Brown County, Nebraska

Listings in Brown County

Outdoors — Camping, RV, Hunting & Fishing

Brown County’s draw is Long Pine Creek, a spring-fed trout stream in a wooded canyon that feels nothing like the surrounding Sandhills.

Long Pine State Recreation Area

87770 Willow Ridge Avenue, Long Pine. 153 acres in the canyon. 29 campsites — 8 camping pads and 21 basic sites — and none of them has an electrical hookup. Two state sources confirm this; a widely circulated travel article claiming otherwise is wrong.

No dump station is listed here. The nearest confirmed one is at Ainsworth East City Park, roughly twenty miles east. Showers are not listed either, and the state does not publish the restroom type — assume basic and arrive prepared. $15 a night plus a park entry permit, first come, self-registration at an iron ranger, fourteen-day limit, open year round. Fifty picnic tables, five shelters, an archery range and about a mile of canyon trail.

Keller Park State Recreation Area

North-east of Ainsworth on Bone Creek — Game and Parks directs you about five miles east and nine miles north of US-20. The published street address differs between state sources, so navigate by the mileage rather than the postal address.

Fishing

Long Pine Creek is the county’s distinctive water — cold, spring-fed and holding trout, which is unusual this far east. Bone Creek runs through Keller Park. The Niobrara valley lies just north of the county line.

Hunting and the trail

Whitetail and mule deer in the canyons and river breaks, turkey in the pines along Long Pine Creek, sharp-tailed grouse and prairie-chicken in the Sandhills to the south. Open Fields and Waters tracts change annually.

The Cowboy Trail crosses the county on the old railroad grade, and the surface through Ainsworth is concrete. Ainsworth East City Park has the area’s confirmed dump station, which makes it a useful stop whether or not you camp there.

Brown County, Nebraska (Plate #75)

County Seat: Ainsworth  |  Region: North Central Nebraska  |  Population: ~2,900  |  Area: ~1,221 sq mi

Brown County stretches across the Sandhills and Niobrara River country of north-central Nebraska. Its county seat, Ainsworth, is designated the "Country Music Capital of Nebraska" and anchors the county's US-20 corridor at MM 243. Long Pine draws visitors to the Long Pine State Recreation Area along Long Pine Creek. US-20 — the Pioneer Memorial Highway — connects the county's communities across open ranch country and Sandhills terrain.

Primary Highway: US-20 (Pioneer Memorial Highway)

Towns: Ainsworth (MM 243) · Long Pine (MM 251) · Johnstown (MM 232) · Raven · Sandridge · Koshopah · Johnstons Corner

Adjacent Counties: Rock County (south) · Keya Paha County (north) · Cherry County (west) · Holt County (east) · Boyd County (northeast)

Brown County Page · Cameras · North Central Nebraska

Region: North Central Nebraska

Primary Highway: US-20

Adjacent Counties: Rock County (south) · Keya Paha County (north) · Cherry County (west) · Holt County (east) · Boyd County (northeast)