Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area

State Recreation Area (Nebraska Game And Parks Commission); Nebraska'S Largest Reservoir, Behind Kingsley Dam · Ogallala, Nebraska

Lake McConaughy, known as Lake Mac, is Nebraska's largest reservoir, formed by Kingsley Dam on the North Platte River a few miles north of Ogallala and filled from the early 1940s to store water for irrigation and power. At full pool it stretches roughly 20 miles up the valley, with around 100 miles of shoreline, much of it white sand beach - an unexpected sight on the plains, and the reason people call it Nebraska's seaside. Nebraska Game and Parks runs the shore as a State Recreation Area, where visitors swim, sail, windsurf, fish for walleye and striped bass, and in places camp on the sand beside their vehicles. Below the dam, small Lake Ogallala is a quieter cold-water lake with trout. Summer crowds come from across Nebraska and in large numbers from Colorado, and holiday weekends can be packed and loud. The level rises and falls with snowmelt, irrigation and drought, which moves the beaches and can leave boat ramps high and dry, so conditions differ from year to year. Keith County is on Mountain time.

1475 Highway 61 North, Ogallala, Nebraska, 69153, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the recreation area is open year-round, and beaches and many access points can be reached at any hour, though some areas have quiet hours and night-time restrictions. The visitor and interpretive centre keeps seasonal daytime hours, roughly mid-morning to late afternoon in summer and fewer days out of season; campground offices, marinas, rentals and concessions are mostly seasonal, roughly May to September. Boat ramps open and close with the water level. The traps that ruin a day are forgetting the park permit, finding your ramp closed by low water, arriving on a holiday weekend without a campsite, and forgetting that the lake is on Mountain time. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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