Searching for a place to RV camp near Ely? Find the best information on RV campsites and dispersed camping near Ely, including sites, reviews, and tips for getting the most out of your RVing experience. You're sure to find the perfect campsite for your Nevada RV camping excursion.
RV Park with 46 spaces available, gravel sites, 30/50 amps, WiFi at site, restrooms, showers, laundry, firewood, table at site.
$28 - $36 / night
This Casino no longer has hookups available to campers, but does allow overnight parking along the adjacent roadway.
The Ely KOA proves there's more to Nevada than casinos and neon. It's where high desert meets the mountains of Great Basin National Park, with meadows, forests, wildflowers, streams and lakes - and the fascinating marble/limestone formations of Lehman Caves. Explore ghost towns left behind from the 19th-century silver rush. Ride the Ghost Train of Ely for a trip into the past. Recreation includes hiking and ATV trails, garnet hunting, fishing, boating and swimming on Cave Lake. Fishing supplies available at KOA. Enjoy a beautiful RV Site with a patio area, private lawn and LP gas grill. Or choose an extra-long pull thru. If primitive is your thing, you'll love the lush, grassy Tent Sites and Camping Kitchen. This campground has rustic comfy Cabins and a Deluxe Cabin - complete with a full bath, kitchenette and LP gas grill. Family fun includes a playground, nightly outdoor movies, scavenger hunts and ice cream socials. Two dog walk areas and on-site corrals keep your four-legged travel companions happy.
Come Stay with us! We offer Camping and Rustic Cabins that Sleep 4-5 people. We are located Just 45 minutes from Great Basin National Park and are the headquarters for Crystal Ball Cave. We have newly remodeled restrooms with showers. We offer self contained (no hookups) RV parking. We are more rural than some RV parks and Campgrounds, but worth the drive. Check out nearby attractions on our "Area Attractions" page. We are a great base for Hunters of Western Utah and Eastern Nevada. Also a great base for ATV's to check out The Great Basin Area! If you are visiting Great Basin National Park or Utah's West Desert just type "campgrounds near me" into your favorite search engine and then come and see us!
Updates coming soon. For information please call ( Ward Mountain Recreation Area and Campground sits in the shadow of its namesake, just 10 miles southwest from the city of Ely, in eastern Nevada. It sits at an elevation of 7,400 feet. Many trails are available for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. There are 33 campsites, including nine back-in and three pull-thru RV sites. These sites also have picnic tables, campfire rings, and BBQ pedestals. At this campground, recreation activities include mountain/roading biking, backpack/day hiking, off-highway vehicle riding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Recreation Ward Mountain and the surrounding area offers miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Many of the trails offer scenic views of the surrounding high desert terrain. Facilities This campground offers single-family campsites and three large group sites that can accommodate up to 100 or more people. Multiple access points for trails are found throughout the campground with the main trailhead located at the eastern most side. All campsites are equipped with picnic tables, campfire rings and grills. Vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided, but there is no electricity. A campground host is on-site. Natural Features Ward Mountain is the highest point in the Egan Range, topping out near 10,800 feet. The campground is well below the summit, but sits high above the desert floor below. A forest of pinyon pine and juniper trees covers the area, offering partial shade and privacy between campsites. Nearby Attractions Comins Lake is about 13 miles from the campground offering boating and fishing for trout and bass. Cave Lake State Park is less than 20 miles away, with opportunities for boating and fishing for rainbow and brown trout. Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park is 26 miles away, with interesting historic stone ovens and an interpretive trail. The Northern Nevada Railway in Ely has a museum and offers train rides. Stop by the Chamber of Commerce for more information on local events and sites. ADA Access: N
$8 - $50 / night
Whether you prefer the rich smell of summer mahogany riding air currents blended with the vanilla of ponderosa pine, or the sound of a clear mountain stream babbling beneath a symphony of swaying white fir, you won't regret your stay at Upper Lehman Campground. At 7500 feet in elevation and three miles up the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive a stay at Upper Lehman puts you within a ten minute drive of Lehman Caves and just a brief cruise from high alpine trails that will take you into the heart of the Snake Range. A stroll across the grounds may present you with mule deer or turkey, while a step out onto the viewing platform over Lehman Creek could offer a glimpse of brook trout moving gracefully through a liquid stage.
For guests at Upper Lehman Campground a number of recreational options present themselves. The jaw-dropping Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive runs right past the campground entrance, offering 12 miles of spectacular mountain and valley views while transporting you to near tree line at about 10,000 feet in elevation. From there a roundtrip trail walk of just under three miles will leave you with memories of iconic bristlecone pines, trees which can endure for over 4000 years, and stand for thousands after that. Another short stroll from the end of the Scenic Drive highlights Stella and Theresa Lakes, both fish free because they freeze solid during the winter months, but begging for a sunset photograph with colossal Wheeler Peak looming in the background. If a challenge is beckoning, you'll find ample beyond the Summit Trailhead. Beginning at mile 11 of the Scenic Drive the Summit Trail will launch you on an eight-mile, day-long endeavor to the top of Wheeler Peak, monarch of the Snake Range, where you may ponder the desperate lives of bristlecones, limber pines and Engelman Spruce gracing the rocky moraine below the summit. Renown Lehman Caves is just a 10-minute drive from your campsite (You'll want to make a tour reservation before you arrive.) along with the remote solitude of the less-travelled trails of the Baker Creek. The Snake Creek and Strawberry Creek Roads are a bit more distant, but worth the drive. Fishing in the park is legal with a Nevada state fishing license, but access is challenging in the small brushy park streams so consider a day-long excursion to Baker Lake. The experience includes a twelve-mile roundtrip hike to over 10,000 ft, but the trout fishing is fine and a more majestic venue could barely be imagined. Stop by one of the park visitor centers for regulations, and please treat the delicate alpine environtment of Baker Lake with respect. During the summer months beneath the uniquely black night skies of Great Basin National Park astronomy programs with park rangers draw large crowds to the Lehman Cave Visitor Center, just four downhill driving miles away. Bring a chair and dress warm as even summer temperatures can drop dramatically in the Snake Range.
Resting at the base of a limestone ridge anchoring 12,771 foot Doso Doyabi to the floor of Snake Valley, the sites of Upper Lehman Campground are scattered amidst a diverse forest of pinyon and ponderosa pine along with juniper, white fir, aspen and fragrant mountain mahogany. Upper Lehman Creek with its resident trout (It's a small dynamic stream, difficult to fish.) tumbles among the sites blending with the voices of pine needles, turkey, and the crackle of campfire to create a classic soundscape, perfect for the camping experience. Shade is easy to come by during the summer months followed by the gilded quivering of aspen leaves in the fall.
Don't forget, Great Basin National Park was forshadowed when Lehman Caves was annointed a National Monument in 1922. The cave and its underground wonders are just a few miles away behind the Lehman Caves Visitor Center. Access is by tour only so be sure to book a reservation before you arrive, or stop by the visitor center to check on remaining availability.
For facility specific information, please call (775) 234-7331.
$20 / night
Traveler
Pretty nice campground with the reservoir, adjacent dirt roads, and closeness(yet not too close to the 50)
Stayed their for a night while going across Nevada. Nice views, pit toilets, tables, some sites have shade structures, metal fire pits, easy dirt road in.
There are cows and in my experience RVs left their generators running quite late were the cons if you consider those as such, but I really thought it was a good site.
Guide
Majestic views and hiking available in all directions. Only stayed for a couple of nights and was nursing sprained ankle so not much hiking around during my stay. Very peaceful with clean composting toilets.
Flowing creek behind my site that gurgled continuously (good thing). Clear skies and refreshing crisp air.
Guide
Interesting history of the campground. Kilns are well preserved and accessible. The camping is close by. No amenities, water, electricity but fairly clean composting toilets in camp area. A few trails at the kiln site and some hiking at the campground.
Ranger
Lovely state park near Ely. Two campgrounds, but lake is emptied for maintenance so we didn't even check the other one out. Nice, mostly flat sites with quite a bit of juniper and some scrub pine in between so pretty private. Water taps and dump station. Flush toilets and free showers were nice. Very very quiet. Some trails fairly near by but we walked up a closed road for a bit.
Food aside: Had freeze-dried (Readywise) creamy pasta chicken with some added chicken and it was good. Very low FQ (fart quotient). Veggie chorizo scramble for breakfast- bit of a bite but hard to identify the chorizo in there; potatoes were good for heartiness.
Ranger
On the whole, it's avg. as far as campgrounds go
Great Basin was full, so went west on 6 about 8 miles and pulled into dispersed campground where there were some covered picnic tables at sites around a large central pond, following road up to equestrian corral and were several more sites. Stayed in#7 which was exposed, but the last one available so we took it. Free. Pit toilets are dirty but don't stink and trash has been emptied. Nice views to Wheeler Peak and out across UT
RangerFREE! On the whole, avg., 3 stars. Not many developed BLM sites around.
Great Basin was full, so went west on 6 about 8 miles and pulled into dispersed campground where there were some covered picnic tables at sites around a large central pond, following road up to equestrian corral and were several more sites. Stayed in#7 which was exposed, but the last one available so we took it. Free. Pit toilets are dirty but don't stink and trash has been emptied. Nice views to Wheeler Peak and out across UT
RangerBeautiful National Park with minimal use makes for a peaceful visit.
Night sky is perfect for stargazing. High elevation can be a problem but worth it if you can handle it.
Many trails to explore and wildlife to enjoy.
LegendNice spacing with trees between sites. Partial view. Couple of accessible sites. Garbage, picnic tables, fire ring, bbq, metal roof over tables, clean pit toilets male and female. Couple nice trails over by the historic wood burning ovens. Nice stream meadows to experience
Legend
Sweeping view. Dispersed site adjacent to road 19631. Gulley behind with a road. No services. Great 5G AT&T. Rough hill up requires 4wd. Consistent shape. Close to junction down to gulley.
Guide
Can’t have dogs on trails. As a ranger put it, dogs can go anywhere your car can. Campsite was great, pretty good privacy between them with the trees and everything. Bathrooms clean and there were multiple within walking distance of campsite.
RangerWe pulled in at about 4:30 pm on a Monday evening after Labor Day. Tried Upper Lehman, it was full. Lower Lehman is closed. So we chanced Baker. Drove into the left loop which has some larger sites, luckily found one of the three left that suited us. Only trouble is that it was super hard to level our 21’ class B. It is quiet and not many people have fires so it is not smokey. We can’t hear the creek from here but have some nice open views. It was very dusty on the road in and in the campground, but a light evening rain probably tamped down the dust. Partner says lit toilets clean. I haven’t used it yet.
Guide
I enjoyed camping here, and I could see it being a great spot for a large group. As the description said, it's a working gravel pit. ... and the BLM got to work at 8am the morning after I arrived. So, be aware of that. There is no shoulder on the highway, so you can't really pull over to check road or flood conditions before pulling into the pit. In my case it was totally fine, clear and flat, but I didn't really enjoy going in blind.
Ranger
There is a lower and upper camp spots. The upper is about 1mi up a dirt road and has some shade trees but no ramadas. Both have vault toilets. Trash at lower. Horse corral at upper. No cell service except one bar at peak of hill anout 3/4 mi up from lower. Great views of wheeler peak, good hiking trails. Bring tp for the toilets, which were clean just no tp. And FREE 14 day limit. Hot but not unbearable in late july.
Guide
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.
Ranger
Full hookups, clean and neat grounds with a beautiful view. SXS trails too
Traveler
This is my second stay this year. With Las Vegas temps reaching 115, This is a beautiful respite with highs in the mid 80s. Well kept camp sites are also a welcome bonus. Bring your own water. Super clean restrooms too.
Guide
Nice flat gravel camping spots. The road is not difficult at all. Small fee to camp but comes with a well maintained spot, fire pit, and grate for cooking.
There was a nice creek behind us and lots of cows roaming.
Guide
There were two of us in RVs. We stayed in spots 3 and 5. We were able to park so that both of our RVs opened to make the area in-between us as the common area. There are several big trees so we had some shade some of the time. Rustic and a bit dusty, but for a base camp it fit the bill. We were there in end of June 2024. The weather was in the high 90s so we were so glad we had full hook-ups. We did not use the bathrooms so I have no comments about them. We did use the laundry room and they had several nice washing machines and dryers. All spots were sold out on the weekend so make reservations early. Jen, the manager, is super nice and friendly. Note about Lehman Caves: Lehman caves were amazing. Make sure you make reservations early and purchase your tickets for the tour of the caves before you get there. Several people that just showed up were not able to get tickets to go inside Lehman Caves.
GuideThis was a stopover on our trip along Highway 50 and I was very pleasantly surprised. A very quiet and beautifully maintained campground and they even had flush toilets and showers. Hidden gem for sure. Next time we will stay more than one night and try some hiking and visit the lake nearby. Again, this campground is very well-maintained. Clean campsites and bathrooms and beautiful views. We stayed in site number two, which was a very nice site. There was also some privacy with the native pines and junipers.
RangerA big flat gravel lot - found based on a dispersed camping map provided by the national park
Scout
Booked through Airbnb. Great place to stay with a variety of camping, tent, or tiny house options. We stayed in the camping area which offered a great sized gravel pad to setup our own tent, There is a bathroom/shower trailer that was very clean and being able to take a hot shower was nice. The host Brian was very nice.
ScoutFree BLM numbered designated sites. We read other online reviews about people making a camp site wherever they want and this happened during our stay. We witnessed this (see the picture) happen to our neighbor. Thursday evening a single male with CA tags comes flying thru the campground and whipped into our neighbor's campsite and pulls right in front of their picnic table with his truck and 5th wheel trailer. Our neighbor came outside (as did several other neighbors wondering what this guy was doing) and confronts the guy. He asks him "you're not going to park there are you?!?". The guy tells him "yes, I need to watch TV" and proceeded to pull out his satellite dish and plop it down. Our neighbor says "this is my site and you're blocking my view." The guy told him he didn't care and set up anyways. Meanwhile there were 2 other RVs camping at the entrance waiting for a campsite to open up. In 7 years of RVing the entire country I have never witnessed such rude and entitled behavior before! The town of Ely for supplies had some of the rudest characters we've come across as well which was very surprising for a small town. This campground might have been a hidden gem at one time but with too much Internet publicity it's very busy now. Constant cars coming and going at all hours especially racing to the upper level of the campground. It probably would've been more peaceful sleeping at one of the highway pullouts.
TravelerGreat sites, very clean and ready for any size rig. 45 minutes to Great Basin and easy to get a site (mid April)
GuideNice quiet park just outside Ely. As usual with KOA, it was bit on the pricey side. They could have used some dust control on the gravel roads as well.
Overall, the place was clean and quiet, sites were level, and the front desk lady was so friendly! I only stopped here for one night, but would stop again if I was in the area.
If they get the dust under control, I would have left 5 stars.
GuideNeeded a place to overnight in my RTT, and this worked out great. Pulled in, was the only one there so had my choice of spots. Had a restful night and hit the road in the morning. No fuss! Not sure if this is what I understand to be dispersed camping, as it’s a first come first served campground with tables, fire rings and pit toilets, just no water.
Scout
We loved this spot for an overnight. We drove our 25’ RV up and found a perfect spot. It snowed over night and we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise. We navigated the gravel road just fine, even with light snow.
GuideAbsolutely one of my favorites. We pretty much had the campground to ourselves. The babbling creek and the color changing of the leaves made this campsite perfect. Pit toilets were not horrible but really could use some hand sanitizer in them at least… Our campsite was by the rushing creek it was lovely to hear. Fire pits and picnic tables were nice too.
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