U.S. Forest Service · Nebraska National Forest · NE

Whitetail Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$15From, per site
Drawn from the record · 2,700 ft · 0% tree cover · Dismal River within reach · Bortle 2 sky
2,700 ftElevation
368 ftWater · Dismal River
41.1 miNW of Broken Bow, NE
0%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 2nd darkest of 17 in NE

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Located in the southeastern corner of the Bessey Ranger District on the Dismal River, this 10-site campground has a hand pump for water, nine horse corrals, picnic tables, fire rings, and modern vault toilets. It is situated on the OHV trail system. No electricity is available.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…picnic tables, fire rings, and modern vault toilets. It is situated on the OHV trail system. No…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…River, this 10-site campground has a hand pump for water, nine horse corrals, picnic tables, fire…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
River
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $15 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$15Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$30DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 6

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$15
Night to be paid within 30 minutes of arrival .$15
Fee envelopes and a collection box are provided at the entrance.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$15
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$30

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($15), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate
Coordinate41.79660, -100.26460

Where it is

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight30°Clear
Saturday69°Sunny
Saturday Night39°Clear
Sunday68°Sunny

NWS forecast for Halsey, NE

Typical weather

Typical October night 34°F, day 63°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more

A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.

Measured at: ANSELMO 2 WSW, NE (USC00250245), 23 miles away and 33 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Adrian Smith, official portrait

Whitetail Campground is in Nebraska’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Adrian Smith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Halsey, NE, 7.1 mi S. Straight line.