Reviews of Pawnee State Recreation Area (Park)

Will Crawford

Very well maintained campground, nice fire pits, and a nice small lake nearby. In the summer heat, the wind off the lake was a lifesaver. The bathroom and showers were quote old and dark and frankly a bit frightening, but they were not disgusting.

Betty Boowap

I love going out to Pawnee Lake just to get away and enjoy what God created. Me and my son like to go fishing and swimming there. we just went there on Father's day and bbq'ed had a blast and there was a lot of people out there.

Ashley

Not my cup of tea. This lake is filled with trash and disgusting. Go down the road to branches oak.

Frank Neidenbach

Nice overnight rv stop.

Ben Engleman

I love going to the trap range here. Beautiful park, that's for sure.

April Payne

Made reservations 2 months prior to trip, when checked in (July 6, 2017) ladies in the office were nice. Noticed not many people, headed down to swim only to find out that ALL water activities had been cancelled since June 22, 2017 because of toxic algee levels. I understand it's out of their control but they could have contacted me to let me know or even told me when we checked in. Now I am out $54 (2 campsites) and I have 3 very upset children that have been in a car for 2 1/2 hours wanting to swim

Terry Pratt

This is a nice little Lake had a very nice Beach it was very hot out and we walked right from the car straight into the water clothes and all its a nice area for camping picniking and just relaxing.

Jeremy Middleton

Great place to camp. It has modern bathrooms with showers for those pf us that like to stay clean while camping.

Karla Z

Nice area. Grounds were kept up nicely.

Theresa VanDyke

Beautiful camping spot! The game wardens are very nice and very understanding.

Brent Glantz

Needs cleaned up. And the West side beach needs to be extended and have rocks removed and sand added. It is better than it used to be.

jan shaner

Nice open spaces

chris heldstab

Always beautiful

Huy Tran

Great lake to fish or just take the family out to spend sometimes on the great outdoor

Cindy Rand

Great place

Robert Liebold

We found Pawnee to be a busy place even at 12am when we pulled in. We had no problem finding a site in the primitive area despite the number of cars we saw. Nice level sites, newer pit toilets.

Travis Zoubek

It was a good place to camp it had alot of places to choose and you couldn't do wrong I recommend going there.

Layla Bartholomew

Every area we went to was free of trash and well-kept

Ryne Keel

Great Lake with decent fishing and apparently some decent sized northern pike around

Jose Hdez

Enjoy to play and swimnin in watet

Wenjun Ma

Love fishing here

Hayley Smith

It's has a great swimming beach and there aren't that many bugs. I would bring water shoes or some kind of foot protection because there are a lot of rocks in the water.

Edward Carter

NICE, haven't been there In over 20 years. Today was very enjoyable.

Darcy K

Aside from the poor upkeep and trash everywhere it's a pretty nice spot. Good fishing.

Jennifer Pierce

Nice place to sit near the water but I would not,swim or keep fish from here . They have had issues with green and blue algae for the last few summers

Shawn Barber

I went with my family and had a blast. I love going there its always nice and quite

Liz Deines

The campgrounds are nice but the lake is green with toxic algae most summers. I wouldn't advise getting into the water.

Jordan Gottula

Great not super crowded

Devon Hill

Nice place to go and hang out on the weekends.

Amber Block

Very nice, clean recreation area. Lots of shade. Nice beach w some much needed shade for those hot summer days.

Victoria Vanessa

I love the camp area. Clean and beautiful on the sunrises!! Offer showering with camping. ❤

Gregg Sedlacek

Great place to camp, boat, fish, shoot bluerock.

Trask Knitter

Beautiful spot for hiking!

Justin Case

Best little place in Nebraska extremely family-friendly pretty well-kept Park

Mackenzie Whetstone

Beautiful place went camping there and it was quite peaceful and the other campers were nice and trustworthy just wish the bathrooms around the campgrounds were more sanitary

Wendi Dallman

Clean grounds well kept up and great areas for fishing just need couple more bathrooms.

Unicorn Girl

Love this park!!! It is absolutely beautiful and just peaceful!!

Mikayla

Nice pit stop along I 80. Was able to swim , camp with Electric, & run my dogs. Just watch for ticks. Found 4 of them on my dog when I left.

Roxana Moran

Beautiful little lake with great views. There is some small areas where you can swim and lots of places where you can have your bbq , camp, fish or get your boat in the water, honestly one of my favorite lakes out there!

Paul Hall

Fishing is a little slow but nobody else was out there on this Friday night before memorial day.still better than the best day at work

james longan

Good fishing too many jet skins

Taha Al Lawati

Great place to grill and chill in summer

WARRIOR OF THE MOST HIGH

Got a great tan this summer. Bathrooms are ugh but the lake is awesome!

Ned Doricent

Great place to practice fishing great place for kids to learn. But don't swim in water DON'T!

cassie cole

I am not a fan of pawnee lake it seems like someone is always dieing out there. Lots of rude people I rain out of gas on the jet ski in pawnee and had to push it back to shore while tons of boats and ski went right by and didnt end offer to help. Something similar happened at branched oak I had 2 people stop before I even had a chance to jump in the water and start pushing

Luke Janousek

Not bad

Amanda Duimstra

Nice campground.

Gail Dymerski

Very helpful young lady at office. A Very beautiful Park, all paved. Wide roads to sites. We missed the no water at sites tho so had to skimp on that.

A Hickmon

Love the scenery, caught caught 4 different kinds of fish on minnows(didnt know they had crappie) bit got bluegill, catfish(guessin channel cat), crappie, and white perch

Christian Ross

Awesome views good fishing..

Siva Aiken

You will have to ask several people for directions to get to the office because there are no signs. Once you get to the office you will be lucky if it's open. There is no way to Camp or park anywhere without a permit. And if the office isn't open then clearly you can't get that permit. Obviously this Recreation Center is not set up for people out of the area.

Rick Horsley

Fun place to get away for a weekend and jetskis on the water is a blast. They need to expand RV camping to the south side of the lake so you have access to the water. That would make this rating a 5 star.

Phil

I go camping,fishing, & hunting here

Michael Bosen

50 amp hookups

RJ

Cheap fun place to take kids to get them up and moving. Don't use bathrooms they are outhouses and not clean.

CH27

A little too busy for my taste.

Whitney Lopez

Great accommodations, kept up well and clean public bathrooms. Online reservations available.

Richard Westling

Nice park. Good place for camping.

Justin bloch

Consistently disappointing fishing

Belinda Cueva

Nice, calm, not crowded and relaxing.

Jeff Oestmann

Great clean park with friendly staff

Bryan Nerren

Clean, pretty, and peaceful campground. Long walk to the showers from Lakeside sites. Overall, very good.

Cameron Wagner

With the right bait,, you can catch fish like this 11lb Channel ,, 9lb Blue

Chris Schroeder

Good place to go and just relax and leave the city behind and enjoy the outdoors with family and friends or with the boy scouts on a weekend camp out

Chad K

Beautiful at sunset

April Mcclemons

Cant wait to camp here this year!

tyler nickell

Good time with my family. ❤

Sandra Salas

Itsbamazing

Stephanie Amen

Need help finding fish

Chuck Chrystak

This was our first weekend staying at Pawnee in our Pop up camper. It is a great park! Quite and peaceful day and night. The facilities were average. Swim beaches were fun. This will definitely be a place we will keep coming back to.

Dan Auman

Allways a great place to camp.

Travis Keilig

Good time clean and friendly camp ground hosts.

James Kuykendall

NO, couldn't figure out how to check in, didn't know what where or how, sign says get at pass at office, office says put money in envelope in box for x$, sign says different than office, come to think of it every person I talked to was sitting. That could have been ugly when somebody decided to correct me so I left. Better place down the road.

Travis Buckles

This was a great lake years ago but now theres toxic algae. Smells terrible and just a nasty place. Dont bring any kids or pets out here cause they may get sick. Theres ecoli warnings everywhere. Cant swim here at all. the signs also say avoid all contact with the water.

Ana Garcia

Definitely a place to spend with the kiddos! But hey, it it NOT a beach how they call it

Fun Games

Nice place for all activities

Wendy Cooper

Beautiful! Inexpensive refreshing stop while driving home. Definitely worth the detour to get here

Angel Abbey

A short trip out of Lincoln and the swimming beaches are fun. I've never had a bad experience here. Had a good time here camping once too.

Zach Olson

The staff knew we had a 41ft trailer and put us in a spot that was long enough for sure...but it had two trees planted on either side of the entry way. In order to get between those trees I would have had to be able to pull 30 ft straight into the spot across the street. Absolutely impossible to use this spot. We couldn’t get a hold of anyone until after hours so we had to drive 2 hours away before we could find another campground with availability for the night. To make up for our inconvenience, the reservation department fought us on our refund request for 2 months. This place sucks.

Ariana Rodriguez

Great place for family and friends clean area and great for topless tanning

Barakat Rasho

A nice place for family and friends to fish or comping

John Mailand

Great place to camp

Jason Swain

Peaceful. Lots of mature trees for shade. Great bass fishing.

Terese Pett

Love camping here every year

Art

Generator running 24/7. Lake toxic. Bathroom toxic. Feedlot smells better than the outhouse. But a nice location with great potential.

Emz Z

Easy access

Dean Frerichs

Great look little lake

Scott Brumm

Great Outdoors!

Sonny James Santistevan

This was an absolutely gorgeous camping area that was easy to use. You can purchase a spot online, contact a camp host, or use the envelope registration system when you arrive. The only thing that needs some work are the bathroom facilities. The showers were very old and smelled of mold. The metal soap dishes have rusted away and seem like they could be dangerous

Michael Huff

Great park very clean. Rangers were very nice and very helpful and informative

Jordan's Adventures

I went to go shoot some blue rock great time sore shoulder great lake to have a picnic at

Amy L

One of the biggest lakes in Lancaster county it is a nice place to vacation and fish...except for the summer when it gets the toxic algae.

Mohammed Alali

Amazing park and lake. Suitable for families and camping

Lydia M. GarnerCallais

I had the most peaceful 2 weeks I've had in a long time. Nobody bothered me and i felt completely safe all by myself at night . The grounds are very well kept and beautiful. Even the bathrooms were acceptable and clean. A definite new weekend getaway spot for me!

George Lausten

Gorgeous, peaceful place. Campsites right next to the water with a soft breeze and a fire - doesn't get much better than that.

Randy Perry

Pawnee is much less busy than near by Branched Oak. Fire pits are neglected. Shower house is a mildew pit & stinks. Park Superintendent (Jay is his name) basically puts in his time & just stops by the shower house to collect the park fees. What a jerk! We've been coming here for years. Park is really being neglected.

Kati Lee Gates

The beaches are lovely, and the kids have a great time building sand castles.

Mark Sneed

All cats are the same size tonight. Looking for that big flathead.

Becky Taylor

My favorite lake I've ever fished. I just wish they kept up the nasty a$$ bathrooms and weeds. Also, bass have to be 21 inches to keep?That's a master angler. Unheard of! Stupid!!! The water was surprisingly very clean today. Caught some very nice size catfish for dinner. First pic is separate trip than the other 2 pics. Not too bad. :)

jim labart

A good place to fish an camp,a just relax..

Jeni Cox

Great place that isnt that far from home

Adam Langley

Great family camp ground

John VanDyke

Excellent campground just make sure and pay the little extra money to stay at the lakeview sites are #4 the others get really sketchy at night overall had a blast here

amzf 96874

Good place

Jean Sorensen

One of our favorite parks

Vaughn

The lake is gross, but is good fishing. Great camping spots for tents.

Neil Schmidt

It's nice we use the shooting range alot

Pat Phelps!

Quiet, great scenery, showers, just a few miles out of Lincoln

Kaitie Ketterer

Good place for some catch and release fishing. Just be warned boaters dont pay attention to the speed limit buoys. They can be a real nuisance if you're fishing off the shore.

v4vDrJoker

Plenty of shade at our campsite helped with the heat. Bathrooms were kinda far spread out, but still within walking distance. Beach is quite a drive from campground, and about the only complaint I have as we had kids along and enjoy swimming. Beach is fine and large though.

Rebekah Hefner

Awesome to grill dinner, swim and hang out with the family

Adam Johns

Caught a lot of fish. At least 5 could have been keepers.

James Johnson

Lecture by Nebraska Football coach's

Rebekah Yohman

We enjoy spending the day out there swimming and grilling out

Lively Life

I dig this place. It's a pretty sweet spot for camping, fishing, hiking, etc... and it's not too busy most times. Great for winter camping because no one is there!

Jonathan Swiatek

Great for paddle boarding and kayaking. They have a good stock of bluegill and catfish.

TrackSlayer2

Great place to camp, fish,swim, boating and even has a shooting range

jas S

Out on the water. Great time.

Rabindra Nepal

Beautiful place to to go for refreshments. The lake is the largest lake after Branchoak in Lincoln area. You can do boating, but can't rent over there, and fishing. I really like the farm field on the way to it which is incredible to drive through in the dusk.

chris mendoza

Simple easy place to get to only went to one of the swim areas I had a great time will definitely go again

Jeremy Jelinek

Good hiking

Dan Miller

Always beautiful

Mary Baker

Went fishing today

David Adams

Fished all night and enjoyed a nice cool dip in the water.

Craig Konz

Decent. Place is nice but it's not much for fishing. Pretty much just a lot of white perch

David Brown

Nice camping area near Lincoln.

jordan hinrichs

Fishing here isn't that great even with a recent renovation stocking by NE Game and Parks in Oct 2014. Camping areas are good but I give two stars because the fishing isn't very good and that's why I visit rec areas.

Sharon Marrufo

Loved it there. Can't wait to come back

Byron Gifford

Great campground. Asphalt pads. Decent buffer between sites.

Sandee Kelley

Way less people here thencat branch oak. Tje lake is smaller but u can still water ski and all of that. Just less people

Jennifer Pettee

Nice park. Would rate a 5 if there was beach access from campground

Paul Wozny

Could use another dump station for area 4.

Mohan Sharma

I enjoy visiting this place with friends and have barbeque, play games and enjoy quality time.

Vicki Eastman

Good fishing, clean and pretty.

Gary Williams

Nice recreation area, close to Lincoln

Deborah mortensen

Such a lovely fun place. Clean peaceful great entertainment.

Sondra Sobol

Pretty campground. Had site on lake. Quiet. The bathroom/showers are hideous! So gross as they were not clean. Could tell they haven't been cleaned for quite some time. Sinks are filthy as well. I stayed at the park because of flush toilets and showers but would not use them because of their nasty condition. I had to use the vault toilets which I prefer not to.

William Polk

Stopped here to get some sun and watch the boaters and skiers for a little while.

Georgie Fritsche

Very nice

Robert Hosking

Nice clean campground with showers and lake nearby!

Brandy Andersen

I've went here for many yrs it's a nice place

Brad Huntington

I think it's better than Branched Oak except no Marina. No where to get bait, ice or anything like that but stores are relatively close.

Chris Heldstab

A lot of garbage being left around

Kathy Anderson

Beautiful

Michelle Ummel

Good family memories. Nice clean showers and bathrooms.

Stewart Pascoe

Nice state park

John Adams

Excellent campsites.

Justin Andersen

Please just make sure you go out you way to get life vast that a must at all lakes

Matt Lingen

Love the west side inlet, peaceful

Jamie Greenwood

Really just a gorgeous park if very busy. Clean and well maintained.

Sherry Rose

Very beautiful. Lots of room.

Jen

Great place to camp. Lake was perfect, minus horse flies. There is only one bathroom by the lake view camp ground so be prepared to walk a little if you have to go. Camp sites are very large. We will definitely come back.

Gary Walter

Very fun! Great day!

MIS E

Really great beaches well-maintained except for the Outhouse facilities are horrifying they need to be updated immediately

Karen Kolb

We are horse back riders. The trails have had a lot of work done on them recently. Thanks!!! Love the inprovements! ( just wish the gun range was farther away)

Kat Winsor

Wear a life vest. Pleeeeeeeeeease. :) <3

Lori Anderson

The blue green algea sucks