OSM node/7214294528 'Swan Creek Park' tourism=camp_site fee=no addr:city=Exeland (api.openstreetmap.org, read 2026-07-27); coordinate 45.667552,-91.236757. Nominatim reverse -> Exeland, Sawyer County, WI. Village of Exeland's own .gov page villageofexeland.gov/recreation/ (read 2026-07-27) confirms Swan Creek Park + 'camping hookups available on a first-come, first-served basis' (a real village park where camping is allowed) BUT prints no price -- 'silence is not free,' so this is MED not HIGH. The FREE flag rests on OSM fee=no + THREE consistent community listings (read 2026-07-27): iOverlander (titled 'Swan Creek Park-Free Camp'), freecampsites.net, and ourbigescape.com's WI boondocking roundup -- all describe ~5 free sites, a 5-electric-hookup center loop, 3-night max, no reservations, and 'donations should be left in town at the Exeland Depot gas station.' Village of Exeland: 715-943-2200. fee=0 (donation requested), dispersed=0, camp_type NULL, water='yes' (park water/restrooms, shut off in cold weather), status pending. MED = same bar as Bruno MN / Cambridge NE (OSM fee=no + a .gov confirming the park + multiple reputable listings say free/donation, but no official source prints '$0'). Ingest 2026-07-27.
--- NIGHTSHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-21 (fire 1220, leftover backlog) --- HOLDS UP. Re-read the Village of Exeland's own .gov page (https://villageofexeland.gov/recreation/) this fire; the operator still confirms the park and the camping verbatim: 'Exeland has the beautiful Swan Creek Park with a basketball/pickleball court, baseball field with bleachers, playground equipment, pavilions, and camping hookups available on a first-come, first-served basis.' It also still adds the useful warning 'Running through the park is Swan Creek, which regularly floods in the spring.' As at ingest the village prints NO price, so 'silence is not free' still applies and this stays MEDIUM. The free flag still rests on OSM node 7214294528, re-fetched live from api.openstreetmap.org this fire and still tagged tourism=camp_site, fee=no, drinking_water=yes, toilets=yes, addr:city=Exeland at this exact coordinate, plus the three community listings recorded at ingest. CONTACT CORRECTION: the village page now gives phone (715) 943-2026 and 11042W State Hwy 48, PO Box 163, Exeland WI 54835. The audit note had 715-943-2200; use the number on the village's current page. APPROVED at the same bar as Bruno MN.
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 Swan Creek Park
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 — Swan Creek Park
Finding water out here →The town run →Cold-weather camping →Reading your camp page →All field notes →