Tanking in Nebraska: Floating a River in a Stock Tank

Tanking is exactly what it sounds like. Somebody in the Nebraska Sandhills dragged a galvanized livestock water tank down to the river, threw in a couple of lawn chairs, and pushed off. That was the whole invention. Today outfitters run fleets of seven- to nine-foot steel and plastic stock tanks fitted with chairs, benches, or a small picnic table, each holding four to six people (some up to eight), and float them down the shallow, sandy, spring-fed rivers that drain the Sandhills. The tank spins slowly as it drifts, so everyone gets every view without anyone steering. It is the only river trip I know of where the main skill required is opening a cooler. Nebraska Game and Parks maps the state's water trails, and tanking has spread along most of them: the Middle Loup, Dismal, Calamus, Cedar, Elkhorn, North Platte, and Niobrara.

Why it is so relaxing. These rivers are fed by the Ogallala Aquifer, so they run clear and cold and steady all summer, usually knee-deep over a sand bottom with a current of two or three miles per hour. There are no rapids. A tank is practically unsinkable and keeps you dry, which is what makes it work for three generations at once: toddlers over two, grandparents who would never get in a canoe, and everyone in between. Outfitters supply life jackets, push poles or paddles, trash bags, and the shuttle back to your car. You supply snacks, drinks in cans (no glass, no styrofoam; if it goes overboard it becomes someone else's problem), a deck of cards, and a hat. Trips run two hours for a first taste or five to six hours for a proper lazy day. Kids twelve and under wear life jackets, and you stay in the riverbed: the banks and sandbars are private ranch land, so lunch happens in the tank.

Start with the Middle Loup, where tanking was born. Two small towns on Nebraska Highway 2 own this stretch. In Mullen, Glidden Canoe Rental is one of the original tanking outfitters, launching two-hour and five-hour tank trips through a private Sandhills valley a mile north of town, with tanks that hold up to eight adults. If you are here in early March, their Polar Bear Tank Race sends costumed teams down the river in decorated tanks, which tells you everything about how seriously Nebraska takes this. Forty-five minutes east in Thedford, Sandhill River Trips runs two-hour and five-hour floats for up to five adults per tank, with the last long trip leaving at noon and the last short one at 3 p.m. The local trick is where you check in: Ewoldt's Grocery, a fourth-generation store with an in-house meat counter. Stock the cooler with their house-made jerky and sandwiches before you launch rather than hauling food across the state. Both towns sit on the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway, 272 miles of Highway 2 that Charles Kuralt called one of America's most beautiful drives, so the road in is part of the trip.

Camp in a forest that should not exist. Between Thedford and the Loup is the Nebraska National Forest at Halsey, the largest hand-planted forest in the Western Hemisphere, started in 1902 on treeless dunes as an experiment. The Bessey Recreation Complex has campsites, a swimming pool, and river access, and it is the sensible base for a Middle Loup tanking weekend. The 2022 Bovee Fire burned the historic Scott Lookout Tower and a chunk of the pines, and restoration is still underway, so expect blackened stands beside green ones. It is a strange, quiet, worthwhile place.

The Calamus is the prettiest float. North of Burwell, Calamus Outfitters puts tanks in from the Switzer family ranch, where the Calamus River bends through some of the least-developed Sandhills country you can reach by car. Two-hour trips run Memorial Day through Labor Day, Monday to Saturday, launching at 9, 10, 11, and noon from a site about 19 miles from Burwell off Highway 183, and a tank for four or five people costs around $90 plus tax. The river is slow and shallow enough for anyone over two, and dogs are welcome in the tanks. The same ranch rents two 20-person lodges and four six-person cabins, so a family reunion can float in the morning and grill on the deck at night. Book early: in 2026 they stopped taking new reservations after August 8. Pair it with Calamus Reservoir State Recreation Area a few miles downstream, which has sandy swimming beaches, campgrounds, and good walleye fishing if the tank left you wanting more water.

Closer to Omaha and Lincoln. You do not have to drive to the Sandhills. On the Cedar River near Ericson and Spalding, Crazy Rayz Tanking has been floating groups since 2008 with a fleet of about 75 tanks, primitive riverside camping, and a reputation for hosting reunions and weddings; it is a two-hour drive from Lincoln. Thirty minutes west of downtown Omaha, Tank 'N Tube River Rides floats the Elkhorn River from private land at Rawhide Creek Ranch on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Memorial Day to mid-August, with a bus shuttle to the launch and free life vests. Elkhorn Outfitters runs the same river with four- to six-hour trips. The Elkhorn is wider and browner than the Sandhills rivers, and it can rise fast after a storm, so both operators cancel when levels are unsafe. Check the night before.

What about the Niobrara? Valentine's Niobrara National Scenic River is Nebraska's most famous float, but it is faster and rockier than the tanking rivers, so the Valentine outfitters mostly run tubes, canoes, and kayaks; Little Outlaw rents two-person couch-style tubes with backrests, which is the closest thing to a tank on that water. The Niobrara still earns a day. Floaters land 300 yards from Smith Falls, at 63 feet the tallest waterfall in the state, and the drive into Valentine passes through Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, where a herd of roughly 350 bison grazes beside the road and the short Fort Falls trail drops to a second waterfall. Back in town, Bolo Beer Co. brews with Sandhills aquifer water in a taproom with a beer garden and yard games; there is no kitchen, just popcorn, so eat first. Then drive 25 miles south to Merritt Reservoir, Nebraska's first International Dark Sky Park, where the Nebraska Star Party gathers astronomers every summer under a sky with almost no light pollution. Sleeping under it after a day on the river is the point of the whole trip.

Planning a tanking trip. The season is Memorial Day to Labor Day, and July is peak for both water temperature and demand, so reserve weekend tanks a few weeks ahead and go on a weekday if you can. Take the earliest launch: Sandhills afternoons build thunderstorms, and a two-hour float at 9 a.m. is finished before they arrive. Pack water shoes for the sandy put-in, a dry bag for phones, sunscreen for the parts of you that will be motionless in full sun for hours, a trash bag, and more drinking water than you think. Split a five-hour trip only with people you like, because the tank is small and there is nowhere to go. For a first time, especially with kids or grandparents, book the two-hour float, sit in the middle, let the current do the work, and notice around minute twenty that nobody has looked at a phone. That is the whole appeal. Nebraska did not invent relaxation, but it did put it in a water trough and let it drift.