Crawdad Cove Dispersed Camping — Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Stayed: 5/31/2022

Cost: FREE

Site:~2.7 miles from Highway 167, overlooking Lake Mead

Vehicle: GMC Terrain

Equipment: Tent

AT&T and T-Mobile: Slow but useable

This was a somewhat challenging dirt road. 4x4 maybe not required, but it can be rocky. Stay right when you come to the fork, left is Boxcar Cove. It’s about 2 miles from this point.


You can camp anywhere along this road, but going the 2 additional miles will give you a lake view. There was an open area to the right, where we pitched the tent. You can also continue down a little more and be on the edge of the overlook. You can also continue right to a smaller open area and even farther down(in elevation) if you dare. We went down quite a bit trying to get to the water, but the dirt got too soft at that point. There is also a decently challenging hill to climb and some maneuvering needed to get to that point. Without being able to be on the water, the overlook is the next best spot to be!

#DareToEverywhere

As of visit Feb 2022, the NPS seems to have posted a small no camping sign at the top of the main road by the hwy...easy to miss if you are used to this area for camping...like last year! Guess this is a day use area now.

Follow the road, fork right and head all the way in. You can get up on the ridges and have an excellent view for days. Plenty of space, roads are decent but get rough in parts. Ranger said no camping on the beach or waterfront so use your judgment.

Drove in looking for a spot to day sit with our toes in the water. Very beautiful spot with abundant fish and clear water. But....a large group was already there which I didn’t mind, plenty of space to be away, however they had several very large dogs of pit bull mix. None were leashed and ran the hundred feet or so to start attacking my two smaller leashed dogs. Very uncool.

When you pull into the main turn off and about ten minutes passing the trash cans you will come to a fork in the road and to get to this spot make sure you make a right... if you go to the left you end up in box car cove. The roads should get graded but they are not so prepare for the shakey car ride. Plenty of areas to camp, fish and kayak or play in the water. It’s rocky near the edge of the water. Where shoes! Your welcome and Enjoy!!! It’s free and fun!!!

I camped here for 2 days and didn’t see a single person. I went off road from this location just 20 min east of it. I found a really nice spot, but really hard to get to u less you have the proper vehicle for it.

Beware at night coyotes are definitely present. They don’t approach you if you make noise . If they do get near throwing rocks will scare them off. They travel in packs 4-6 at a time . They will surround you and Yelp throughout the night . Daytime is more enjoyable. As long your in a camper or vehicle you’ll be fine .

I’ve used this area to camp since I was a kid I’m almost 30 now over the years it’s been a great local spot with few people around and you could usually find a nice secluded spot to get away from everything and fish let the kids play play some tunes and keep to yourself in the beauty of nature and the lake over the last few years this spot has become more popular and is now overcrowded with people cramming into every little section of beach leaving their trash diapers plastic bags anything you can think of especially broken glass its unfortunate I’ve had to evacuate our camp once because someone wouldn’t leave us alone and made us uncomfortable and we didn’t feel safe sleeping there at night with this weirdo bothering us we found a spot far away from everyone again with no one around and then another stranger decided to park right next to us and set up his camp deliberately next to ours so we left again we come out here to getaway from the Vegas weirdos but they have found their way out there as well Guns are allowed anywhere in lake mead so feel free to bring protection I recommend it NV and Lake Mead is 2A friendly checked with the rangers to confirm and they also agreed it would be wise to be armed while camping in this area there are Large packs of Coyotes as well that do not seem to fear humans as much and will lurk around your camp even in the daytime to be weary if you have kids I had to chase one off camp a few times and never let my kids wander off keep an eye on them also small dogs keep close the coyotes don’t like big dogs when I took my full grown Male German Shepherd we never seen one or even heard them get close but my dog is well trained and constantly patrols the camp and marks his territory definitely helped keep them away besides that if you get lucky you can find a sweet spot enjoy lots of fishing great views nice beaches swimming animals and everything else nature has to offer enjoy

April 22, 2018

This area is one of my favorite spots to go to at Lake Mead. In order to get there, follow road signs to Crawdad Cove, the road is loose gravel and dirt so be weary what vehicle you take, so roads require 4 wheel drive. The dirt road will split into a "Y" so stay left. None of the back roads are marked, so you might have to do some exploring. Just try to follow the water and stay on the larger dirt roads. Once you get to the lake there's a nice gravely Beach area and multiple places to set up camp (there are rock fire rings too). I wouldn't recommend camping there because it is a high traveled area, lots of people launch canoes/kayaks, and other boats there. However there are camping spots the entire way down to the water (you can literally pull off of the road and camp where ever you want, there's no assigned/numbered or reserved spots) and all along the banks of the river. If you get there early enough in the day you will avoid park entry lines and you can get a really good spot by the water!

There's lots of good fishing spots, and you can always see the fish jumping out of the water! You can also hike anywhere around here. I have two dogs and really enjoy hiking around and swimming. It's about a 45 minute drive from Las Vegas but worth it to let my dogs run around and swim in the water. If you do bring your dogs be cautious of coyotes in the area, I've seen a couple walking around the area during the day looking for food scraps, and packs of them howling at night.

We set up camp on the left side of the cove on top of a cliff, with a beautiful beach area below all to our selves. There were a couple of other people camping nearby as well. There were multiple places to cliff jump, and fish (bring water shoes because there is some broken glass). The sound is really amplified in this area so please be respectful of the other people around you. All of the sites are primitive, so no toilets or running water. Bring bathroom supplies (I'd recommend bringing baby wipes and hand sanitizer... And a little shovel 😉) and lots of extra water to drink and put out your fire. There is one drop toilet and two large dumpsters along the road but not close to the lake. The sunsets are breath taking and there's lots of different birds, animals, lizards, and flowers if you go at the right time of year. Bring sunscreen and a shade tarp as there is no shade out there.

If you have a non motorized watercraft you need to get a special sticker for it in order to use it at the lake. If you want more information you can ask the Park Rangers when you enter and they will give you some papers about your boats and where to obtain registration.