Agency-listedNGPCFee
Willow Creek SRA
Drive-up · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE · 42.17642, -97.57188
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 State Recreation Area (NGPC), Pierce County. The park's own page says: "Willow Creek State Recreation Area offers Electric Plus, Electric, Basic, Equestrian Electric Plus and Equestrian Basic camping. Willow Way Campground includes 165 campsites with electricity and numerous Basic campsites for those that do not need electricity. Additional amenities include picnic tables, fire ring/grills, drinking water, dump and fill station, modern restrooms, showers and laundry. The dump and fill station is located in the town of Pierce, about 5 miles from the lake. Willow Creek SRA campers can find the dump and fill station next to the Pierce County Courthouse." The park's own page lists drinking water in the campground. That is the agency's claim about a developed tap, not a field check, and not a claim about any lake or river here -- treat all natural water as NOT potable.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Willow Creek SRA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,627 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Willow Creek SRANIFC · 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 Willow Creek SRA · 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
- FFuel3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- +Urgent care3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- WWater13 mi
- LLaundry29 mi
- AAir-up40 mi
- ShShower47 mi
- DDump47 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, 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 — Willow Creek SRA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Nebraska Game & Parks
Elevation
1,627 ft
State
NE
Coordinates
42.17642, -97.57188
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Willow Creek SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWillow Creek Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~2.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~2.8 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~12.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicAvera Medical Group Pierce · ~2.7 mi
- HardwareMenards · ~12.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Willow Creek SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.4 mi straight-line SE — Norfolk, NE - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 4 within 50 · 44 within 100 · 122 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO13.1 mi — NPPD EV STATION NORFOLK HYVE DC, Norfolk
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.7 mi — CITY OF NORFOLK LIBRARY · 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 333469 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Willow Creek SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Willow Creek SRA · Nebraska Game & Parks · NE
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Willow Creek Lake as a perennial lake or pond, 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Willow Creek SRA elsewhere
Other camps near Willow Creek SRA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Yellowbanks WMA~10.3 mi
- Osmond City Park (Poolside Park)~12.6 mi
- Oak Valley WMA~15.7 mi
- Chilvers Park (Plainview)~16.5 mi
How we know this — Willow Creek SRA
Permit
A valid park entry permit is required for all vehicles entering a state park area. Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $7, annual permit $35. Non-Nebraska licensed vehicle: daily permit $14, annual permit $70.
Source
Nebraska Game & Parks (state parks and recreation 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
Camping confirmed on the park's own NGPC page, https://outdoornebraska.gov/location/willow-creek/, read 2026-08-17. Point from the NGPC Parks_Locations FeatureServer (https://services5.arcgis.com/IOshH1zLrIieqrNk/arcgis/rest/services/Parks_Locations/FeatureServer/0), the layer behind the agency's Public Access Atlas; it is a park-level point and may not sit on the campground loop. NGPC statewide rates, https://outdoornebraska.gov/parks/park-pricing/ (read 2026-08-17): camping Primitive $10/night year-round, Basic $15, Electric $25, Electric Plus $30, Full Hookup $35; off-season (roughly mid-Oct to Apr) all tiers $5 less except primitive, which stays $10. A park entry permit is required on top of the camping fee: $7/day or $35/year on a Nebraska-plated vehicle, $14/day or $70/year otherwise. Lake McConaughy and Smith Falls are the two parks priced off this card. Stay limits are posted per park -- several NGPC pages state 14 consecutive days in any 30-day period; confirm on site. Modern facilities (showers, dump/fill, full hookups) are generally closed mid-Oct through April. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
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 Willow Creek SRA
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 — Willow Creek SRA
Finding water out here →Dumping grey & black →Fire rules & restrictions →Camping with a dog →All field notes →