The first time I visited Halsey was in the spring of 1966 (I believe). I was a sophomore in high school and one of our science teachers was involved with a reforestation project in the man-made forest there. We drove out west from Omaha and spent a long weekend "camped" in his run down trailer there in the town of Halsey. During the day we would go out to a Forest Service work area and collect buckets of pine sprouts and a shovel. Then we'd drive to an assigned area where we would spread out a specific number of feet apart and would begin our stepping off a certain number of feet between each planting. We'd dig a small hole, insert the small tree, tamp the dirt back in around it, then move on. It wasn't hard work, but it was tedious and hurt the back. I think the science department got a couple of cents for each tree that we planted.

I was in the area again a few years later when I was in college. During one summer (1969 I believe) I worked on a drilling rig with the Nebraska Geological Survey. We were collecting data on ground water strata in the area. We spent one week in Thedford and that area and visited the forest on at least one occasion.

Over the years I've visited once or twice more, mostly as we were driving through on our way to somewhere else.

I don't remember what facilities they have there, if any, other than a road through the forested area. I'm sure there are places to get out and take a hike, but I'm not sure that there is a campground within the forest. It is, after all, man-made and somewhat small as forests go. A large fire took out most of the old growth at least once, maybe twice over the years.