April 2026 • Nebraskaland 47
The sky glows over the Kingsley Hydroplant on Lake Ogallala.
Tent camping sites line much of the west side of Lake Ogallala.
American white pelicans take flight from a sandbar in the Keystone basin.
If you want some exercise, you can
take the nearly mile-long mowed
trail up the north end of the dam, hop
across the highway and go explore
the beach at Martin Bay. Or you can
take the Lake Ogallala Hike-Bike
Trail from the east campground to
the Nebraska Public Power District's
Diversion Dam. There, along the
shallow Keystone Pool, you might
find pelicans, shorebirds and other
waterbirds feeding on shallow flats
or in deeper water. If you are really
adventurous, you can take a 6.4 mile
lap around the lake.
The Keystone basin draws duck
and goose hunters during the fall
a n d w i n te r. A n d d u r i n g w i n te r,
especially when rivers and lakes,
including McConaughy, freeze, bald
eagles and other waterbirds f lock
to the spillway in the southwest
corner of the lake to feed on alewife,
gizzard shad and other fish that
f lushed through Central Nebraska
Public Power and Irrigation District's
hydroelectric plant.
"We love it over here," said Vincent
Cooper of North Platte, who, with his
wife, Tia, camp there often. "You can't
beat waking up and looking out of
your tent and seeing this." He pointed
to the lake and the cedar-covered hills
on its south shore.
It's a different world below the dam.
And people like it that way.
N
