Agency-listedLoup River Public Power DistrictFreeOpen today
Tailrace Park
Drive-up · Loup River Public Power District · NE · 41.40196, -97.28421
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 →Loup River Public Power District 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.
WALK-IN ONLY -- do not plan to sleep in your vehicle here. The Loup River Public Power District is explicit that Tailrace Park is 'Entry via foot traffic only, no motor vehicle access', so this is a carry-your-gear tent site, and it is best thought of as a stop for paddlers, cyclists and anglers rather than for anyone in a van or an RV. With that understood, it is free: 'A limited number of primitive camping sites are available during the summer at no charge.' The park is 9.5 acres where the district's canal system meets the Platte River, about 3.5 miles east of Columbus, Nebraska on 8th Street and then a mile and a half south -- a quiet spot on the water that most people driving US-30 never hear about. Everything is primitive: no dump station, no direct water hookups anywhere in the Loup system, so carry your own water in with you. The season is May 1 to November 1, weather permitting, no reservations are taken, and the limit is seven days per month across the whole Loup park system, not per park. Facilities are alcohol free and there are no lifeguards. If you need to park a vehicle and sleep beside it, go to the district's Lake North Park instead -- also free, and with free electric hookups -- or Loup Park on Lake Babcock. Confirm the current rules with the district before you go, spend a little money in Columbus on the way through, and leave it better than you found it.
Can I go now? — Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE
Open today Season May 1 – Nov 1. Closes after Nov 1. Weather can shorten it.
Loup River Public Power District record: “Open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Tailrace Park
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,418 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Tailrace 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 Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- MMechanic3 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- HHardware3 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- EVEV fast charger5 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- OOutfitter32 mi
- ShShower36 mi
- WWater36 mi
- LLaundry37 mi
- DDump37 mi
- AAir-up50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 36-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 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 — Tailrace Park
Access
Drive-up
Land
Loup River Public Power District
Elevation
1,418 ft
Ground slope
2.4% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
State
NE
Coordinates
41.40196, -97.28421
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLoup River Canal · ~0.1 mi · USGS: area of complex channels, no flow class
- Also mapped (OSM)Lost Creek (river) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townCountry Mobile Villa · ~2.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~3.1 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~4.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicColumbus Community Hospital · ~6.4 mi
- HardwareMenards · ~3.4 mi
EV charging — from Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger5.1 mi straight-line NW — RUSS'S MARKET SUPER SAVER 1, Columbus, 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 reach2 within 25 mi · 20 within 50 · 84 within 100 · 114 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)43.9 mi — Norfolk, NE - Tesla Supercharger, Norfolk
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)3.7 mi — NPPD EV STATION NPPD CG0E L2, Columbus, NE · 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 300565 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Tailrace Park · Loup River Public Power District · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Loup River Canal as an area of complex channels (no flow class in the record), ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 2.4% — 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 ~0.1 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 Tailrace Park elsewhere
Other camps near Tailrace Park
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Flat Water Landing WMA~4.3 mi
- Powerhouse Park~4.8 mi
- Lake North Park~7.5 mi
- Loup Park / Lake Babcock~8.3 mi
How we know this — Tailrace Park
Open season
Open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)
Stay limit
7 nights (Limit of seven days per month (30-day period) in Loup Park system)
Source
public land records
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
Source (FREE stated by the OPERATOR): Loup River Public Power District's own page, loup.com/recreation/tailrace-park/ (read 2026-07-28), verbatim: 'A limited number of primitive camping sites are available during the summer at no charge.'; 'Entry via foot traffic only, no motor vehicle access.'; '3.5 miles east of Columbus on 8th Street and then 1.5 miles south.' The park is described as sitting at the confluence of the district's canal system and the Platte River (9.5 acres). THE WALK-IN RESTRICTION IS THE HEADLINE and leads the field_note -- this is NOT a drive-up site and must never read as one. District-wide rules printed on the page: 'open to the public from May 1 to November 1 (weather permitting)', 'Limit of seven days per month (30-day period) in Loup Park system', 'No reservations accepted.', 'There are no dump stations or direct water hookups.', 'There are no lifeguards on duty.', 'All facilities are alcohol free.' COORDINATE: OSM node/357785067 'Tailrace Park' (leisure=park, gnis:feature_id=1880926 -- the federal GNIS record) -> 41.4019563,-97.2842065. INDEPENDENTLY CORROBORATED by nearest-POINT geometry (not centroid): 0.09 mi to the Loup Canal and 0.17 mi to the Platte River, matching the district's own 'confluence of the District canal system and the Platte River' description exactly. Nearest existing lead 8.32 mi (Loup Park / Lake Babcock). GUARDRAILS: camping expressly allowed by the operator; NO entry fee, access pass, day-use fee or permit to be on the land (utility land, not a state park -- no Discover-Pass-style trap). fee=0; dispersed=0 (designated sites); camp_type NULL for Dave to set on review. water NULL -- 'There are no dump stations or direct water hookups'. SEASONAL: May 1 - Nov 1. Ingest 2026-07-28.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Tailrace 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
- 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 — Tailrace Park
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Reading the aerial →All field notes →