Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Baker, NV

This place is giant! There are tons of RV spots as well as a tent area and some cabins. We stayed here to visit Great Basin National Park because the weather was going to be too cold to camp in the park safely without hookups for us. We also used this KOA as our midway point to dump and refill our water between campsites without water. It had what we expected of a KOA - friendly staff, full hookups, easy level pull through sites, a playground, store, etc. The surprises for us: no pool (not that we wanted one), adorable neighbor goats, and two dog parks areas (one with grass). Our dog loved the dirt dog park. It was great giving him a chance to run around off leash for a bit on our trip since everywhere we went he had to be on-leash. The goats were a fun surprise, too, since we love watching goats.

Located outside of Ely, but close enough if you need to run into town.

Staff was great, informed us about facilities and also map listed restaurants that deliver.

Hometown Pizza delivers to your site, good pizza.

They do inform you that by state law they have to have water pressure regulators on the water hookups so no need to add yours. (in Las Vegas at the KOA they had no idea what I was talking about but since we were within the city limits may not be needed).

Great view of the night sky after dark, dog parks are decent size, but by the time we got their our dog had found a spot on the roads.

Site pretty level, site and roads are gravel. Appears to be quite a few long term campers.

We were only there one night, but with everything if offers appears to be a place to stay for a week if so inclined.
Gets chilly at night, high altitude (close to 7,000 ft in elevation).

Great Basin is one of the less-visited national parks, but when we visited during the annual Astronomy Festival in September, we knew we might have a little more trouble finding a campsite inside the park. None of the campgrounds in Great Basin are reservable ahead of time. We aimed to camp at Upper or Lower Lehman Creek Campgrounds, located near the entrance of the park, and after driving through the lower campground with no luck, we snagged the last site at Upper Lehman Creek. The sites here are nicely spread out and nestled in plenty of vegetation, and we had no issues with noise even though we camped on what might be the busiest weekend in Great Basin.

Like most other national park campgrounds, Upper Lehman Creek provided just the basic amenities: flush toilets, water, and picnic tables. We’d gladly take this rustic setting over other over commercialized campgrounds.

Although Great Basin takes a lot of work to access -- it truly is in the middle of nowhere -- this park is a hidden gem. We especially enjoyed climbing Wheeler Peak (the second-highest point in Nevada), walking among the Bristlecone trees (the oldest trees in the world), taking the tour of Lehman Caves, and attending various activities at the Astronomy Festival. There’s little sense of being “on the beaten path” anywhere here, but if you want to get even further away from people, the Johnson Lake/Baker Lake 11-mile loop trail was also a great loop hike. 

The only downside, besides being located in the middle of nowhere, is that sites at Upper Lehman Creek campground are not reservable, so be sure to arrive early enough in the day to grab a site, especially if you are visiting during peak weekends.

You can read much more about our four days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Great Basin)

First off I'll start by saying the "Get directions" location on this app is incorrect AND the GPS will take you down a private, gated, dirt road to get there. Also, there is only ONE campsite on this road.

When you set your GPS for this location the GPS will take you down Lehman Caves Road which is also highway 488 into the national park. About halfway down this road from the small town of Baker, you will be told turn left on Rowland Ranch Road. IGNORE THIS. Rowland Ranch Road is a gated dirt road on private property. Instead continue down Lehman Caves Road until you get to a left on Baker Creek Road. I have attached a picture of detailed instructions of this ^ in my review.

Baker Creek Road is a maintained road within the national park boundaries but is hard pack gravel with some washboards along it. Just a little ways down Baker Creek Road, you will come to NF-589. This road starts as a Y split. Your first left is a foot path only with no camping signs in it. Directly behind it is the vehicle accessible entrance. Enter at your own risk! This OHV road is narrow and rough with decent sized rocks. There are very little opportunities to turn around and I would strongly recommend AGAINST entering with a two-wheel drive vehicle or a trailer. With that being said, I managed to squeeze down this road with my stock 2015 Toyota Tacoma towing a 12x6 enclosed trailer. My truck made it no problem without 4wd but I was at the limit of capability with my trailers ground clearance, width, and length. I also pre-scouted the singular campsite on this road with my off-road motorcycle to make sure nobody was there first. The only way for me to turn around with my trailer on NF-589 was to use the campsite I stayed in. Just into the entrance of the road you'll come across a downed tree across the road. Don't worry, somebody remade the road to the left going around it so continue on. About halfway towards the campsite you'll come across a small picket sign on the left side of the road that marks the national park boundaries. The campsite is on your left roughly another 500ft after that, just barely outside the national park boundary. There are some good wash outs almost a foot deep and 6-8in stones in the road. My 6-ft wide trailer, which is slightly wider than my truck, was touching trees on both sides for most of the way down.

I'll say it again, there is only one campsite here. The GPS coordinates do not bring you to a campsite so follow my instructions instead. This campsite is tight as you first turn in but opens up in the middle about 20ft into it. It also has some flat open areas for tents just a few feet away from main area. The site is not level and on the slope of a hill. There are also some large rocks similar in size to the ones in the trail on the way in all through the site. My 4in levelers for my rooftop tent were not tall enough to counter this slope. I ended up having to use large boulders and back over them to level my truck so I could sleep. There's nothing here but a fire ring, that includes bathrooms of any kind. You are just in the middle of the woods.

I would love it if people would stop having glass bottle parties around campfires. When did ruining fragile campsites become the new cool? I always try to leave a free campsite better than I found it. I spend time cleaning up other people's trash, rebuilding fallen fireplaces, and sweeping off cement patios when present. I would greatly appreciate it if you would do the same for others.

Anyways, I was here for 2 nights. The views are slightly blocked by the trees but the trees are fairly short. If you can get above the trees like I could by sitting on the roof of my trailer when the sun went down, the views are actually stunning at this campsite. This campsite is almost walking distance to the Lehman Caves and just a few minutes drive to most other attractions here like the scenic drive to the Alpine Lakes at the base of Wheeler Peak. The campsite is completely silent but there is a home about a half mile through the woods to the North towards Lehman Caves Road so please be respectful with music volume even though it may feel as though you are in the middle of nowhere.

Baker Creek Campground is a first come - first served campground in Great Basin National Park.  Campground has 37 sites and sits along Baker Creek.  It is a dusty drive to Baker Creek campground along a gravel road, but that dust leads you to a pleasant campground.  Stayed in the upper most loop at site 14.  RVs and Trailers over 24 feet are not allowed on Upper Loop.  Three sites in the campground are ADA sites.  Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring.  Water is currently not available in the campground, water can be obtained at the visitor center.  A fire ban was in place due to dry conditions.  No cell service at the campground except for a few spots in the upper loop.  If I stood in just the right spot in my camp site I could get service.  Campground has vault toilets and dumpsters for your trash.  The campground was quiet at night and being next to the creek was an added bonus.

We had wanted to camp near to Great Basin National Park, but decided against trying for something in the part, as we did not want to boondock for that many days. The TINY town of Baker has two small RV parks, and Whispering Elms was our choice.

It is a facility that is far from glamorous. The grounds are mostly dirt and weeds and the worst part about staying here was indeed the dust that got kicked up everywhere. The sites are kind of close together, and there's nothing like picnic tables or really any kind of amenities to beautify the place. It is quite humble. The bathhouse was pretty rustic, BUT, everything worked great. Nice hot showers, regular cleanings, plenty of paper products. No complaints. The electric we used was clean. Water pressure was good. Hook ups were convenient and close to each other.

Service was nice. We mostly interacted with Dakota and Sam; both were friendly and helpful. No issues there. And please note, the building where you stop to check in is ALSO A BAR! With a respectable tap selection of Nevada beers, a beer case full of interesting beers and some unusual bar selections too. We hung out there a little bit three days, just sit at a table and chat and have some drink service. I was so surprised to find a bar here!

Great Basin is way off the beaten path; I'm not sure my travels will ever take me this way again. But if we do come this way, and want to stay near the park(5 miles from Whispering Elms to Lehman Caves visitor center; less than a mile to the regular visitor center), I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. Just drive slow to avoid kicking up dust.

Though extremely unlevel, the positive atmosphere here makes up for it in every way. It's a small campground with only eleven sites, but it's nearly impossible to see a neighbor. The trees and bushes are thick and high, and you feel like you're in your own private corner of the world.

We arrived around 11:30 on a Wednesday morning. Only three sites were taken, so we had a pretty good pick. If Site #4 was level, it could arguably be the world's greatest campsite. It's located right by the creek and is surrounded by trees and shrubs. There was a picnic table and a fire ring, too. The creek kind of splits upstream right before the site, so we had a little wading pool to cool off in after hikes. We foraged for wood, and it burned and smelled awesome. This campsite was a dream.

The dump station at the visitors center was down when we arrived, but they said there were places in Baker you could fill up. We had just come from there and were not excited to do more driving, so my husband filled up the tank manually with a six-gallon jug. He's my hero. :) It was doable and not that bad because there are spigots throughout the campground. When we left, we dumped at the gas station in Baker (which was oddly out of gas). Come prepared! Luckily we had enough to make it to Milford, Utah.

Lower Lehman is located at the base of the mountain, so be aware that it's about 10-15 degrees warmer here than it is at the top of the mountain. It was about 85 degrees in the middle of the day, but the shade and the creek helped. Plus, we stayed up on the mountain for as long as possible, and if you do a cave tour (which you should!) it's always 50 degrees in there.

Great Basin was a wonderful surprise. We loved the caves, the hike to the glacier, the alpine lakes, and the bristlecone pines. The scenery is breathtaking!