Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
FIRE BAN: WGFD flags this area as 'Fire Ban is in Effect for this Area' -- check before you plan on any open flame. ACCESS DATES: Open year round Confirm with Game and Fish before you go -- these areas commonly close seasonally for wintering wildlife. This is a designated campground on the Tongue River Canyon Public Access Area in Sheridan County, land acquired or administered by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The area runs about 144 acres. Note what a Public Access Area is: Game and Fish describes PAAs as "permanent or long-term easements, or Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned land managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for allowing public access for recreational purposes." So the ground under you may belong to a private landowner or to another agency -- several PAAs sit on federal land -- while Game and Fish holds the public-access right and its rules are the ones that govern your stay. Do not be surprised by another owner's signage, and respect any posted boundary. Camping here is genuinely free and first come, first served -- and unlike neighbouring states, Wyoming does NOT make you buy a license or a habitat/entrance pass simply to be on the land or to camp. (If you intend to hunt or fish while you are there, that is a different matter: you need the appropriate Wyoming license and a conservation stamp for that activity.) STAY LIMIT IS 5 DAYS HERE, NOT 14. Wyoming's statewide cap is 14 consecutive days, but Game and Fish posts a shorter 5-day camping limit for this specific area, and the posted limit is the one that binds. You also cannot leave a camp unattended more than 48 hours, and once you hit the limit you must be off that same Game and Fish land for at least 72 hours before returning. Area-specific regulations from Game and Fish: Access Year Round on the Public Access Area Camping in designated areas only. Fires in developed fire rings only. There is a 5 day camping limit. Exceptions noted for this area: Limited to easement area marked with signs. Amenities listed by Game and Fish for the area: Parking, Comfort Station, Accessibility: WGFD marks this facility 'Accessible'. These are working wildlife areas first and campgrounds second -- they exist for habitat, so expect gravel, expect stock, and leave it cleaner than you found it. We have not visited; confirm current conditions and closures with the Wyoming Game and Fish Sheridan regional office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- MMechanic19 mi
- DDump48 mi
- WWater56 mi
The read: water is a real 56-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 — Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
Nearby & resupply — around Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTongue River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Amsden Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townDayton · ~2.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~7.9 mi · Interstate 90
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCenex gas station · ~7.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCommon Cents · ~16.4 mi
- PharmacyHospital Pharmacy United Drugs · ~17.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicSheridan VA Medical Center · ~15.8 mi
- HardwareAce Home Center · ~18.1 mi
EV charging — from Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger16.5 mi straight-line E — SHERIDAN MOTORS CPE250 · 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 · 2 within 50 · 14 within 100 · 21 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)17.4 mi — Sheridan, WY - Tesla Supercharger, Sheridan
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)16.5 mi — SHERIDAN MOTORS CT4000 · 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 255681 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSibley Ski Parking · ~8.7 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSibley Lake Dam · ~9.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSibley Lake Dock · ~9.0 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSibley Lake · ~9.0 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Tongue River as a perennial river, 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 6.5% — gentle. 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 ~6.3 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.
- Interstate 90 is mapped ~7.9 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 Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Amsden Creek WHMA — Amsden Meadows Campground~2.6 mi
- Sibley Lake~9.0 mi · fee
- Prune Creek~9.7 mi · fee
- Pine Island~9.8 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Amsden Creek Wildlife Habitat Management Area, manager on record: Wyoming Game and Fish Department (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Tie Creek at 7,050 ft, about 6 miles away. It sits about 2,973 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
What we don’t know about Tongue River Canyon PAA Campground
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.
- Whether the fire rule stated above still stands today — what we have is a dated reading of the agency's listing, not a live restriction feed
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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