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Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area

Drive-up · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY · 41.68540, -106.12971
We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on Wyoming Game & Fish land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

SEASONAL CLOSURE -- READ THIS FIRST: Human Presence Closure Dec 1- May 15 Wyoming closes many of these areas in winter and spring to protect wintering big game, and a closure is not advisory. Confirm the current dates with Game and Fish before you drive out. This is a designated campground on the Wick Brothers/Beumee Wildlife Habitat Management Area in Carbon County, land acquired or administered by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The area runs about 23,408 acres. 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.) The rules that bind: you may only camp in the designated spots, no more than 14 consecutive days, and you cannot leave a camp unattended more than 48 hours. After you hit the limit you have to be off that same Game and Fish land for at least 72 hours before returning. Some areas post a limit shorter than 14 days on the sign at the entrance -- if the sign says less, the sign wins. Area-specific regulations from Game and Fish: Motor Vehicle Travel Restricted to Roads Marked By white arrow on the Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Access is limited to WGFC lands or easements marked with department signs. Roads/Parking not plowed during winter. 14-day camping limit. Exceptions noted for this area: LANDS SOUTH OF I-80: Closed to Human Presence from Dec 1 - May 15 LANDS NORTH OF I-80: Open all year & No collection of shed antlers or horns Jan 1 - May 1 @ 6 AM. Amenities listed by Game and Fish for the area: Parking, Handicap Accessible Comfort Station, Kiosk, 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 Laramie regional office before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,119 ft.
Fire & smokeNIFC · 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 camp

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 37 miWDump · 37 miDSunburst mercantile · Fuel · 9 miFSunburst mercantile · Grocery · 9 miGFamily care clinic · Pharmacy · 38 miRxTrue Value · Hardware · 37 miHPetro Lube · Mechanic · 36 miMSpic and Span Laundrette · Laundry · 38 miLAir-up · 38 miAAlbany County Public Health · Urgent care · 38 mi+Hack's Tackle & Outfitters · Outfitter · 38 miOUnited States Postal Service · Mail · 15 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel9 mi
  • GGrocery9 mi
  • @Mail15 mi
  • MMechanic36 mi
  • WWater37 mi
  • DDump37 mi
  • HHardware37 mi
  • RxPharmacy38 mi
  • AAir-up38 mi
  • LLaundry38 mi
  • +Urgent care38 mi
  • OOutfitter38 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 37-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 9 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). Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access
Drive-up
Land
Wyoming Game & Fish
Elevation
7,119 ft
State
WY
Coordinates
41.68540, -106.12971
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureRock Creek (river) · nearby
  • Nearest townMcFadden · ~2.1 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelSunburst mercantile · ~8.9 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationnone within 31 mi
  • GroceriesSunburst mercantile · ~9.0 mi

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open this spot elsewhere

Other camps nearby

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this

Source
Wyoming Game & Fish (habitat management areas)
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
FREE, no permit required, per WGFC Chapter 23 Sec. 4(a)(iii): 'Camping shall only be allowed in areas designated by Department publication or sign. No person shall camp in excess of the posted camping limit, and in no case more than fourteen (14) consecutive days, or leave a camp unattended for more than forty-eight (48) hours.' The words 'fee' and 'stamp' do not appear anywhere in Chapter 23, and 'license' appears only for long-term special-use agreements -- there is NO license/pass precondition for camping (unlike SD GFP or OK ODWC). WGFD states directly: 'Camping on WHMAs and PAAs is free and on a first-come, first-served basis' and 'The statewide camping limit is 14 days'. DESIGNATION: this is not inferred -- it is a point in WGFD's own WHMA_Facilities feature service with FacilityType='Campground' and PublicView='Public' (FacilityName 'Watkins Creek Camping Area', area 'Wick Brothers/Beumee'), which is the 'Department publication' the rule requires. Coordinates are that feature's own WGS84 geometry, not a geocode. Area attributes (season, regulations, amenities) come from WGFD's WHMA_Locations layer joined on area name. Source: services6.arcgis.com/cWzdqIyxbijuhPLw (WHMA_Facilities / WHMA_Locations), WGFD open data. Ingested 2026-07-20 18:27:48. SCOPE OF THE RULE (checked 2026-07-21 against the Chapter 23 PDF itself, wgfd.wyo.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/24576_REGULATIONS-CH-23.pdf): the chapter is titled 'REGULATION GOVERNING USES OF LANDS AND WATERS ACQUIRED OR ADMINISTERED BY THE WYOMING GAME AND FISH COMMISSION', and Sec. 3 defines acquired land as taken by the Commission 'by purchase, deed, lease, agreement, gift or devise'. The rule therefore reaches land the Commission holds by lease/agreement/easement, not only land it owns, so the free-camping authority holds on easement areas too. Land status is stated as 'acquired or administered' rather than 'owned' for that reason. SeasonalClosure: 'Human Presence Closure Dec 1- May 15'. AccessDates: 'May 16 @ 8 AM trough Nov 30. LANDS SOUTH OF I-80: opened to human presence May 16 @ 8 AM trough Nov 30. LANDS NORTH OF I-80: Open year-round'. AreaRegulations: 'Motor Vehicle Travel Restricted to Roads Marked By white arrow on the Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Access is limited to WGFC lands or easements marked with department signs. Roads/Parking not plowed during winter. 14-day camping limit.'. Exceptions: 'LANDS SOUTH OF I-80: Closed to Human Presence from Dec 1 - May 15 LANDS NORTH OF I-80: Open all year & No collection of shed antlers or horns Jan 1 - May 1 @ 6 AM.'. Amenities: 'Parking, Handicap Accessible Comfort Station, Kiosk,'. NOTE REFRESHED 2026-07-21 01:39:46: this row's stay limit was recomputed after a parser fix -- WGFD states its posted camping limit in several different phrasings ('Camping limit: 5 days', 'Overnight camping (5-day limit)', '5 day camping on Commission Lands') and the original ingester matched only one of them, so some areas were described with Wyoming's 14-day statewide cap when the posted limit is shorter. Coordinates, source and provenance are unchanged.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Researched until someone does.

What we don’t know

A land record can put you within a few metres of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Before you go

Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →