Best Tent Camping near Du Bois, NE

Just car tent camped here with my fiancé and dog over the weekend. We had many camp sites to choose from because it’s back to school time in NE (timing, timing, timing)! Basic tent sights are first come, $15 a night. The park offered firewood ($6) and ice for sale. Lots of hiking trails with different levels of difficulty and elevation. Most drive up camp sites have outhouses nearby. We sometimes drove up to the group tent sites where they have clean bathrooms, running water and showers (need quarters for shower). We had a great time and enjoyed being surrounded by all the lovely trees. Staff were friendly and the park was clean. Only bummer is the steps to the “cave” is still closed.

This SRA about 25 minutes Southeast of Lincoln Nebraska is a favorite go to for me and my boys. Wagon Train is far enough from major roads that all you’ll hear is nature and the crackle of your fire. There are 28 pad/powered sites and 80 non powered, non pad sites for basic tent camping. If you want a sad spot reserve early. This SRA experienced a tornado a few years ago and many trees were lost. Those trees are in a pile near the non pad sites though, so claiming free fire wood is easy if you have a saw. Potable water is available and vaulted toilets are a short walk from the non powered sites. If you RV you’ll also have access to a dump station. There is a short hiking trail but nothing to write home about. Your camp sites will all have fire rings and picnic tables. I think the best part of this lake is the sand beach swimming area which is near a large covered picnic area. As with many Southeast Nebraska lakes, you can boat but there is a 5mph speed limit. If you don’t make reservations online you can show up and self register at the camp entrance. For me Wagon Train isn’t the prettiest lake in the area be a long shot but I love how quite it is and you’ll love the dark starry skies at night.

My husband and I tent camped one night at this park. We arrived around 8 pm and even though the office was getting ready to close, the woman behind the counter was very kind and helpful. She helped us with finding our spot and with getting firewood. Our basic tent site was lakeside and had a fire pit and picnic table. The site was so well maintained it was hard to find small sticks for kindling.

The grounds have private bathrooms with toilets and showers. There are two nice playgrounds and a swimming pool. Most campers were enjoying fishing in the small lake. Kayaks were available to rent for a small fee. Kids enjoyed riding bikes around the flat roads.

This is a great spot off I-29 to set up camp and have a rest. It's also a good spot to take young kids fishing.

Sebetha lake is located a few minutes from the town of Sebetha and is a nice area for camping. The camp sites are Electric and Water on gravel. For Rvers There is a group of campsites when you first come in which are not shaded very well, but there are some scattered sites around the lake that are nicely shaded. We were in site 14 with our door facing the lake. What a beautiful view! We had a fire ring, a raised grill, picnic table, and trash barrel. The grounds are well maintained. For primitive camping there are sites scattered around lake which woul make good single or group sites. There is a cement bathroom by the permit station which has vault toilets and was not something I would feel comfortable using. It looks as if they would be the Emergency shelter. It would take a really big emergency for me to go in them. Outside the bathrooms were 2 nice picnic tables under a shelter.

The lake offers boating, canoeing, jet skiing, nice nature trails, bird-wildlife viewing, scenic drive,and beautiful lake views. There was hardly any traffic going by our area so it was mostly quiet with an exceptional train in the distance. All and all a nice experience.

Stayed one night on Sept 4. Camped at site 35 in the non-equestrian campground; non-electric fee $15. Parked van on the grass at this site. Like nearly all of the sites in this campground, this site was close to the campground road. Overall, I felt that the campsites were all bunched together - offering no privacy and spacing between sites. The shower house was closed during our visit. Water was also turned off at the wayer pumps in the campground. There was one single vault toilet available for all of the campers; it was reasonably clean. Wayne, the campground host, was nice & helpful. There is a self-serve firewood station in the campground; cost is either $5 or $10, depending on the amount of wood you purchase. The campsites have a picnic table & metal fire ring. I wasn't too pleased with this campground, but I was very happy with the nearby hiking trails within the park. It's a pretty state park with hills & lush forest. The day use areas looked great. I recommend those traveling along I-29 to stop at this park - not necessarily for the camping, but for the hiking. Had some T-Mobile 4G service.

I camp here maybe once or twice a year, small area for tent camping that is quite open to other sites - not for campers hoping to get privacy or who can’t handle some late night parties. The area is set back quite a ways from the lake but the lake is still easy to access.

Note that if you are at the swimming beach area and wanting to grill out, be prepared to haul your items from your parked car nearby, not from back at the tent sites. It is less convenient than other campground set ups.

Make sure you come prepared with your pass and camping pass - unlike a majority of other campgrounds, I have noticed the park rangers won’t wait the first hour to let you get set up and squared away.

I stay here to enjoy kayaking, but have also ridden my bike out or just come out to gril and swim with friends. Top lake within a 60 minute drive and for those wanting to stay close to Lincoln.