Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Willow Beach, AZ

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 review is for the boat in site at Arizona Hot Springs along the Colorado, just before Willow Beach.

We camped here with about 4 other parties and had plenty of privacy. There is a pit toilet (BYO toiletpaper), and lots of level areas to camp.

Be aware of the varying water levels! Tie up your boats and camp far back. Fellow campers told us that they had seen the water rise all the way to the main rock splitting the area.

PERK! At night, you get the fabulous Arizona Hot Spring slot canyon all to yourself. When you are in the spring, you can see where others have brought candles that melted into the walls. Excellent star gazing,and we had no issues with critters!

The pin took us off-road to a private BLM spot that went to a dead end in which you can get out of your vehicles and hike .8 miles down to the river. We made the hike down there and it was absolutely amazing however we did not stay the night there, we traveled back out went down the road to willow beach to see if there were any site available for that night. When we got there we noticed that you have to have a RV or a tent to camp so our friend that went with us could not use his overlander tent cause he would have had to use up 2 parking stalls (plus the park was super quite at 7pm). We ended up finding a place to across the road up in the mountains to stay the night BLM area. Wish we would have stayed the night at the first spot, you will also need at vehicle that can operate off roading.

Willow Beach campground and marina is a part of the Lake Near National Recreation Area. It does require an annual pass to enter the area. Once in the check in at the Camp Store was easy and the staff was incredibly friendly. We stayed in b06 a spacious spot with a killer view that was well maintained and perfect for family camping. The are can be windy, so if that bothers you, check the weather closely before going. The marina is full of boarlts, jet skis, kayaks qnd rafts. Lots of swimming areas but no life guards for kids or adults who need supervision.