Best RV Parks & Resorts near Cima, CA

Ranger Review: Midland X-Talker Two-way Radios at Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, NV

CAMPGROUND REVIEW

Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground is located 14 miles east of Searchlight, NV, on the shores of Lake Mohave. The decent into Cottonwood Cove is quite dramatic (about 2900 ft), for which the roadside cactus can attest, as the types of cacti change even with the slightest elevation change.

The "lower" in Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground's name characterizes it's lower elevation compared to the "upper" campground, which naturally has higher elevation.

Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground is included in Lake Mead National Recreation Area campgrounds, and keeping with their custom, all sites are first come first serve. The Cottonwood Cove area has low elevation, at about 650 feet above sea level, which means it gets very hot during the late spring, summer, and early fall months.

Only a few of the 45 sites have shady cottonwood trees, and there are only uncovered picnic tables, so come prepared with a shade canopy for much needed relief! There are beautiful views of Lake Mohave, three very clean restroom buildings (no showers), water on taps, and fire rings at every site. There is an RV dump station located near the entrance to the Upper Campground (although the Upper Campground is closed).

The Lower Campground is situated behind a hill, which obstructs cell service. Walking only a short distance to the marina area, you'll find a strong 4G signal. The park service provides fee-based internet at the campground, but we didn't try it.

Cottonwood Cove has a full service boat marina, gas, motel, RV resort (with full hook-ups), watercraft rentals/supplies, sandy beach, and shaded picnic tables with BBQs.

Here's a drive-along tour of Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground: https://youtu.be/s6AQ6KqtxPg

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at this campground. It was a peaceful place, with jackrabbits, a couple of hungry ducks, many songbirds, and the stars at night were bright & beautiful. 4 stars (not 5 stars due to lack of provided shade).

PRODUCT REVIEW

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time. While camping at Cottonwood Cove Lower Campground, we tested Midland X-Talker Two-way Radios (model T51).

https://midlandusa.com/product/x-talker-t51vp/

Camping in an isolated area behind a large hill was the perfect place to review these radios. However, with the hill as an obstruction our range was limited. [Note: We also tried these radios at home, and our maximum range was 3 small neighborhood blocks. Perhaps to achieve the maximum range of "28 miles," you'd need to be on the open ocean on a calm day or out on a very flat prairie.]

Here's a video demonstration of the Midland X-Talker Two-way Radios:

https://youtu.be/ocCEzY-MgUc

As you can see in our review video, we compared the Midland radios with a very inexpensive set. Midland's quality is far superior.

The Midland's instruction booklet is easy to follow, buttons are easy to operate, radio is comfortable to hold, and the belt clip is very tight (exercise care unlatching to prevent breaking). And… the NOAA Weather Radio scan was our biggest surprise, as you'll see in this video:

https://youtu.be/nZvTipRcln8

The radios can be charged while positioned on the charging stand or via a charging cord plugged directly into the radio and to an electrical source (such as a portable power bank).

Overall, we are very impressed with the clear reception and convenience of the Midland X-Talker Two-way Radios. We are looking forward to using these radios during our future no-cell service camping, fishing, and hiking adventures. 5 stars

Surprisingly nice find in the middle of nowhere. Each spot has trees for shade and the surrounding mountains are a beautiful back drop during the day and definitely at sunset. There is a small casino next door with food and of course gambling. Great spot to get away or an inexpensive place to stop for the night. The spots closer to the road are noisier than those in the back.

Full hook ups available, laundry, restrooms and showers. ATV riding available and only $22/night!

This is definitely one of the more unique places I’ve stayed with a casino next door!

23ft rv Beginning of april The camping area is small. There was one can there when we arrived on Friday , early in the day. By 5 pm there were several vehicles. Another rv parked about 30 ft away and a van pulled in at night and was about 15 ft behind us. The area is very pretty. Great mountains etc. bit if garbage around which always bums. Me out. Spent shell casings.
It’s ok in a pinch for sure and I could see it being good mid week when maybe nobody is around.

Paved road into campsite (about 20miles). Campground itself is smooth gravel. Well spaced and mostly level sites with beautiful desert vegetation between sites. First come, first serve. Almost empty in late Oct. $12/night. No hookups but access to potable water and a sanidump. Very clean pit toilets. Friendly and informative host. Access to trails right from campground, and information center within sight.

Sites are very close together with very few amenities or shade. View of the lake is blocked by the motel. Only plus is proximity to the water and full hookups

Was driving out late and need a place to crash found this campground and came in the dark didn't know what to expect. Woke up to a excellent sunrise and a great camp. Options for RVs all the way to pop up tents has water that's clean, clean toilets, and both garbage and recycling bins

Hole in The Wall has plenty to offer with hikes and views all around. The ring trail is interesting. Basic facility with pit toilets, tables, fire rings and water. But water may be seasonal. No hookups available for RV's. Gets windy at night with down canyon flows after sunset. $12 a night, passes are accepted. Nice area for star gazing.

When we first got here there was no available water ( main water line break) and the bathrooms were closed and they had set up several portable bathrooms. They quickly fixed the water line on day two and bathrooms were re-opened and water was available at the sites. No hook ups, but worth the $20 a night ( must be done online), quiet, peaceful and only a couple other campers here. Walking distance to Lake Mojave ( Sandy beach looks beautiful when you walk up to it, but then you see all the rusty battle caps, bottles, some broken glass, fishing line and trash about) where there is a marina with a store ( pricey as you’d expect). Camp sites aren’t very big, but I had no problem with my 19ft trailer. They have 45 sites ( loops around for easy turn around at top of campground) and ours was level. No camp host here, but service truck drives through at about noon everyday. Trash bins available. Regular flush bathrooms were pretty clean ( no showers).The nights ( sun down here at 4:30pm) are awesome and star gazing is amazing and you can hear coyote’s in the distance. A few palm trees and some sites have nice shade. We had such a nice experience here, we decided to stay an extra night!

Tucked at the end of a road off the main highway in Searchlight. There is nothing in town other than some gas stations and a McDonalds so make sure you pack everything you need. Upon pulling in there were no signs of where to go so just drive up to the motel check-in and look for a board with envelopes and you will find your name and spot assignment. I recommend calling to get the assigned spot you want. I stayed in lower campground RV Site #8, pull through 40' Front Row. There was a busted up concrete pad and a picnic table that has seen some better days. The spots are right next to each other so if you have obnoxious neighbors, that could be a problem. Luckily for us we had great neighbors. If you want extra room to lounge outside your RV, then I recommend you book an extra site so that you have that space, other than that you will be sitting basically up against the RV next to you. Some of the front row spots have random trees so if you have slideouts, be mindful of that. My view was the Motel parking lot so be aware that Front Row does not mean Water view. Campground is dirt/gravel and absolutely nothing fancy about it and no nice views until you walk past the motel. I walked through the motel grounds and it was clean but it looked like it was deserted in a way. I saw one of the rooms and although they had a great patio area overlooking the water, the rooms were old and dated. We also drove to the other side of the campgrounds where there were tent sites/no hook-ups and I don't recommend it. It looked run down and depressing. Just a short walk from the RV campgrounds and over a small hill (watch for dog poop) you will reach a beautiful cove, The greatest thing about this location! It's super clear and the sand is soft. Great place for water activities. Also, the night skies are great for stargazing. It's a short drive from Vegas and it gets the job done.

We have camped here twice because it is a convenient location on our way from California to other states. But it is also a pretty area. Even though it is first come, first serve, there were plenty of sites available both times we stayed.  There are relatively clean toilets with toilet paper,a waste basket, and hand sanitizer. We were OK in our trailer, but we had to pull down our awning because the wind was extremely strong overnight. We noticed a few of the tent campers left in the middle of the night. A warning to tent campers to check the weather before camping there.

We brought the rpod. Left it in the camp and explored lava tubes and sand dunes near by. NO more water! Used to have water but they broke and no plans to fix. Very windy. We went 10/18/19 Lots of hunters! Deer season

Loved it. Some big pull through sites and back in sites for 30+ ft trailers. Water stations spread out through the campground and a Dump station. Camp sites are spaced out with some good distance between. Awesome views of the local mountains and hiking trails are close.

This was a last minute decision while driving from CA to IN. It’s a 35 site campground, no reservations accepted. We had a back up plan in case it was full, but that wasn’t necessary, there was only one other person there. We chose a campsite on the opposite side from where he was. We stayed on the west side, which was beautiful, as we looked directly at the canyon walls. There are pit toilets and trash receptacles at frequent intervals. There is non drinkable water available. No firewood on site, and you can’t collect. You are roughing it here, but if you are okay with that, you can’t beat this experience! We paid $6 for the night with our ATB pass, it’s $12 normally. It was crazy windy through the night, I don’t know if that’s normal or not. So windy we left the pop up trailer hitched to our Jeep because the gusts were incredibly strong and we were worried about the trailer being tossed. All kinds of critters about, including in the restrooms, so be aware.

First off, any weekend out camping with my wife is better than not camping, no matter where! With that said, we won't be camping at Cottonwood Cove again.

The good... The staff was friendly, the store well stocked, and the hookups worked flawlessly.

The bad... Our very tight site (#67) greeted us with an bag of trash on the concrete pad and an empty Coors like box in the metal BBQ grill. I mentioned tight quarters; the pull-thru site has you pull in opposite another camper and places each site within 4" of each other. Luckily my neighbor was friendly and considerate...we even worked out a plan for departing around the same time so we could prevent our insurance companies from meeting too. The campground roads are gravel and not maintained... Drive slow here, the ruts will keep your eyes on your rear view mirror!

Another good... The marina is where the money has been spent. It's well appointed with a ton of slips a s services.

Somewhat rundown campground. (Upper CG is all closed and abandoned) 45 sites, all Reservation.gov except for sites 1-3. $20/$10 senior. Most sites are short backins and big TTs and 5th wheels, RVs will have limited options. There are some nice shaded sites. Restrooms were dirty and needed cleaning. No cell signal but the Marina vendor has a wifi system available for a fee. This marina is still functioning as a boat marina and boat launch. Two stars due to overall rundown condition, sites obstructed with downed tree debris, and apparent lack of maintenance staff.

Pure Review:  

Stayed here on the 29th of May 2021. Was a little warm during the day but hella cool at night. The campground is kinda remote, way better than "Hole in The Wall." You can get there in a 2wd car during dry conditions. Nice sites with a table and fire pit. Room for trailer or tent camping. Might have to arrive early to get a good site. 

************************FACTS*********************************************

Price: $12 (first come basis)

Water: NO  

Amenities: Picnic tables and fire ring/grill

Access: A freaking Prius made it

Cell service: Verizon 2-3 bars @ top of hill next to site 24

Pit toilet: Clean

Privacy: Yes/NO depends on your site.

Pure Tip:

Drive the loop before you pick a site. Better ones are at the back. Enjoy!!

This is one of my favorite campgrounds.  It's easy to get to and is in the middle of the beautiful Mojave Preserve.  All camp sites now must be reserved on Recreation.Gov.  Luckily, we had enough bars on Verizon to do it on the spot when we arrived.  We found plenty of sites available that were large enough for our 30 foot travel trailer.  The campground was only about a quarter full.

Although the campground is dry camping, there is a dump site and water is available to top off your tank.  They also provide trash receptacles.  

The nearby visitor center closes at 1500, and there is no store or fuel in Mojave.  Most people drive to Baker, CA for fuel, or over to AZ, about an hour away.  I would come next time with a fuller tank of fuel.

We wanted to check out ZZYZX but there was no camping there so we had to explore other options. Really wanting to be as close to the dried salt lake area where you can literally yell out and hear your voice echo for miles we discovered Hole-In-The-Wall. It sounded a bit funny considered it was in the middle of the desert and everything is like a hole in the wall as you pass through miles and miles of nothingness, but we gave it a shot and were very pleased.

It is a first come first serve campsite but when we were there that wasn't an issue there were only a few campers. It made for a quiet night in the desert where we were surrounded by low laying vegetation and views of the mountains around. It looked like a pretty large campground overall with lots of sites each with a picnic table and fire ring.

There was no potable water when we were there and only pit toilets. Pretty basic, no hook ups and no showers.

It was pleasant though and I would say it made us happy that we had stumbled upon it. It was $12 fo the night for our site and I did notice that those having the senior card could get a discount, so something to look forward to when I get older!!

It was pretty no frills camping. But since we always come prepared we had firewood ready to go and were able to enjoy setting up then venturing over to ZZYZX to check out the "abandoned" site, which is actually partially used as a research facility and partially a ruin of times passed. Really unique experience from every angle.

TIPS:

• Pack extra water since there is none available and if you are interested in a shower make sure you have an outdoor shower bag already filled before you arrive.

• While you can have a generator they do have a quiet hours policy for other guest. The campground is so quiet at night and everything echoes in the canyon.

• Do not camp in washes because even though it seems dry when rain comes it quickly moves across the desert and will flood these areas and create very scary conditions.

Convenient parking for any size of RV with water and power connections and very reasonable price. We paid $25 per night.

I gave it 2 only because the campground host was very accommodating, otherwise it's a 1. The so called pads were really bad, could not get level. No water, it's dry camping! The Day Beach was crowded and had alot of trash all over. Too many small children in the water made me leary of entering  for a swim.  One day was enough for me, very disappointed to see it like this as I came here many times in my younger days , it was much nicer. So sad! I won't be returning.

not much to say it’s a campground behind a hotel that has “beach” access. most of the beach is taken up by people day camping on the beach the section reserved for hotel/rv guests is small and rocky.

This campground is an excelent place if you like basic and secluded campgrounds. Each campsite is just the perfect size for 1 tent/RV. With the site you will get a picnic table and a fire pit. The fire pit also has a gril bar so you can use it for cooking/bbq if neded. Campground is super peacful and relaxing. Situated at the botom of a clif with desert views on other three sides. It can be pretty windy, so do look at the weather channel before comming and plan accordingly. You can still stay there even in the windy nights, just be ready for a lot of noise as the wind bangs on your tent pretty loudly. We were here at the end of May, just before the temperature started climbing too much and even though it was Memorial Day weekend there was enough empty sites. The campgroud is First Come First Serve, but it seems like it's never fully packed, and it's been pretty easy to find a spot everytime.

Kelso Depot, Mojave Cross and the largest Joshua Tree Forest, as well as Kelso Dunes are all within an hour ride from the campground.