Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Halsey, NE

We wanted to camp Nebraska's national forest for some time and we were not disappointed. The camp was full to the brim.  all sites with hookups were taken, but the overflow is an abandoned, overgrown baseball field.  It was great, spacious, close to the showers and flush toilets, and only $8 a night!

I think hookups were only $16, so this is a great deal no matter how you slice it.

Neighboring Thedford has Kayaks and Tanks you can rent.  Tanking has become a Nebraska Thing.  fitting a group of folks and possibly a keg in a horse tank and floating down river!  We hiked to the ranger tower and it was a great hike with a spring fed trough half way up.  Much to see in the surrounding area including art galleries, quilt shops, and more.  Nice camping supply store right in Halsey.

This is a nice little campground in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Campsites are spaced apart nicely over three loops and many of the sites offer electric hookups. There are numerous water spigots around the campground and there’s also a dump station. The campground has hot showers, a basketball court and horseshoe pits available. A vending machine is located by the registration kiosks. Make sure to bring whatever you need with you because there isn’t much in Thedford or Halsey. 

There are lots of OHV trails in the area or there’s also a 2.5 mile hiking trail that leads to a fire lookout tower that’s open to public access. 

Be aware that there is a railway crossing at the turnoff from Route 2 so you will hear trains and train horns.

Halsey National Forests campground is called Bessey Recreation Campground and has cabins, Rv sites, tent sites, as well as group and family sites. The Rv sites are Electric and gravel and are fairly level. They have picnic tables and fire rings and are spacious. And of course plenty of shade since you are in a forest.

There is a Nursery which grows the trees for the forest, a Look Out Tower which offers a panoramic view of the Sandhills, hunting, fishing, scenic drives, wildlife viewing, hiking and ATV trails, along with other activities.

It is a nice place to stop over and see.

My dog and I were the only ones there on a quiet Monday night.

Clean, campground, everything you need is available. The river access is nice and our dogs enjoyed swimming. The train is annoying, blaring its horn at least hourly, if not more often.

Love Victoria Springs! It is a hidden gem in the Nebraska Sandhills.  It fills up on the weekends but during the week you can have the entire campground to yourself.  Beautiful trees, nice shade, and electrical hook-ups.

The sites are mostly level and well groomed grass with 2 new concrete handicap spots. The 30 amp and 50 amp power was proper voltage and dependable. Access to clear line of site to south for Dish or Directv is difficult due to heavy tree population. Non-Nebraska resident requires $14 pass in addition to the $30 fee with electric.  Potable water is available and dump station is easily accessible with a rinse water source. Ingress and egress is good with gravel road surfaces in park. The restrooms and showers are very clean and accessible.

Located in the center of Nebraska, Victoria Springs is a 27 site campground and a couple of rental cabins. You can rent paddle boats for the small lake. Merlin counted 10 different bird sounds here in April. The park has a basketball hoop, horseshoes, and a playground across the creek by the lake. Most sites are electric and 6 that are non-electric, and water hydrants are sprinkled throughout the campground. There is a shower house with flush toilets (not open in April) and a vault toilet at the end of the loop. While I like Bessey a few miles away, this is much quieter without trains every 10 minutes. Cell service available with both T-mobile/Mint (strongest) and Verizon/Visible.

Right on the middle loup river, and in the middle of nowhere this place can get busy.

Great hiking through the Sandhills. The scott lookout tower can give you views across the Sandhills for miles upon miles on a clear day. Want stars at night? You can see them all.

Roads to drive on and explore that take you to the south of the first to the Dismal river

the campsotes are all shady lots of open spaces in the csmpground too for picnics and games

don’t forget to check out the tree nursery Pretty cool to see all the trees growing as seedlings

Only spent 1 night on our way through to the Black hills but loved the campground. Lots of pretty scenery and wildlife. Very peaceful. Nice trails. Big and deep fire pits with gravel pads and patios. Lots of ATV activity because of the great trails. Clean bathrooms/bath house, but only 4 total stalls in the main camping area. Bit of train noise during the day, but didn't really notice it overnight.

A delightful oasis in the sand hills. Beautifully maintained campground right beside the river.

Spotless facilities, private camp spots, pristine park like setting

What a wonderful place with so many trees. If you get the chance to up the fire tower and talk to the park ranger.

Trains ran all night every hour, maybe more, and blasted us each time. In the morning we were surrounded anf deafened by atv activity- we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Very nice little campground. Well manicured. Nice tent camping pads. Spots are well shaded. Has modern bathroom with FREE showers. Has primitive toilets scattered everywhere. Have walking, Jeep, ATV trails all over. Nice little pond to catch a few fish. Overall a very nice spot. A little noisy during the day with all the ATV traffic, but nice and quiet at night!

Bessey NF Rec Campground : (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(72 yr olds in 27’ trailer.)

Overall Rating: 3.5. There are some nice sites, but many are in groups o 2 or 3. I took pics of some of my favorite somewhat secluded sites Price 2024: $10 for electric sites and $15 for non-electric sites- both prices are w interagency pass Security: no Usage during visit: 1/2 Visual Privacy Between Adjacent Sites: most sites no Site Spacing: depends on the site Pad surface: gravel Reservations: Yes. Current night and 3 nights out are first come first serve. Campground Noise: Some OHV noise and voices during the day. Was quiet at night. Note there are a lot of OHVs in the campground. Outside Road Noise: none Through Traffic in campground:
Electric Hookup: some sites Sewer Hookup: no Dump Station: ye Potable Water Available: spigots throughout the cg Bathroom: yes Showers: yes Pull Throughs: some Cell Service (AT&T): 2 to 3 bars Setting: near a river with lush tree growth.
Recent Weather: highs are mid 70s to 80s Solar: some sites.
Insects: not many right now. Host: yes Rig Size: large rigs fit in some sites.
Sites: sites near the water beginning with number 33 are not that great. They don’t have a good view. I took pics of some of my favorite trailer sites. Most of them, our 26’ trailer will fit in.

This location has the primitive feel with great facilities. If you want to stay to yourself you have plenty of space to do so. If your looking for a group event. They have close RV pads.

Highly recommend checking this campground out!

We stayed one night on a cross country trip. It was clean and well maintained.

On our road trip from MN to AZ this was our first stop. A lot of open sites. Sites where roomy and nicely spaced out.

We enjoyed our brief stay. The campground is very well maintained, workers constantly trimming, cleaning etc. 

Right off the Sandhills Scenic Byway, beautiful drive. Our highlight was floating down the Middle Loup River in inner tubes ( Thedford, 15 miles away). 

Don't know if we will be back here again, but if we are I'd stay again.

Free dispersed site. Coordinates: 41.82207,-100.31366. Camped here on Sept 6, 2024. Along Forest Road 203, on a short little used unnamed track which dead ends at a barb wire fence and gate. Campervan fit okay with some leveling was needed. Sandy, grassy base. No cell service. The drive down on the unpaved east side of FR 203 Bessey Circle Rd was okay; narrow is places, but no obstacles. There is a path next to the site which goes nowhere, but okay for a stroll. FR203 had some traffic on it due to hunting season. This was the only dispersed site that I found directly off of the east leg of Circle Road, FR203.  There was nothing remarkable about this site; just okay for an overnight stay. There are other dispersed campsites along FR201 further south. This forest road is being reconstructed toward Whitetail Campground; high clearance 4x4 is recommended as one travels closer to this campground.

The camp sites were nice but there was so much rodeo activity it made it a bit overwhelming.

In a sea of private property this was a nice island of public land. We camped between a skate park and a ball field. Not sure if we could officially camp there but nobody bugged us. We came in after dark and out early. Don’t know if they’d want you there all day. No facilities.

The Thedford city park has four spots with 30amp electric. There is water nearby. Cost is a donation ( donation bog is next to the sites) To find these, they are on on Main Street (first road south of Highway 2). They sit on the curve where Main St heads north to highway 2. Would be an awesome spot for a day or more. There are trains that come through regularly, but they aren’t sounding horns near the park. A hill blocks a lot of the noise.

Nice secluded campground.