Cottonwood Cove Campground — Lake Mead National Recreation Area

NPS turned this dry CG over to the marina as of Jan 1 2024. The marina charges $20 and no senior discount...guess the Lake Mead NPS wants out of the CG MGMT hassles.

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!

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.