Best Tent Camping near Melbeta, NE

Some of us still prefer to rustic camp in a tent with no amenities; listen to the sound of birds, wind, silence, to feel the night wrap around you when you sleep. Your mobile homes are too big for the rustic lake sites! You’re generators are ridiculous and loud. Take that to the RV site. This one camper was so big that it took up half the one way road, now people tear up the nice grass to get around a RV that was never meant to camp in these sites when the camp sites were built. Serious.

We originally were planning on staying at West Wind, but our GPS couldn’t locate it at first and since it was late we just settled here. The reservable sites aren’t too bad being paved and somewhat near the bathrooms. However, the camping on the beach is not very well maintained. There was trash everywhere. People also pulled in at all hours of the night and when you are tent camping it’s not the best. The staff was friendly which is a plus. The showers cost $$$ which after paying $$ to both camp and park seems outrageous. If we go back we will more than likely try to stay at a different campground around the lake.

This private campground directly overlooks Carhenge and is not too far from (small) downtown Alliance. Although tent prices were listed, I’m not sure it would appeal to tenters. Prices range from $17 for tents to $27 for water to $35 for full hookups. 50% off after the third day. Weekly and monthly rates listed and it appears that credit cards are accepted. I believe there were four full hookup sites. The day we were there, there were only two RVs there and I didn’t see anyone to talk to. (There was a phone number prominently displayed to call but I did not). Pit toilet. No shade at all. If you are passing through, it might be good for an overnight stay but other than Carhenge, not much to do in this area. Was suggested that it might be a good stop on the way to Sturgis (tent camping?)

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.

This is a park for small rvs or tent campers. There are a few pull through just after the gun range but the rest of the sites down the road are very small. All sites are very close together. Pit toilet and waste containers.

Pulling up to this campground, it is right next to carhenge. It is a fairly new camground and has no shade. It is a few miles from town and there really isn’t anything there. We decided not to stay here. It would be ok if you needed to pull over for the night. The sites were pull thru and on gravel. The sites went from full hook ups down to tent.

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.

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 🤪

We stayed at Robidoux RV Park for one night in a pull through full hook up spot. It had a concrete pad with a patio and picnic table. All sites are 30 and 50 Amp and our pull through was long enough to stay connected. This is a City of Gering RV Park and and with our Good Sam discount and tax, ended up being $29.00 per night. You can make reservations, or if there is space you may just show up and pick your spot. Our site and all of the park have lots of grass and open spaces with great views of the Scotts Bluff National Monument.

The bathhouse was very clean. The park had a laundry, playground and basketball court. There is wifi but we used our AT&T hotspot instead. This would be a great place to stay longer and check out the area.

Cement pads. Full hookup. Large grassy area. Great view of Scotts Bluff. Staff went out of their way to get us a site that was fairly shaded as it was 99 degrees when we arrived.

We stayed at this campground in late fall. There are very few campgrounds available in this area after the summer ends, so selection was limited. Reservations are made via phone or submitted online form. Although the staff was very attentive, from the confirmation phone call to the registration, we were a bit put off that the sites were very open and close together. In addition, when the employee called to ask about what we needed for our reservation, she implied full hook up, including cable in our mind. When we arrived we discovered there were very few sites that had cable available, and so our sons were disappointed that they would not be spoiled for the weekend (they don't get cable TV at home!). This RV park appears to be owned by the city of Gering, NE.

The view of Scotts Bluff National Monument from the campground is beautiful, especially in the evening. I enjoyed watching the sun go down and hit the bluffs with that perfect golden glow (so much better than cable TV, right?), but was also put off that there were no fire rings, so we could not have a campfire at our site either. They do have raised grills for charcoal (or maybe small wood) and each site has a picnic table.

On the plus side, there is a playground attached to the property that has updated equipment that our sons enjoyed.

Easy to find-Easy to park-Easy to enjoy