Pine Ridge (Nebraska) National Forest

Pine Ridge (Nebraska) National Forest Trip: (Chadron, Nebraska)

This was a 4 day and 3 night trip to the Pine Ridge National Forest. Nebraska is a weird place as there are 3 National Forests and all are called the Nebraska Nation Forest. This is in the Pine Ridge District so I am just going to call it the Pine Ridge National Forest..

I left at 4am on Wednesday morning as it’s about an 8 hour drive from me. There is a one hour time difference so I arrived in the area at about 11am local time.

After arrival I went to check 3 possible dispersed camping sites I had marked on the map. The 1st one was a no-go and the 2nd one was promising. I decided to go check the 3rd one and it was where I decided to set up camp.

The Forest trails are a mix of rolling open plains and a fair amount of wooded areas. Most of the trails are 2 track and are comprised of hard and / or soft pack dirt.

There were a lot of downed trees and llimbs dues to recent strong winds in the area. My Stihl baby chainsaw got to put some work in! :)

The forest is not very large and is divided 4 different sections that are separated by private land. I was able to hit several trails but I would not return here as it was not ideal for off-roading. Most of the trails in the area would fall into the easy category.

Just a quick trip report with some photos. I was able to test out some new gear so I'll post my thoughts on them here as well.

Trail photos:











A little drone footage: (I have a lot more but will just post a few here)





New gear tested..

Olympian Wave 3 Heater:

I've previously used a Mr Buddy heater but decided to try this as I found it on sale and most people claimed it was better and that it sipped propane. I purchased it last year but this was the 1st time I used it.

It performed like a champ in my small camper!

Overnight temps got into the low 40's, which for me is the Ice Age, and I never woke up cold. I had it attached to a 5 pound propane tank and it lasted all 3 nights and used about half of the 5 pound tank. It ran for about 8 hours a night or a total of about 24 hours on about 2 1/2 pounds of fuel. Nice!

The 1st night I had it set to high but I woke up hot and had to turn it down to low.. The rest of the trip I left it on low overnight while I slept..

This little sucker was well worth the upgrade from the Mr Buddy.. They also make a Wave 6 that's larger, and more powerful, for larger campers / areas...



Car Fridge Setup:

I changed over from my previous setup to an IceCo 35L car fridge, a Dabbsson 600L power bank and a Dabbsson Alternator charger. It all worked well with no issues.

The setup is configured to where when the Bronco is running it will charge the power bank and run the car fridge. When the Bronco is turned off, it auto switches over the to power bank to run the car fridge.

Temps during the day were low 80's / high 70's and at night they dropped down to the low 40's. I had the car fridge set to 30 degrees as I like my drinks ice cold..

Here is an example of the battery banks run time when powering the fridge. It ran for 17 hours off of the battery bank and it used 29%.





Thors Lightning Hose kit:

Worked fine it's just not for me. Back to my single hose and gauge..

Stihl GTA 40 Chainsaw:

Worked like a champ and I got to use it numerous times on a few different tails..

I need to find a smaller case for it as the one it came with is large. For now, this is where it sat.



I also tested out all my other gear to make sure it survived winterization.. I ran my baby Honda generator to charge the TigerMoths batteries even though they didn't need it and I tested out my Devos light, camp lantern and other electronics.

Starlink Mini performed like a champ, as always, and provided intent throughout my trip..



Packing List:

• Honda EU1000i Generator
• Harbor Freight 100 Watt Solar Panel
• 2ea 3 Gallon RotoPax Fuel Cans (for Bronco, stored on the Moth)
• RotoPax Camp Water Jug (5 Gallons)
• iKamper Disco (skottle)
• Devos LightRanger 2000 (camp light)
• Pots, pans, cooking items
• Camping Chair and 2 Small Tables
• Collapsable Camping Toilet
• Howl R1 Campfire
• Winch recovery gear
  • snatch block
  • recovery ring
  • tree protector
  • soft shackles
  • 30 foot kinetic recovery rope
  • 20 foot tow strap
  • gloves
  • hard shackles
• MaxTrax Mini Traction Boards
• Deadman V2 Earth Recovery Kit
• Thors Lightning Hose Kit
• Thors Lightning Digital Manifold (brain unit)
• Stihl Baby Chainsaw
• Iceco APL35 Car Fridge
• Dabbsson 600L - 768 Wh Battery Power Bank
• Dabbsson Alternator Charger
• Starlink Mini
• DMOS Compact Delta Shovel
• Pelican V700 Storage Case to hold all the recovery gear
• DJI Air 3S Drone
• Olympian Wave 3 Heater
• 1ea 20lb propane tank and 2ea 5lb propane tanks