Best Tent Camping near Gothenburg, NE

This campground was hard to find, even with GPS. Finally a local came by to show us where it was. When we drove in there was a boat ramp, 1 tent site with a picnic table and fire ring, and 1 spot for an RV to park with no hookups. I was told there were other spots for tents on the other side of the lake that you could get to by hiking. The area needed to be mowed but wow the views from the tent site were gourgous. There were other trails, hunting, and fishing. Up the road were beautiful views of the dam and area. If we would have had our generator, we would have stayed the night.

A short drive from the Interstate. Lots of sites to choose from on a weekday in August. The sites are spread among the sand channel ponds. Incredibly, we were not bothered by mosquitos. Sites had picnic tables and fire rings. Fire wood piles were all around to help yourself from. There is a small “beach” area designate for swimming in one of the ponds. It is small. Because we were there during the COVID restrictions, we waiting until almost everyone left before we felt we would have enough space to swim without being within 6 feet of others. The water was nice and cooled us down nicely.

The newly build vault toilet was OK. Our son reported the men’s side was terrible. The women’s side was just fine. We needed a spot to stay close to the Interstate for a cross-country trip and this was open and available. I would not return. But I do remember the fireflies fondly. There were tons.

It is more of a fishing area for the locals than anything but it is open and you can camp. There are no marked sites. A local told me when they come here they just park in the grass anywhere and pay the fee. There is a vault toilet and "modern restrooms" (thr vault toilet is cleaner) but no showers as The Dyrt describes. There is a water sticker at the brick building on your left as you enter. You'll get a little interstate noise and distant train horns, but nothing that earplugs cannot fix. Nice place to pull off and sleep for the nights without utilities.

Nestled off I-80 in Nebraska off the 179 exit to North Platte you will find a decent campground. This campground has 89 Rv sites along with multiple tent sites which have little yellow fish signs to mark them. The Rv sites are gravel, level, have picnic benches and a fire ring. There is a small fishing/swimming lake that is catch and release only. Some fish you might catch are Crappie, Bass, Catfish, Walleye and others. They have a neat incentive where if you catch a tagged fish you win a boat rental. The boat rentals available are kayaks,paddle oats, and rowboats for rent at reasonable prices at the office. There is also a small 2 unenclosed dog walk, a playground, and a walking trail. Also available are horse shoes and volleyball. The restrooms are fairly clean. The showers in the women’s are being redone and are looking nice. There is a laundry facility on site. The office/store has camping essentials and firewood for purchase. The owners took possession and reopened in May of 2016. This campground is in short walking distance from the platte River-across the street. All and all it is a convenient and decent place to stop along I-80 as you are traveling.

We really enjoyed this campground but the RV sites are definitely popular on the weekends. We arrived at about 4 on a Saturday in June. All of the sites were first-come-first-served and the only thing available were the tent sites with no hook ups. We stayed by the kayak put-in and it was lovely—green, shaded and peaceful, near the water spigot, clean bathrooms and pay showers. There’s a decent amount of space between each site, though no bushes or anything to create privacy. There were also some tent sites available right near the water that we didn’t realize were open until we had already settled in. The lake is lovely and there are huge trees all over. There’s only one RV dump site which made for a huge line in the morning.