Branched Oak State Recreation Area

State Recreation Area (Nebraska Game And Parks Commission); The Largest Of The Salt Valley Lakes Near Lincoln (Hedge) · Raymond, Nebraska

Branched Oak State Recreation Area surrounds Branched Oak Lake, a flood-control reservoir in the Salt Creek basin roughly 20 to 25 minutes by car north-west of Lincoln, near the villages of Raymond and Malcolm. Built in the 1960s as one of the Salt Valley lakes and run by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, it is usually described as the largest of them, with something like 1,800 acres of water (hedge) and several thousand acres of grassland, woods and wildlife area around it. It is Lincoln's big weekend lake: people come to pull boats, jet skis and tubes, camp in large, busy campgrounds with electric hookups, swim at sand beaches and fish for walleye, wipers, crappie and catfish, and in cold winters it becomes an ice-fishing lake. Every vehicle needs a Nebraska park entry permit. It is a flat prairie reservoir, not a scenic mountain lake: the open water catches strong wind, toxic blue-green algae advisories have closed swimming in some summers, and holiday weekends fill the campgrounds. For visitors it is worth a day only if they are already in Lincoln and want the water.

Northwest 112th Street and West Raymond Road, Raymond, Nebraska, 68428, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the recreation area is open all year, with day-use areas open from early morning to late evening and campers on site around the clock; water, showers and some restrooms are usually shut off from late autumn to spring, and the marina and any rentals run only in the warm season. The traps that ruin a trip are arriving without a park entry permit, finding a toxic algae alert on the beach, turning up on a holiday weekend without a campsite reservation, and paddling out into a rising afternoon wind. Confirm current hours and closures with Nebraska Game and Parks before relying on them.

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