Best Dispersed Camping near Coleville, CA

I loved camping here. There’s a few spots off the road that leads into the hot springs, before you hit the sign that says no camping. Just pull onto one of the dirt roads on the left and find a spot! Any car or smaller RV could easily drive the road.

There was no one else there when I was camped there, and as a solo female traveler I felt extremely safe. It was quiet and secluded, beautiful, yet only 10 minutes off of 395, less than a mile from the hot spring, and I had full LTE cell reception (verizon).

There are rock fire rings that previous campers have made if you’re going to be here when camp fires are allowed. There’s no other amenities such as picnic tables or a bathroom, water, or garbage collection - this is free dispersed camping, so be prepared to be self-sufficient: pack out what you bring in and leave no trace!

Standard dispersed camping on national forest land. Paved main road with dirt roads and areas for camping branching off. Plenty of room. Some areas have beautiful views of strawberry valley!

This BLM site is 1 of 3 along the west side of Walker Lake. This is the northernmost BLM campground along Highway 95. Follow the signage along the highway. Access to the site is along a slow and easy gravel road that is wide enough for two rigs to safely and comfortably pass each other. As you come down the road into the campground you'll notice you have an option to turn right (south) or left (north). Both roads lead to a vault toilet building with access to drive right on down to the beach. We opted for a site near the northern vault toilet. The views are spectacular as you are surrounded by mountains on all sides with Walker Lake in the middle of it all! This is dispersed camping at it's finest! While you'll have to deal with a little bit of highway noise it's not terrible since it's Highway 95 and not heavily travelled by anything other than semi trucks. The town of Schurz is a mere 12 miles north of the site and has several amenities along with fuel. The towns of Walker Lake and Hawthorne are 10 and 20 miles to the south, respectively. Hawthorne is a more populated area with grocery, gas and other shopping amenities. Highly recommend to any other lovers of boondocking. We stayed during the second week of November and the weather was clear, light wind with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s with the lowest nighttime temp of around 38. We'll be back here again for sure!

No camping is allowed at the hot springs themselves, but outside of the hot springs there are a few cleared out spots with fire rings where you can camp.  There is a cluster of about 6 spots fairly close together, as well as a few more isolated spots if you're lucky enough to get one. From here it is about a .5 mile walk to the springs. 

So many cars zip in and out on the dirt road leading to the hot springs, from early in the morning to pretty late at night. The dust hasn't been too much of a problem but some people do drive rather quickly so watch out for your loose dogs and kids. It was also intermittently very windy.

No services or amenities here, but it is really close to the town of Bridgeport for supplies, so pack in and pack out your garbage(and maybe a little extra) and bring water.

The hot springs are amazing and we got a nice long soak by ourselves in the morning until around 11am when is starts to get busier. Clothing is optional at these hot springs but almost everyone was wearing something. Come sit in a hot spring and enjoy the free camping and extraordinary panoramic views.

The road in is pretty washboarded and rutty in parts, so go slowly.

You can hear road noise and hourly church bells :)

Good Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile reception.

** Gas here in Bridgeport is very expensive (currently $5.15/gal) so fuel up before you get here.

Dispersed camping not far from Lake Tahoe. Easy to drive into just be careful of potholes and large puddles from rain, even in summer. No amenities, but it’s a very beautiful area. There are herds of cows that will make their way through the area, please be respectful of them! Scott’s lake is just up through this area if you have 4x4 capability.

We are new to dispersed camping and have a 40 ft 5th wheel as well as a GMC Denali 350 dually. We need a large space to fit into. We arrived on a Monday at noon and found that the large area about 1/4 mile in was not at all crowded. We had our choice of several places to set up. It is very quiet here, not hearing any road noise. A forest ranger told us there were more spaces up near the lake, but we didn’t venture up there.

You follow a dirt road and have camping spots along the road. When I was here it was jammed packed RV, vans and tents all set up along the road. To me it was good for a an overnight stay. No At&t service what so ever. Little highway noise.

This was my first stop after leaving Truckee and heading south.

I rolled in later in the evening and found the many springs already quite full. Seeking some solitude, I opted to backtrack and find a camp spot on the road leading to the springs.

From what I could tell, there were at least three springs and there could've been others hidden a bit down the hill.

There's no camping right at the springs, but several pull-outs on the road in.

I found a spot on the hill with a great view of the valley and Sierras to the east.

Also wound up sharing a spot with two gentlemen who gave me some great recommendations for Death Valley.

Woke up early for a solo sunrise soak in the main pool and had it all to myself!

This place is really cool and easy to find! Great views

Weather isn’t to hot and very secluded.

This road follows power lines pretty much for the entire length of the road. It would be a really nice area to disperse if they weren't there as the area is beautiful. That said, you don't need 4x4 but you definitely will need a vehicle with some decent clearance. There are some weirdly purposefully placed speed bumps? on the west end of the road approaching 4N01 and Spring Gap Rd that will let you know if you have enough clearance pretty quickly. Overall not a super terrible road to disperse off of. There are a lot more and a lot better spots nearby and it's not too far from Beardsley Lake which can get pretty busy.

My 9 yr old son wanted to try camping in or near the snow, and the weather was favorable on this December weekend (high 56, low 39). We are pretty new to camping and not hardcore, but this was very easy and comfortable. We camped right at the entrance because nobody was there and there was plenty of flat area. Easily accessible on paved roads. Spotted a rock climber on the nearby rock face when we arrived, who later came by to pick up his car he had parked there.

Caldor Fire damage was evident everywhere, but this made it easy for my son to chop down a small dead tree that we used for firewood. It was breezy, which made it chillier than the temps indicated, but we were fine and very toasty once in our tent cots.

We found a few beer bottles around (which we took home to recycle), and small amounts of building waste such as concrete. But overall the setting was peaceful and beautiful. Amazing to have a resource like this that's free. We brought a privacy shelter and portable camp toilet, and our own water. Those are really the only things you need that would normally be provided by a paid campsite.

Camp just a small walk to the hot springs. Got crowed at the camp site toward the end of the day. Was still a relaxing spot.

Easy to see right off the road with plenty of campsites down either side of a nice dirt road. Rocky and steep road access to Scott’s lake, but easy camping on the edge of the valley.

Camped here for a night in early October. Easy access and reasonably good road quality make it very RV friendly - I would say that it was at least 75% RVs/Trailers. Beautiful views of the valley and hills to the east. Most sites are obvious, with a driveway and stone fire ring. We like a more "dispersed" feel, but felt comfortable. 

There are no services - bring all the water you will need and practice "leave no trace." This goes for your waste (human and animal) as well. I wish I could say that we didn't see any dog waste or "TP Flowers" but we did. Not a significant amount, but any is too much.

The place was pretty much full, but still good vibes and quiet neighbors. Very close to Hwy. 88, so road noise and campers coming in looking for a spot after dark. Gets quiet later in the evening.

Overall, a nice spot.

Road was accessible for us in a Toyota Tacoma, but a Camry also made it up. It was a little crowded in the area we stayed (with 4 other caravans and trailers), as the other dirt road giving access to different campsites was more for high clearance vehicles (very steep and uneven). Hot springs in walking distance. Incredible views of the mountains. We would definitely stay here again. No waste services or restrooms, but a vault toilet was available at the hot springs less than a mile away. Would visit again!

We had a great time camping here. The hot springs were super cool and there were multiple pools scattered around the area. We swam in the small spring pools as the sun was setting and got to watch the stars come out. Some of the pools are super hot and others not much, also they are very muddy. You can’t actually camp by any of the springs but there are a few pull offs to camp at before you get to the springs. We had phone service. If you want to make a fire make sure you bring some wood as there wasn’t really any wood to collect from the area. It also got super windy during the night but our tent held up fine. Over all really great site, and free!

I visited this area and was so overwhelmed by the amount of people I saw in Yosemite I definitely expected this well known hot spring to also be filled with people.  However I was extremely surprised when I turned down the road toward the springs and noticed that there was no one to be found.  That was until I got to the spring itself.   At that point I found a single person taking a dip.

Signs marked that the area nearest to the spring was off limits to camping, however they do allow parking and camping in several pull offs along the roadway toward the spring.   These are designed for contained units only, not tents so I found that staying here would be problematic unless you could stay in your car or RV.   Lucky for me I don't mind sleeping in my car when necessary so I was able to enjoy the stay uninterrupted just a short distance from the spring itself.

The area is dry and dusty and offers little to no relief from the heat of summer or the sharp winds of winter.   This would not be an ideal situation for those wanting to have any kind of amenities as there are none available.   You must be able to maintain your unit without power or water connections.    Additionally, this area is an area which you must be able to provide proof of a waste disposal of some kind when staying should a ranger come to your camp.   Keep in mind they just want to make sure you are not abusing the outdoors and leaving waste.

As these are dispersed sites no picnic tables or fire rings are available either.   

The spring itself is pretty nice.   Water is nice and warm and when I visited it did not have an odd sulfuric smell like some springs do.   Instead it was welcoming and invited you to sit and soak for a while.   While I wore my bathing suit I discovered that many do not so if you are visiting keep that in mind.

Other points of interest in the area are Yosemite, Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town.   All of these locations have numerous stops which can be great for the trip and within a very short drive of the location.

I ended up spending an entire day at Bodie thanks to its close proximity and really enjoyed that this offered something closeby but also a bit closer to the community of Bridgeport where I could find services and supplies.

TIP:  Make sure to fuel up when you see gas stations, they are sparse and you will want to ensure you have enough gas from one location to the next in this area.