We finally camped in Nebraska – and boy, was it a beauty. Oliver Reservoir is a free campsite we found on the state’s website. It can fit all-size rigs and has a 14-day stay limit.
Best of all, it’s located on the water!
Here’s Our Personal Experience of the Free Campsite
Location: Oliver Reservoir in Bushnell, Nebraska
GPS: 41.231, -103.824
Date / Temp: We camped here for five nights in mid-August. The temps were pretty mild, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s. A few afternoons got a little hotter than we like, but the lake is just a few feet away and makes it easy to cool off!
Amenities: This park offers potable water and vault toilets. However, some of the water spigots are locked – and the ones that aren’t locked are only accessible by foot.
There are no trash receptacles on site. Please practice “pack in – pack out.”
Wifi / Cell: We received 4G LTE with both AT&T and T-Mobile. The speeds weren’t incredible, but we could stream movies & music.
Noise: This site is tranquil, but one exception is trains. The train track across the street stays pretty busy. This noise doesn’t bother us, but the site might not be for you if you are sensitive to background noise.
Grocery / Errands: Downtown Kimball is about 10 miles east of the park. It has a few restaurants and bars, minor grocery shopping, and random mom-and-pop shops.
If you need to do “big box store” shopping, the closest options are Scottsbluff or Cheyenne.
Dog Friendly: This site is dog-friendly. River had a lot of space to play and explore. She loved playing in the nearby water!
Entertainment: We enjoyed relaxing in the water and the park’s solitude. Streaming Netflix was an added benefit in the evening.
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Nice blog, it gives some good ideas to others.
We stayed here for a night in August 2016 tent camping from the east coast, heading for Colorado and Utah. I agree with your review, it’s a nice spot, limited amenities but pleasant. For us it was a convenient spot given the sun was heading down fast 🙂 And while free, well worth a donation to help cover the cost of upkeep; we’ve paid more and gotten less at a lot of other places. The spots by the water were taken when we arrived so we chose one by some trees closer to the entrance, where the squirrels dropped pine cones on the tent in the morning. A few sites are in the open grassy area; there’s not a lot of ground cover or privacy but that’s the norm in that part of the country..We’d definitely stay there again.
The high traffic Union Pacific railroad main line to Cheyenne is just across the highway and unfortunately 2 grade crossings nearby make for nearly constant air horns at times, but you tend to tune them out after a while. And for those who like trains, being able to watch from inside your tent is ideal. My Dad would have loved it (I did too 🙂
Happy journeys!
Wow, when I saw the words Bushnell Nebraska, I was blown away. Who could possibly be talking about that little place. I grew up there in the 60’s, on the corner of the only stop light in town. My Dad used to call it Dogtown. I asked him why. He said, ” Because more dogs lived there than people”. Lol
Thanks for bringing back some memories!!! Take Care