Agency-listedWyoming Game & Fish CommissionFreeSeason: check first
Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Drive-up · Wyoming Game & Fish · WY · 41.68540, -106.12971
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 →Wyoming Game & Fish 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.
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.
Can I go now? — Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY
Season: check first Year-round with exceptions in the record — read it.
Wyoming Game & Fish record: “Human Presence Closure Dec 1- May 15” · also: “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” 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 Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,119 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping AreaNIFC · 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 Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel9 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- @Mail15 mi
- MMechanic36 mi
- EVEV fast charger36 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, the nearest EV fast charger is a 36-mi run (and back).
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 — Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Wyoming Game & Fish
Elevation
7,119 ft
Ground slope
5.4% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~8.5 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~7.1 mi · Interstate 80
State
WY
Coordinates
41.68540, -106.12971
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRock Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMcFadden · ~2.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.5 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~7.1 mi · Interstate 80
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSunburst mercantile · ~8.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesSunburst mercantile · ~9.0 mi
EV charging — from Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger36.3 mi straight-line SE — Laramie, WY - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 39 within 100 · 266 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS39.8 mi — LARAMIE AUTO CENTER, LARAMIE
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO89.7 mi — MAVERIK WELLINGTON PL1, Wellington
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)36.5 mi — BESTWESTERNLAR STATION 1, Laramie, WY · 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 102516 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaWagonhound rest area · ~9.0 mi SW
- RestroomCrater Lake · ~15.7 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBow River · ~17.2 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletDeep Creek · ~17.3 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area · Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA · WY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rock Creek as a perennial stream, ~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 5.4% — 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 ~8.5 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 80 is mapped ~7.1 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 Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Pine Ridge Camping Area~2.2 mi
- Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Camping Area~4.0 mi
- Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Camping Area #2~6.5 mi
- Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Camping Area #6~7.0 mi
The unit that manages Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Watkins Creek Camping Area is in Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA, managed by Wyoming Game & Fish Department. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Seasonal closure
Human Presence Closure Dec 1- May 15
Open dates
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
Stay limit
14 nights (14-day camping limit)
Area rules
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,
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.
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 Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
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 — Wick Brothers/Beumee WHMA — Watkins Creek Camping Area
Winter vs summer roads →Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →