Soda Lake Wildlife Habitat Management Area

Loved this little lake outside Pinedale, Wyoming. We had three Newfoundland dogs with us and they had an amazing time swimming in this lake. The sites are all around the lake and it appears that the locals park their rvs here and come in for the weekend. We were there on a tuesday and only saw two other actual campers. If you have dogs this is a perfect place.We hiked the next day at half moon lake since the trail was right next to the lake.Awesome area to visit and camp for free.

We are full-timers and have a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and had scouted the area before arriving with the RV. The road to Soda Lake, Willow Lake Rd, is hard packed gravel and pretty smooth. The loose gravel and dirt road around Soda Lake is also in pretty good shape. There are many dispersed sites around the lake, but most were taken when we arrived. We found a decent site (42.962406, -109.850254) on the North side of the lake, but the “neighbors” to either side had loose dogs and our dog has had altercations with dogs off leash before. The site was surprisingly level too, almost didn’t need to level at all. Two days later, a nice large site opened up on the other side of the lake (42.965274, -109.840282), near the old boat launch, so we moved there. The nearest neighbors were considerably further away and no loose dogs that we could see. The area around the lake is completely void of trees, so all of the sites are full sun, but there was a good breeze/wind most days. Others have mentioned mosquitos and gnats as an issue, but we had few of either, though there were a few petty flies. There are a number of hiking trails in the surrounding area. We saw a fair bit of wildlife in the area as well; pronghorn, horses, hummingbirds, bald and golden eagles, osprey, hawks, sea gulls, grebes, beavers, a plethora of ground squirrels, and a lot of cows on the hike to Little Soda Lake. The mountains are beautiful and we had some of the most amazing sunsets. AT&T service was poor without a booster, with 0-2 Bars of 3G service, but nearly no data throughput. With our weboost, it got a little better with 3-4 bars of LTE and speeds up to about 0.5 MB/s. T-Mobile service was good with 4 bars of 4G/LTE, but I didn’t check the data rate. We were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. Also, there were no OTA channels to be had with our fixed omni antenna.

Lots of campsites spread out around Soda Lake. Most have picnic tables and fire rings. The lake is so pretty and the sunsets are amazing. Lots of wildlife. We saw the usual cows, beautiful horses, prong horn, bald eagles and thankfully no bears. Bears tend to be prominent in the area. There’s a fair amount of bugs so be prepared with some bug spray and citronella candles. This camping area is down a long dirt road but it is incredibly well maintained. Some sites had a little bit of cell service while most have no service at all. No water, dump station or dumpster so pack it out. There is a water fill and dump station in the town of Pinedale.

Beautiful lake front sites, plus two sites tucked up against aspens, away from the lake. Many sites are not level at all, but some are. Plenty of room for larger rigs. No electric or water, but there are some vault toilets. There are jeep roads and trails up into the mountains to explore (there are bears and wolves up in the mountains, so be prepared if you venture up). The lake is stocked for fishing. There are some simple trails you can mountain bike out there, with great views. Plenty of hikes and other lakes to explore in the area. The dirt road out is fairly well maintained. I heard the bugs were bad up until the day before I arrived, but there were no bugs while I was there. I enjoyed using my SUP (paddle board) on the like and also saw a few kayakers. Some sites have a sandy beach. Some sites have picnic tables, some have fire rings with grills, some have both. Verizon service was ok. About 20-25 minutes from downtown Pinedale.