Severe Clear

Our 2013 Photo Tour continues across Nebraska with mostly ‘Severe Clear’ skies!

Severe clear is a term pilots use to describe a cloudless sky, with ceiling and visibility unlimited.

That is how the last week of April turned out at the end. The first day of May was a different story.

Since the weather was nice I visited quite a few campgrounds.

The town and the campground are pronounced “Car-nee”, like Art, from the old show…oh, never mind.

It has nice lakes to fish in, lakeside campsites to camp in, and a sandy beach to roll around in.

The Fort is just a few miles away but I didn’t get a chance to stop there.

Next up was Windmill SRA.

This campground is about 20 miles east of Kearny and right off Interstate 80. Sure it gets some traffic noise but it is very popular with the RV crowd cruising the highway. Like Kearny it has lakes, electrical hookups, big campsites, and yes, a beach.

The temperature was warming up and the clouds were disappearing. I left Windmill after one night and stopped briefly at Mormon Island SRA.

This is a smaller campground with 35 sites. The people I spoke with said it is one of the best in the area. Again, right off Interstate 80 but beautiful.

The birds didn’t want their photos taken.

I almost stayed but I wanted to get to Pawnee SRA and stay the weekend to bask in the predicted 80 degree temps!

I set up camp on Friday with the intention of staying for two nights.

By Saturday morning the campground was full so I spent the whole weekend there.

This was the first time I was able to cook for a while so I made a hearty breakfast.

What is better than having tacos for breakfast? Wait, this is a serious question. The answer is having them two days in a row!

I was out of cilantro and lettuce but I survived. I wore shorts and a tee shirt for the entire weekend. Severe Clear. Wonderful.

The host said he has been coming here for 40 years. His favorite spot in Nebraska and it it less than 10 miles away from Lincoln, the capital.

There are over 70 sites with electricity, 50 walk in tent sites, beaches, a boat ramp, and a nice big lake.

Monday morning I walked the campground and then headed a whopping 8 miles north to the number one recreation spot in Nebraska. Branched Oak Lake. Over 1 million people visit here each year to camp and fish and enjoy the lake.

There are two developed campgrounds with over 300 sites, as well as several primitive ones. I checked out South Shore first.

There are 121 sites here all with power. They are also a dozen full hookup sites, the only ones in the area, possibly the whole state. How about this campsite?

And you can leave your boat on the beach.

I stayed a Middle Oak Creek.

I set up my chair…

and watched the sunset.

There is now power at all of the 187 campsites except numbers 1-9. They electrified the lakeside sites last year, to the cheers of many and the dismays of a few.

Which brings us to the last day of April.

I drove 55 miles NE to Fremont Lakes SRA. Arrived in the afternoon to 75 degrees of sunny goodness.

Woke up on May 1 to this…

We will see what May 2nd brings.

Regards, Park Ranger