Best Dispersed Camping near Willow Beach, AZ

8 mile road is open to free dispersed camping for 7 days. There is a couple dumpsters about a 1/4 mile in but that is all for 2.1 miles of terrible washboard road down to the receding water line. No water, toilets, trash cans at beach areas. The limited beach areas tend to be hogged by folks trying to keep other campers at a distance. I found floating trash all along the shore, styerfoam, plastic bottles, ect. Ugh

Govt Wash is my favorite place to stay in the wintertime. Temperature is manageable without auxiliary heat in my van.. 70s in the day, not below 40 at night through January. Love the views of the lake. Feels so far out but only 30 mins to Vegas. Henderson for groceries and gas is very close. Lots of coyotes, even during the day. Be mindful of that if you have a dog along with you. Free dispersed camping here (with NPs Pass) with bathrooms and dumpsters at entrance. Washboard road isn’t too bad, and you get get pretty close to the lake even without 4x4. I loveeee being here. Sunsets and sunrises are awesome.

Along this gorgeous stretch of the Colorado River downstream of Hoover Dam, you will find numerous backcountry camping options on both the AZ and NV sides, many with existing fire rings. In addition, you’ll find emerald green waters, hot springs/hot waterfalls, sauna cave, slot canyons and interesting features along the sides of the canyon.   All camping is first-come, first-served and no permit is needed.  Water can be filtered in an emergency, but it is the Colorado River; so we’d recommend bringing 1 gallon of fresh drinking water per person per day. Please Leave No Trace by bringing Wag Bags or other poop removal method, including your toilet paper. 

**Weather & River Concerns: **

• If you are camping in a wash, be sure to keep an eye on the weather as flash flooding is a major concern during the rainy season.  
• We launched from Willow Beach marina (AZ side) and paddled up stream to the dam and back over 4 days. We had an amazing weather window, but have heard from locals that this place can be VERY windy (25-50mph), making it impossible to travel against the wind. 
• When the dam releases, it can also make upriver travel quite difficult (not impossible but difficult depending on your boat and paddling skills). Also, the river can rise 4-6 vertical feet when the dam releases water from Lake Mead, so haul your boats at least 50 feet up the washes and don’t camp close to the water or you’ll find yourself floating downstream in the middle of the night.
• Cell service in the canyon is very limited. We found a bit near the dam, but otherwise it was emergency calls only.

Note: If you’ve never done backcountry kayak camping, hire a guide or go with a group. There are numerous companies taking groups down the river each day.

This spot is about 4 miles from the more frequented and popular dispersed camping spot. This spot has at least 4 to 5 fire ring spots but a lot of garbage. Not a good place if you are looking to level a 20’ plus camper. We ended driving west about another 4 miles to the more “formal” dispersed camping on BLM.

As a budget travel blogger, you can’t beat a good find of a site. I tend to stray away from boondock camping because it isn’t really designed for the every day tent camper that I am looking to inspire to go on the road and try something new. Though I like primitive sites and will often do some back country camping, I also take into account that my followers don’t always. But this site was a bit different and made it worth checking out for my blog.

Free Camping usually doesn’t come with a functioning bathroom, but this one does along with lake access. So what is the kicker?? There has to be one right?

The first catch is free is only truly free if you have a National Park Pass, otherwise there is a day use fee which is charged as you enter the Lake Mead area. I have mine, so that means it was in fact free!! One of the only times this pass actually guarantees you any kind of camping related benefits.

The other, the road to the campsite is a little sketchy at times. When I went it was post a good rain which had settled a lot of the dust and while I was afraid it would have ruts from people driving out, it wasn’t bad, just a little washboard feeling. In a small car that carries very little weight I usually find these roads to shake and rattle me all over, however it was minimal so I made it down to the camping area.

This area is available to both tent and RV campers and is pretty open for those wanting to stay. When I was there I noticed there was no shortage of space available to me and I could select pretty much anywhere I want to be so I determined I would set up for my short daycation away from a couple of RVs which seemed to be traveling together.

I noticed that there were no other campers in tents but later after settling in and meeting my neighbors they told me there had been and those people had been a bit more noisy. I was happy to know that the RV group there wasn’t in that same mind set so it was going to be an enjoyable quiet time.

The outdoor space here is really nice. The beach is a mixed beach of harder sands and shells from when the lake used to be much higher and had a lot more life in the area. There are hiking areas all over Lake Mead so this is a great place to set your basecamp and move forward with adventures.

TIPS:

• Bring a car if you are in an RV so you can disconnect and move around the entire Lake Mead area more easily. You can also look into a smaller motor bike, however these are not permitted in all areas.
• Bring batteries since there is no power you will want to make sure you have lots of batteries for your lanterns and flashlights, this is a true dark space at night.
• Get Your America The Beautiful Pass!! This is a park pass which allows you access to all national parks and recreation areas for one calendar year. They do have senior and military passes available as well but the standard pass is $80 a year. If you travel to even a couple parks you have more than paid for it in savings as it doesn't just allow you personally access but up to 4 people in your car!

We stopped here last night and came in after sunset. Tons of room when we came in. Great Verizon coverage-4 bars and plenty of speed. BLM land . Close to town for supplies as well.

Perfect dispersed camping spot outside Valley of Fire State Park and close to Lake Mead. Either up the road is Poverty Flats, but we found this to be waaaay less crowded and equally awesome. We camped next to a little canyon which was fun to explore with the kiddo when we were just hanging around the campsite.

One of many dispersed camping spots on Lake Mead. Stewart’s Point is midway on the west coast of the Overton arm of the lake, easily accessible from 167/Northshore Dr by turning onto Stewarts’s Point Rd. This is a dirt road that leads to the lake and many offshoots for plentiful dispersed spots right on or near the water.

GPS: (36.3740104, -114.3978818)

Upper sites are more level and packed, the roads and sites get sketchy and soft further down you go to the water.

There is a pit toilet here but no other amenities. There is free water, trash and dump station further south at one of several NRA campsites.

Good cell service, beautiful lake and scenery, amazing night sky and lots of donkeys braying day and night.

Halfway between Kingman and Bullhead City, on the western side of the pass, is this BLM land that will knock your socks off!  Many places to pull over for a night or for a week or two along the road. No services, no water, no toilets, just beautiful open desert with quintessential AZ mountains. Closest towns with supplies are Kingman and Bullhead City, about 20-30 minutes from each.

We couldn't get a spot inside Valley of Fire State Park so we decided to boondock on the BLM land outside the park. We knew there were plenty of spots but a lot were out in the open where everyone can see you. We wanted a bit of privacy and wanted to feel like we were out in nature not just parked in an empty desert. We decided to go searching for a better option and went down a dirt road, crossing our fingers. Lo and behold we found what we feel is a primo campsite! It's just outside the park of a dirt road. The coordinates are 36.413656-114.616805 and there's actually 2-3 spots back there. The first one is the easiest for bigger rigs or regular cars. The other two are up steep, sandy hills that are more suitable for a Jeep or ATV. There are rock fire pits(but be careful about fire restrictions) to designate the camping areas. It's private with hills all around. You can faintly hear the road and if you need better cell reception hike up one of the hills. It's a fantastic private spot that felt remote and special. The ONLY negative we encountered was trash. We did a sweep and picked up a lot of broken glass bottles, some aluminum cans, a bunch of bullet casings, and other trash. And nearby there's an old washer or dryer that someone dumped and used for target practice. We didn't clean that up because obviously, that's just too big. Anyway, the spot is so close to Valley of Fire you can just head on into the park for hiking and day use or head back out to the freeway for more supplies. For us, this spot was absolutely perfect and we had zero troubles, but I can imagine if it rains or shortly after it's been raining that this particular spot might be terrible. DO NOT CAMP HERE IF RAIN IS IN THE FORECAST.

This is a perfect dispersed camping spot! Dirt road in was about 4 miles long from the highway but pretty well graded and easy to drive, big rig friendly. 

Plenty of camping spots along the water with some shade trees. Dumpster onsite and a few vault toilets for the tent campers. Very safe crowd.

One of the best things about Nevada and Arizona are the numerous areas which offer dispersed camping. There are a lot of BLM lands in the area as well as Recreational areas so it is really quite easy to find a place if you are willing to look. Since I have several full-time friends who spend the maximum of 2 weeks at each site before moving on, someone suggested I check this space out when I was on a trip to Nelson, NV.

It was along the same stretch of highway and not very far away at all. While it was vast and open, there wasn't a whole lot to really say about it other than just that, it is what you make it when you visit.

So what is the benefit of staying at one of these remote locations you might ask? It is about 45 minutes from Vegas, so that isn't terrible if you want to go into the city itself and explore, but part of what makes these spaces a bit more exciting is that they are removed from everything.

I took a moment when I was there to check the basics like what is there to do closely that does not involved the city itself. I could quickly see why my friends recommended this location because it was not far from Lake Mead Recreational Area in an area which was a non-pay station entrance, it was relatively close to Searchlight and not terribly far from Boulder City so if you did need supplies you could easily get out to get them without issue and I think the most intriguing was the proximity not just to Nelson Ghost Town, which is free, but also the many abandoned and never sealed mines.

Lots of activities in the area to keep you busy. Sure it doesn't have amenities but it was a perfect canvas for making the world around you all yours. The friend which recommended it also happens to meet up with other full timers at locations like this so they have a sense of community so I could see how something like this would be a perfect space for that kind of traveling community to set up and enjoy.

TIPS:

• Be able to sustain fully off grid living. There is plenty of sunshine to keep your solar panels full.

• Check out the surroundings and bring a motor bike if you have one to explore so you will not have more options for driving around some of the more remote areas.

• Be careful of mines, though they are fun to explore, some of these are not as stable, I would check out the one just past Nelson which is more heavily trafficked and also stable.

Someone had told me we could do a little dispersed camping at Sloan Canyon, just outside of Vegas. In addition to many hiking trails this place has a pretty extensive area you can hike around to find some great views and camping.

We started out by stopping in the visitor center, which is little more than a mobile station at the beginning of the Petroglyph Trailhead with portable toilets. There wasn't a lot of information online about staying here only that it was in fact BLM land and it was accessible for those who are wanting to stay. To hike in we figured we needed a permit, but when we got there we just kind of got a puzzled look.

Finally a ranger helped us and told us that people do in fact hike in to camp dispersed but there was no permit. We hiked down the trail with our gear and about 2 miles in found a great spot just beyond the petroglyph gallery. It had a view of the mountainside and a great view of the sunset.

We settled in and enjoyed a quiet evening amidst the tall walls of the lower canyon. We had views of the larger mountain ahead but opted to not stay up higher because the winds get pretty strong I this area.

I will say that we were told you cannot set up in the petroglyph area because it is preserved, but it did make me realize that a lot of people probably don't follow this by the fact that there were numerous smaller trails leading through this area where people clearly are not remaining on the main trail. I think the most important thing about camping in a place like this is respecting the leave no trace rules. I you are visiting a place with such history and want to allow others to continue doing the same then you should respect the area you are in.

While this was a clean area for the most part you could see where some people hadn't respected the land the same way.

TIPS:

• Stop at the visitor center before closing hours to get a map and find out about the area. There are two routes to the area we were in and depending on your level of desired difficulty this hike can be easy or have some light scrambling.
• Remember this is a dark space so you will want to have your own light with you because there are several animals which roam at night and you will want to be able to see.

Our first time camping on this free land.  We call it free as we have a National Park pass and didn't have to pay to enter the park.  So many spots to camp and set up your rig that no one was on top of you.  Views of the water were amazing and the sunsets to behold!  There are trash dumpsters at the entrance to the dispersed camping area and we saw BLM folks out patrolling.  Many off road paths around to take your jeep or side by side.  It does get hot here in the summer so would recommend coming in during the winter or spring

Drove through here looking for dispersed camping and saw a few sites but even better was the lake. The campsites themselves were gravel and pretty uneven but we expected as much. No coverage and little privacy for dispersed camping as all sites are right off the main gravel road. We swam for an hour and then departed to next campsite for more coverage as it’s 100+ degrees today.

This site is saying Telephone Cove is on the Arizona side and costs money? I stayed at Telephone Cove on the Nevada side....Dispersed camping and free! Took some effort to get there in a large motorhome...but we'll worth it. I kinda doubt there is a Telephone Cove on both sides of ....oh yeah...Lake Mohave...not Lake Mead!!?? Hmmmmm?

Note that this area is free camping, however Lake Mead has an entry fee, unless you have a Senior Pass. Wide dusty washboard road to access, 2-3 miles. Dumpsters at top by Northshore hwy but nothing later, no toilets or other facilities. I would never haul a trailer in there. 7 day limit free camping. Cell signal great though.

We stayed here on our way to the Hoover Dam and had a fine time. Nothing fancy, super basic free camping on public lands. Highlight was our visit to the dam itself

This place is special to me. My family used to come here every year, and 7 days free camping right on the river. The road is windy and narrow, but drivable, there is our house and no running water, but they do have a dumpster

Free camping!! Horrible roads!!! Trash cans right when you pull in so that’s nice and a bathroom about half way down and if your at the water and. 10 minute drive to the bathroom. So overall a nice place to camp. Plenty of little areas to get some privacy or pull over and make it your spot! It’s dispersed so the choice is yours. Also today it was not packed a few cars down by the water so I can see this place filling up within the next few weeks all the way until the end of summer. It’s hot and it’s early April so make sure you pack plenty of water and food. Don’t forget your sunblock. If you have a 4x4 you can go explore a few other places that I’m sure are a bit more Private.

Oh I screen shotted my location, it shows we are in the water it’s actually desert and it’s the road down to the cove.

This is dispersed camping, some of which was former lakebed. There’s several NPS designated dirt roads that are passable at various distances from the lake shore, many are nicely level. There is a free dump station and water nearby at Echo Bay. Propane is available at the small gas station at Echo Bay. Overton is a short drive (though possibly inaccessible if raining, several parts of the route are at flash flooding risk) for groceries, laundry, hardware store, automotive stores The local wild burros will serenade you at 3 AM. And the coyotes are vocal as well - be extremely careful to keep pets, especially smaller ones, close.

Couldn’t get a site at valley of fire but this place is great. About 5 other campers in this dirt road. Can navigate with 2 wheeler vehicles but pretty bumpy. The surroundings are awesome. Great dispersed camping

So you will start to see people parked and tons of dispersed camping. If you ever strike out on a spot this is the perfect area.. obviously, it's dispersed to you get none of the amenities but it's right outside the state park entrance and it's all you need. Plus people have fire pits set up so you can enjoy a nice fire. Great spot for sure.

Big dispersed camping site right on the southwest corner of Lake Mead. Being the nearest to the NRA entrance from Vegas it gets crowded, especially weekends and holidays. A lot of day-users come to fish. Also very hilly and rocky once you get off the main drag to find a better spot. Common to see 4x4s stuck on the rocky/sandy hills.

Views are pretty, sunsets are nice, and lots to do in the NRA. Lots of stone fire rings all over. There are dumpsters at the main lot. There are also water-fill, trash and dump stations at nearby campgrounds you can use for free.

Donkeys and coyotes everywhere. Supposed to be bighorn sheep, too, but we haven’t seen any here yet. Also gets quite buggy, flies, gnats and mosquitos. Good cell service. Not our favorite dispersed site but it has its charms, including proximity to nearby Henderson/LV, good scenery and good cell service.

There is a NRA entrance fee but free with the America Pass.

I’d give it 2 1/2 stars. Here on Veterans Day which happens to be on a Monday.... packed full. I decided to take the R-pod down a hill to the waters edge to get away and there were still people. LOTS OF TRASH. And I can’t stand that. Picked up a full garbage bag in a very short distance. The stars are for the water, and free camping. Easy access too I guess. Photo from my bed window tho.