Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Fernley, NV

Great location if you want to be near Costco and the capital city.  Great views of the Sierras and the Carson valley.  Sites are narrow, about twice the width of your RV, and separated by chain link fencing.  But all sites are perfectly flat, paved pull-throughs; easy in, easy out parking.  Also electric, water, sewer hookup, cable and strong wifi and cell service.  Sites are gravel, but the campground has nice grassy dog parks, clean bathrooms and laundry, and well-stocked store with propane refill.  Pool and fishing pond were closed but looked great.  We were there in early April 2021; with our binoculars we could see skiers at the top of Heavenly Mountain ski area!

The RV park was easy to find and enter. Check in was smooth with a very friendly staff, and we were escorted to pull through site 150 with FHUs for our three day stay. The utilities are nicely placed on the middle of the pad. Site 150 is a premium pull through. The only thing that makes this site premium is the concrete pad, small grass front yard, and shade trees; as there is no picnic table, patio, or fire pit. Sites are near each other throughout the park. We really didn’t see where any sites were better spaced than others. We received a Good Sam discount for the nightly rate, which basically paid for the lodging tax. Then there’s a $2 resort fee and $3 per pet fee ($6 for our two pets) with other charges if you bring additional people and vehicles with you. The WiFi was average for a park this size. Cable did not work, but they were trying to get the cable company to come fix it. However, we got a fair amount of OTA channels, with two prime channels. We got 2 bars on Verizon. There’s an interesting mix of full timers, seasonal, and short termers. I state interesting as many of the permanent party live along the South to West perimeter. Most take pride in their sites but as good as the park sites look towards the front it degrades in too many sites looking like, well, a “trailer park”. There’s a very clean and well maintained facility with a Rec Room, showers and nice big laundry. We like the rule where a site can only use two machines at a time. Unless you want to trek out into the desert where the Quads and ATVs go, there are no trails here to walk your dog, but there is a small fenced, off-leash dog area, which was nice. We thought this park would be more of a destination park and for us, it was not. This park had the worse road noise we've experienced after two years on the road. Our sound machine could not drown out the internal park muffler rumbles of locals going to work that started about 4:00 AM, the highway noise all day plus most of the night, and the 5:30ish AM train. We stayed here three nights based on reviews from other websites. Our opinion overall, this place is nothing special. However, it is a good overnighter and could be an option to explore the Reno area.

Shuttle to casino. Clean, plenty of space. Store. Close to gas station. Dog areas.

I live in Reno and this campground is a nearby escape from the hustle and bustle of Reno. Great hiking opportunities for the dog and peaceful sunsets by a campfire. A super, close spot to take the teardrop any time of the year.

If you like Bird Watching (or wildlife in general), Boating, Fishing, Hang Gliding, Paragliding, Equestrian Activities, Camping or BBQ's, or even history, then this is a place you might enjoy.

The lake and the surrounding area takes on a different appearance depending on the season you visit, and whether it's been a wet year or a dry one. Sometimes when it has been extremely dry, the larger of the 2 lakes dries up either partially or entirely, leaving the smaller one as a valuable water source for Wild Mustangs who live in the area. (which is a great opportunity for photographers).

When the larger lake bed dries up a little, it extends the hang gliding / paragliding landing zone. (take off point is up on the hill on Eastlake Blvd, which is also a good view point of the lakes).

During the wetter years, the larger lake fills up, allowing water activities such as boating to take place on both lakes, and provides you with the opportunity to bird watch at any of the wildlife viewing areas provided. The smaller lake also provides bird watching opportunities (Osprey and other birds of prey like to fish there) You can also fish at the smaller lake, just don't eat them, the area was once used for the processing mills during the mining boom.

Also if you are into wildlife, there is the occasional coyote hunting the area, owls, hawks, bald eagles, and if you want to see deer, take a little drive up Eastlake Blvd towards little Washoe Lake, and one of the fields on the right often has huge herds of Mule Deer, and the occasional wild horse. Talking of Wild horses, you are requested not to feed or harass the wild Mustangs anywhere in Nevada (Washoe lake park included). Horses can be defensive, especially when they have young foals. Also feeding them anything other than what they naturally eat in the wild, not only causes a high number of deaths in the herds, it also creates dangerous situations on the roadways when horses come to retrieve the food. (it can also cost you thousands of dollars in fines) There are people who regularly monitor the interaction visitors have with the horses. But if you want to interact with a horse, why not bring your own for a ride around too, people often bring their horses down for a trot around the grounds.

There are restrooms available throughout the park, and facilities for camping. It is a good place for dogs, though it is requested that you clean up after them. There are doggie clean up stations available, and containers for waste.

The land the park sits on was once owned by one of Nevada's wealthiest men Theodore Winters, who was a prominent businessman and politician in early Nevada history. He once owned some of the most famous racehorses in the world, and his cheese was world renown. His Ranch is still around, and you can find it located just on the other side of the lake (Old Route 395), not far from the Chocolate Nugget Candy Factory (which is great if you get a hankering for something sweet), and Old Washoe City.

The lake's history goes back even further than that, the area was once inhabited by the local tribes people, and before the early pioneer's came and settled here, they used hunt ducks on the lake, and fished here. There is probably still the odd chance you might come across old Native tools and arrowheads, but the State of Nevada does ask you to leave artifacts where they are found. Check the local and federal laws before attempting to remove anything.

It has some lovely sunsets here, the view can be spectacular at times and changes according to season and weather, and the wildlife seem to enjoy it. Nice place to go and hang out with family and friends, and if you happen to forget to bring anything, you are only a little drive from Carson City :)

We arrived after dark and it took a bit to find the right site as the numbers don’t stand out well and there are several hundred sites. We checked in at the front desk after office hours and the person who helped us was highly pleasant, however directiobs were limited. There is a sign pointing to the RV lot on the periphery of the parking lot. We appreciated the designated dog area filled with sandy gravel. The park itself is not anything special to look at. There isn’t much privacy or vegetation to speak of. It is a bit of a walk to get to the resort. We walked to the pool entrance which appeared to be the closest public access point from the park.

Extremely friendly RV Park manager. Made sure to point out all the park features and amenities. Once he heard I was a new RVer he put me in a spot that was easy to get in and out of.

This park has full hookups and free WiFi. I also had good service on my AT&T phone service. Park has restrooms and showers, as well as a dog run (sand/dirt) with chairs for the humans. Short walk across the parking lot is a gas station with small convenience store, and right next to that is the Casino. Small but with a great restaurant that cooked a really good steak.

Would definitely stay here again if I’m in the area!

This campground earns 4 stars because of its amazing privacy. First, it's quite an adventurous (read: bumpy) drive to get to it from the nearest paved road. Once you arrive, you'll be amazed at how much space there is between the sites. From most sites, you can scarcely see that there are other campsites around! Yet there are still vault toilets.

Lookout is oddly named; it's tucked deeply enough into the forest that it doesn't have much in the way of a view (though in fall, the numerous aspen are undoubtedly stunning).

This campground is dog friendly, with no one to enforce leash rules (if there are any). Since the separation between sites is so large, this doesn't seem to be much of an issue. Down off the mountain, both human and pooch alike can splash around in the Truckee River to cool off. There's excellent swimming right by the bridge.

Spent two nights here away from everything.  Snow on the surrounding mountains, giant white pelicans in the marshes.  We felt like immigrants crossing the Nevada desert in a covered wagon (actually our custom built Ram Promaster adventure van).  Great get away.