Camper submitted image from Fort Kearny State Recreation Area - 1

View Photos

Camper submitted image from Fort Kearny State Recreation Area - 2
Facilities
Camper submitted image from Fort Kearny State Recreation Area - 3
Roads
Camper submitted image from Fort Kearny State Recreation Area - 4
Signs & Maps
Camper submitted image from Fort Kearny State Recreation Area - 5
Camping
Unlock Planning Tools in App

Established Camping

Fort Kearny State Recreation Area

Do you own or manage this property?

Claim Your Listing

Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, near Kearney, Nebraska, is a solid choice for campers looking for a peaceful spot with some nice amenities. The campground is surrounded by old-growth trees and beautiful pastures, making it a relaxing place to unwind after a long drive.

You’ll find a mix of tent and RV sites, many equipped with electric hookups and fire rings for those cozy campfire evenings. Visitors have mentioned the friendly staff and the availability of free bike rentals, which is a fun way to explore the area. As one camper noted, “The park is quiet, plenty of room for your site,” making it a great stop for travelers.

While the campground offers showers and toilets, some campers have pointed out that the facilities could use a bit more attention. However, the overall vibe is peaceful, with plenty of shade and space to enjoy the outdoors. If you’re into fishing, there are some ponds nearby that add to the charm of the area.

Whether you’re just passing through or planning a longer stay, Fort Kearny provides a convenient and enjoyable camping experience. Plus, with easy access to nearby hiking trails, you can soak in the natural beauty of Nebraska while enjoying your time outdoors.

Suggest an Edit

Location

Fort Kearny State Recreation Area is located in Nebraska

Detail location of campground

Directions

To get to Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, you would take I-80 to the Minden exit, 279 south on Hwy 10 for 3 miles. Next, turn west onto Hwy 50A for 3 miles. Or from the Kearney exit, 272 south on Hwy 44 for 2 miles. Then east on Hwy 50A for 4 miles. Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, is 1 mile east and 1 mile north of the Historical Park.

Address

1020 V Rd
Kearney, NE 68847

Coordinates

40.652185275093586 N
98.98936454902945 W

Open in Google Maps

Access

  • Drive-In
    Park next to your site
  • Walk-In
    Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

  • WiFi
    Available
  • Verizon
    Available
  • AT&T
    Good
  • T-Mobile
    Unknown

Site Types

  • Tent Sites
  • RV Sites
  • Standard (Tent/RV)
  • Group
  • Tent Cabin
  • Equestrian

Features

For Campers

  • ADA Access
  • Trash
  • Picnic Table
  • Phone Service
  • Reservable
  • Showers
  • Drinking Water
  • Electric Hookups
  • Toilets
  • Alcohol
  • Pets
  • Fires

For Vehicles

  • Sanitary Dump
  • 30 Amp Hookups
  • 50 Amp Hookups
  • Big Rig Friendly

Drive Time


Reviews

Add Review

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

43%
39%
12%
0%
10%

4.0

out of 5

26 Reviews

Reviewed Apr. 6, 2025

Camping

Nice clean Park nice people nice little spot definitely not a quiet spot I definitely a campground feel

Sitev11
Month of VisitApril
Reviewed Sep. 24, 2024

Quiet nice Campground

Very inexpensive, convenient, nice place to stay for a layover. It's a first come basis with I believe 22 RV sites. They have a dump, clean bathrooms with hot showers(which super clean), a playground for the kids and a couple of walking/hiking trails nearby. The very long Cerro Gordo County trail is close to 50 miles long. Believe the cost was only $15 on our summer early September rate and drops to $10 basically in October for a few months, which includes a small fire pi, tabke, and electric! I'll just say a gem of a simple place.

Site18
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Michael B., September 24, 2024
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Michael B., September 24, 2024
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Michael B., September 24, 2024
  • (4) View All
Reviewed Aug. 7, 2024

Easy spot to stay!

Pulled in at night - was easy to get a spot. Very relaxing campground set against old growth trees. Beautiful pastures and some fishing ponds. Sites seemed pretty level. Right off highway but peaceful and quiet. Needs a little upkeep in terms of mowing the grass and cleaning trash up from the ponds.

Sitetent site
Month of VisitAugust
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Randall K., August 7, 2024
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Randall K., August 7, 2024
Reviewed Jun. 30, 2024

An escape thats worth it

First time at this park. 6/30/24. You roll in the staff are friendly to help. The park is quiet, plenty of room for your site. Its deffinetly a good stay if traveling through.

Site064
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Kalab R., June 30, 2024
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Kalab R., June 30, 2024
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Kalab R., June 30, 2024
  • (9) View All
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2023

Peaceful camp just off the interstate

This is a great campground with lots of shade and amenities. The showers require coins to operate, so make sure you bring $1 bills for the coin machine if you don’t have quarters. Half of the campsites are first come first serve, but we had no problem getting a site late at night.

Note that you have to pay for both the campsite itself and for a motor vehicle permit. It seemed a little steep to me because we had to stay for two nights, and the total came out to $74. Maybe I’m just cheap.

There are lots of playgrounds for kids. Also the campground host is situated next to a free bike rental stand. You can take a bike for free and ride around the whole campsite at any time. Pretty cool!

Site39
Month of VisitAugust
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Landon C., August 22, 2023
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Landon C., August 22, 2023
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Landon C., August 22, 2023
  • (14) View All
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2023

Overpriced and subpar campground

I've stayed 3 times at the Fort Kearney SRA for convenience only.  Nebraska Game & Parks has a punitive price model that charges out-of-state visitors $12/day to enter a park with a campground (no Senior discounts either) and then $15/day for a primitive campsite (no water or electric) that is a looong ways for the dirty and rundown restrooms.

Reviewed Jun. 25, 2023

Great camping !

Enjoyed our short stay here. Found by accident trying to find a different location, but a pleasant place to stay for a couple nights. The one downside is the pit toilets. They hadn’t been emptied in who knows when. The tp was piled high and there were flies. Yuck! Thankfully, we didn’t have to use them. Hosts were very nice and even have bikes for the kids. Posting a video about this park on YouTube soon. Skyways to Highways

Sitev14
Month of VisitJune
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Toshi , June 25, 2023
Reviewed Apr. 5, 2023

Lots of camping option

This is a nice site with electric and tent sites. Each site has fire ring and there are vault toilets around the site. There are tent site that are free. You can camp there off season. Some of the site are on the river. There are also several hiking trails.

SiteTent
Month of VisitMarch
Reviewed Sep. 20, 2022

Not worth it at all zero stars

Ok so the cost to camp here is very expensive considering what they offer... First the sites are all in terrible condition..  the shower house is gross and the vault toilets.. puke. They where so over full the toilet paper was at the top... We could smell it  all the way down where we were and it was a long distance away ..  the playground is terrible cigarettes and booze bootles everywhere... Come on you have an attendant on site what do they do but junk up the place with old dirty bicycles piled high In a nasty campsite...   We had been heading home from a mountain camping trip where we where in a camping area with zero power zero water and vault toilets and those where immaculately clean..  we only spent like 6 bucks a night to stay there and it was much nicer than this crap hole..

Reviewed Sep. 7, 2022

Not worth it for tent camping

After much deliberation, and with great regret, I am declaring myself a Nebraska State Parks campground anti. There are three interlocking reasons for this decision:

  1. Both the campgrounds I have been to (this one and Rock Creek Station SRA) seem to treat tent sites as an afterthought: each park has a very small number of tenting spaces that are kind of on the margins of the campground. At Fort Kearny, the sites that were available were also either totally slanted or full of trash. It does seem like other parks might not share this problem, but it at least indicates a pattern to be aware of.

  2. In addition to the campsite fee, there is a $12 DAILY out-of-state vehicle entrance fee. This means that a $15 campsite is actually a $27 campsite. I will say, in fairness, that the $12 also allowed my car to enter the Fort Kearny historical site next to the campground.

  3. The showers are coin-operated. This isn’t a cost problem so much as it is a logistical one: who has quarters anymore? Also, because the showers are timed, you can’t turn the water off and back on again, which ruins my entire haircare routine.

Obviously, these reasons won’t apply to everyone. If you have a camper or RV, your calculus will be totally different. If you’re in-state, and you only have to pay $6 for your vehicle instead of $12, I could see these sites being worth it. And if you don’t have hair that you need to condition, the shower thing might not bother you. But if you are like me, a long-haired out-of-state yokel trying to cross the country with a Honda Accord and a backpacking tent, you might take these considerations into account.

I will say that this campground is beautiful to drive through, with all the little lakes and the cottonwood trees. Also, the camp hosts offer free bikes for guests to use around the campground and presumably on the nearby hike/ bike trail, which is very kind of them and which I wish I had time to take advantage of.

Month of VisitSeptember
Reviewed Jan. 3, 2022

Nice little spot convenient to the interstate

Stayed here in late October and was pleasantly surprised by how nice this was. Had gorgeous fall color and a great sunset. Park was sparsely populated, but there were a couple other campers spread around. Very peaceful and quiet. Site and bathrooms were clean, altho the particular site I chose was hard to level my truck out in for car sleeping. Had a really nice sunrise walk around a field behind the site and saw lots of deer. Quick little ten minute or so jog off the interstate and about 15 to get into the actual town. Would definitely stay here again! Had good signal with verizon.

Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by hannah C., January 3, 2022
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by hannah C., January 3, 2022
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by hannah C., January 3, 2022
Reviewed Dec. 1, 2021

Very nice campground

We only stayed one night. Got in late and left early. Was very peaceful, quiet, lots of sites. I think it was in September. Would stay again!!!

Month of VisitSeptember
Reviewed Oct. 2, 2021

Great base camp for viewing Sandhill cranes

Nice camp ground with helpful gate attendants, this Nebraska park represents the conundrum of many public campgrounds. Here, there are plentiful showers (yes, 75 cents for three minutes, woopdeedoo) but no water spigots and few usable pit toilets. There are primitive sites, 30 amp (yellow) and 50 amp (red) sites so no generator noise and all sites are near stocked ponds. A mix of overnight and long term visitors. Sandhills cranes can be viewed in the adjacent corn stubble in April. Limited cell service and no WiFi

Site57/58
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Robert C., October 2, 2021
Reviewed Sep. 7, 2021

Great spot for a rest break or weekend stay

We stayed here Sunday night of Labor Day weekend on a cross country trip. We arrived late, and were able to use after hours self check in. There were about 8 sites empty in the grounds, and we were happily surprised by how peaceful and well spaced the camping spots were, many backing up to a lake. There were also nice trails to walk with the dogs in the morning. 

Downsides: one of the electrical outlets didn’t work on our post, there were some crazy burrs we had to cut out of our dog’s fur, no recycling, and some amenities were hard/unable to find.

Site50
Month of VisitSeptember
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Ariel , September 7, 2021
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Ariel , September 7, 2021
Reviewed Jan. 10, 2021

Nice state park just off the highway

Just a quick one night while passing through.  Easy access, paved and good cell coverage.  We only had power but we didn't need more than that.  Any size rig can find a spot there.  Would stay again.

Month of VisitOctober
Reviewed Oct. 30, 2020

Great Location to Relax!

Always a great place for a weekend get away!  Kids love to explore on their bikes.  Nice trail to the Platte River.  Just a nice escape location!

Month of VisitOctober
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Barry M., October 30, 2020
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Barry M., October 30, 2020
Reviewed Sep. 18, 2020

Quiet and serene

My husband and I were able to get a primitive site right next to one of the lakes. Our site was secluded from the other campers but it was a bit of a walk to the vault toilets. We even saw some deer in the field next to the campground. Great for an overnight stop!

Reviewed Sep. 8, 2020

Good but hoping for more

For a smaller park this place does offer a lot for the campers. There are a few lakes and fishing acceses. As well as a swimming area and beach flat roads similar to that of two rivers. Playground and other activities. The park workers at the booth are very helpful as well. It also sits farther away from I-80 then windmill, or Mormon Island. It does kind of remind me of Two Rivers 25, 30 yrs ago. We did just pass through this place as well on Labor Day weekend so it was packed. But this would be a good stay over night, and hit the beach, fish a little, and hit the archway, and the fort down the road.

Reviewed Sep. 6, 2020

Quick stopover

This was a quick stopover due to bad weather coming in. A daily vehicle park permit is required and when this is added in to the cost, it’s a bit pricey for what it is, but the Recreation Area has a lot going for it. Check the photo of their brochure for camping pricing. They go by Electric Plus, electric and basic. 

There are 7 sandpit lakes in the area that offer fishing. Lakes 5, 6 and 7 offer handicap accessible piers. Lake 7 has the swimming beach. I was camped backed up to Lake 4 at site 57. This site wouldn’t accommodate anything longer than 26’. It was also right next to site 58, so it would be great for 2 families looking to camp together, but otherwise, not so good. The site wasn’t level due to erosion, which was pretty significant. 

The area has beautiful, mature cottonwood trees. One of these was right at site 57 so there was lots of shade. Also a picnic table and fire ring. Electric h/u, but no water. Need to fill up prior to camping. I didn’t use the dump station or the bathrooms so can’t comment. 

There’s a bike trail that goes to the Fort at the historical park. I didn’t have time to check this out, but would like to next time I pass through.

Site57
Month of VisitJuly
  • Storm coming in
    Play button icon
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Susan L., September 6, 2020
  • Review photo of Fort Kearny State Recreation Area by Susan L., September 6, 2020
  • (5) View All
Reviewed Jun. 10, 2018

wonderful

we had a great time here. quite and peaceful. bike rental is fun and the fishing was good as well.

Reviewed Jul. 19, 2017

Respite from the road

This is our second visit for one night to and from Colorado. The sites are big and grassy with large trees. The host has a slew of bikes that can be used on a trust basis, no fee. There is a nice breeze in the evening. Yes, you can hear the highway, but the pros outway the cons. Showers are available for .75 for 3 minutes. There is a change machine. We would return.

Site103
Month of VisitJuly
Reviewed Jun. 28, 2016

good

site: semi-private. some shaded. not busy during the week. amenities: clean. attractions: not sure- just passing through. I would camp here again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Fort Kearny State Recreation Area have RV hookups?

According to TheDyrt.com, Fort Kearny State Recreation Area has 30 amp and 50 amp electric hookups.

What is the max vehicle length at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area?

Fort Kearny State Recreation Area allows vehicles up to 50 feet.

Are fires allowed at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area?

Yes, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, fires are allowed at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area, although make sure to check current fire restrictions in the area.

Does Fort Kearny State Recreation Area have wifi?

No, according to campers on TheDyrt.com, Fort Kearny State Recreation Area does not have wifi.

Is there cell phone reception at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area?

According to campers on TheDyrt.com, Verizon signal is available, AT&T is good, and T-Mobile is unknown.