Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Gering, NE

Open May 1– October 1. Got the second to last site on a Wednesday in July(you can reserve sites after the campground opens on May 1). We chose this campground for its proximity to Scottsbluff. Although there is a tent site area, the campground was filled mostly with large RVs. The hosts were very friendly and welcoming and even though it was not a large campground, the host escorted us to our site. He offered several times to deliver firewood to us if we wanted. Reasonable cost for sites($10 tent camping,$20 water and electric,$25 for full hook-up). Best sites are the ones at the end of the rows as they have a nice patch of lawn. Alcoholic beverages are permitted but must be consumed inside your rig/tent. WiFi is available but not a strong signal; using our own data worked much better. Restrooms were reasonably clean(accessed via a code) and there are showers. This campground is located within a city park and there are other facilities(fitness trail, dog park, and supposedly a zoo). I did a little exploring but rain was imminent so I didn’t wander far, however, the facilities outside the campground looked like they could have used a little TLC. Of course, there is a nearby train!

Captain Critter Country campground is located right off of highway 26 between Mitchell and Scottsbluff Nebraska. There is a set of train tracks on the other side of highway,and the trains blow there horns when they come through. Scared the crud out of me because they were so loud. When you pull into the campground it is obvious real quickly that it is in need of some TLC. There are spray painted tires around saplings throughout the campground. Along with spray painted numbers on the electrical boxes and in need of some clean up. There are bright yellow buckets over the water spigots. One of the reasons we stopped was because it advertised a fruit orchard and veggie garden that we could pick from to eat. So I set off walking to find these. The fruit orchard is non existent. On brochure given said it was coming. And the veggie garden was very overgrown with weeds couldn’t tell if anything was planted in most of it. I passed by a once swimming pool that is beyond repair. With that being said the owner is super nice and the campground has 36 full hook up sites with more being made. We paid $35 for the night. The lanes are cutely named -Bunny Blvd,Critter Court, Deer Drive, Fox Fairway, and Gopher Gateway to name a few. The dog park is a nice size and has water bowls for the pups and deflated balls to play with. There is a small backyard swing set for kids and areas with trees that provide shade. The bathroom and showers are closed due to Covid. A lot of the campers look like full timers, and I did not see any tent areas.

We stayed on a Sunday night in April and we were able to get a campsite with no neighbors as far as the eye can see. There are long-drop bathrooms dispersed throughout the park that are pretty clean and have TP. The roads are gravel but in good shape and we had no trouble pulling our small travel trailer through the park. All facilities are free but they have a Dropbox at the entrance humbly requesting a $5-$10 donation to help the park maintain the facilities, which is very reasonable.

The only reason it received 4 stars is that there are multiple train tracks across the road and we were woken up 3 times between 11:00 and 6:00 by train horns blaring a bunch. Not just a regular “toot toot” but a “blaaaarn! Look out! Blaaaaaaaaaaaaarn” as if there were a deaf cat on the tracks 4 miles away. It didn’t overall ruin the night or anything but it sure does throw you off when you’re in happy dreamland then all of a sudden a hyper-aggressive freight train is chasing you through the dream.

I’ll reiterate that it was a great campsite and our dogs loved the freedom to run around our site off leash and we would stop here again for sure.

We enjoyed a quick weekend trip to the Scotts Bluff National Monument and Wildcat Hills this weekend. We stayed at The Robidoux RV Park in Gering, NE. The RV Park is owned and maintained by the city of Gering. It was located next to the Five Rocks Amphitheater and had a shared green space with a nice playground for children. There was a little basketball court and an additional large green space in the center of the grounds. Almost all the lots are paved and pull-throughs. It was a nice little RV Park. The only drawback was no open fires; so no s’mores on this trip. My youngest little girl decided to “catch” all the trash cans (dumpsters) and counted 5 within the park - hence the slightly strange picture of a delighted child in front of a dumpster 🤪

Ranger review of Wildcat Hills SRA. If you love to hike and want to truly feel like you are away from it all check out Wildcat Hills. This beautiful recreation area just South of Gering Nebraska is just minutes away from geological wonders such as Chimney Rock, Jailhouse Rock and Scott’s Bluff National Memorial Park. Wildcat offers Archery, gun range, biking, hiking, picnicking, a playground, nature center and hunting. I’d add that if you are a bird watcher you need to get to Wildcat hills. There are also big horn sheep, wildcats, rattle snakes, elk, and deer in the area although we didn’t see any in our two days and nights at the park. There is a huge nature center that will provide a great place to cool off, stay dry or just for learning for the sake of learning. 4 main trail heads interconnect through rough, minimally maintained hiking trails that climb up to 5,000 feet. Backpack a lunch to the bottom of the canyon and try to find the Game of Thrones shelter (my pet name for it). I’ve given this park 4 stars because we were fortunate enough to camp at the group site that an area boy-scout troop updated. There are two other camp sites along the dirt road leading to the group site. Those 12 total sites are very close together and I wouldn’t recommend anything more than a pop up camper in those spots which are right on the road. If you have to camp in one of those 12 sites I’d rate the camping at 2 or 3 stars. this park hits it out of the ball park with the hiking and nature center.

Ranger review INNO INH 330 Aero Light Bike Rack

I had the opportunity to review the INNO INH 330 Aerolight QM bike rack. I have put hundreds of miles on this 2 bike rack from state parks to urban use. INNO has created a rack that is worthy of consideration among high end bike racks. The INNO arrived in a large clean and well packaged box and was nearly fully assembled. There are a number of pros and cons to be considered with this rack as with any product. I’ve listed those below.

Pros: Well made light metal and plastic construction that I believe will hold up for a very long time. Innovative locking cable for piece of mind. Fits both 1.5” and 2” receiver. Quiet ride. Exceptionally study bike securement if you don’t have attachment and you have a triangular bike frame. Protects your bike from banging into other bike like on hanging style racks.

Cons: awkward fit on height bar strap if you have a water bottle or bike tire pump attachment. If you are mounting different bikes often there a few adjustment steps that will take some time before you can secure your bike. The pins that secure the arms in the lower and upper positions can stick and require some force to pull out and place. I think some WD40 would probably resolve that issue. Bikes without the traditional triangle frame do not strap well to the veritable bar.

In the end, I’d give this rack 3.5 stars I would give it 4 if it fit my son’s non-triangle frame bike. I recommend that you consider the INNO and determine if it will fit your bikes and your needs. This rack has become my go to if I only need to take my bike or one other. Find your local retailer and try it out with your bikes.

Sorry about the oddly formatted photos. They flipped during upload.