Agency-listedNGPCFree
Thomas C. Matter WMA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 40.05516, -95.75604
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) — 145 acres, Richardson 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 Thomas C. Matter WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,037 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Thomas C. Matter 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 Thomas C. Matter 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
- @Mail2 mi
- WWater6 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- MMechanic18 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- EVEV fast charger24 mi
- LLaundry40 mi
- DDump50 mi
- AAir-up50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Thomas C. Matter WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
1,037 ft
Ground slope
16.2% · steep
Nearest rail line
~2.9 mi · other track
State
NE
Coordinates
40.05516, -95.75604
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Thomas C. Matter WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Fork Big Nemaha River · ~0.7 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCasey's General Store · ~10.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~10.7 mi
- PharmacyKex Rx · ~18.2 mi
- HardwareStallbaumer Lumber & Hardware · ~22.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.9 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
EV charging — from Thomas C. Matter WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger23.8 mi straight-line N — METRO CAFE BWP DC CHARGER, Auburn, 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 reach1 within 25 mi · 6 within 50 · 113 within 100 · 178 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)43.9 mi — Sapp Bros Travel Center - Tesla Supercharger, Percival
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)21.9 mi — Rick Honeyman Ford, Seneca, KS · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port 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 171196 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Thomas C. Matter WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaRockport SB Welcome Center (WC) · ~25.8 mi NE
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~27.8 mi E · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~28.0 mi E · FWS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~28.0 mi E · FWS
Coming out here — Thomas C. Matter WMA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Fork Big Nemaha River as a perennial river, ~0.7 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 16.2% — steep. 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 ~2.9 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.
- 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 Thomas C. Matter WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Thomas C. Matter WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Verdon SRA~6.6 mi · fee
- South Fork WMA~8.0 mi
- Four-Mile Creek WMA~9.6 mi
- Kinter's Ford WMA~12.7 mi
Who holds the land at Thomas C. Matter WMA
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Thomas C. Matter 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 — Thomas C. Matter 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 Thomas C. Matter 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 — Thomas C. Matter WMA
Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →