Best Tent Camping near Pioche, NV

As with many of the other NV state parks, this campground offers covered picnic tables, flushable toilets and free showers. There are fire rings and grills for cooking at each site. The sites are good size for tent camping and most have tent pads that are level. The abundance of trees gives each site plenty of privacy although there were only 4 other campers there when we visited. There is easy access to the bathroom and the rservoir is only a short walk away.

Campground Review: Cathedral Gorge State Park is a beautiful spot of geologic mystery. When you are driving in, you will wonder what the appeal is initially and then BAM! The first small cathedral formation shows up on your right and you are awestruck. You head off to the campground where you are greeted with a large pile of firewood for sale, an intro sign and pay kiosk, and plenty of campsites. Granted it was late December in the middle of the week but I was basically the only person in the entire campground. There was one other RV there but it was very quiet and calm at the site. The sites were mostly level but were rocky dirt so tent camping would have been a bit tricky. Each site has a picnic table, fire pit, and shelter over the table. There were free hot showers on the main campground side and the water was very hot and the bathrooms were heated too. Flushing toilets and sinks were well maintained. 

The amphitheater is right next to the bathroom and in between sites so if there is an event happening there it might be loud for the closest sites. The group sites are across the road from the main campground so they are easily accessed by the other site. In the group site there are single stall bathrooms and more showers but they took money. I didn’t see a sign for how much they cost. 

There is also a handicap campsite next to the bathrooms on level paved ground so it would be best for van or RV camping. 

There is a trail that you can take straight to the main attraction of the park, the caves. They were absolutely stunning. It was so much fun to play in all the slots and explore on your own. They aren’t super long so it would take a lot to get lost. But be careful, it is crumbly and slippery in snow. I ended up hiking from the campground all the way up to Miller’s Point lookout and back in about an hour. It was a great spot to check out for sunset. I was solo out there so I was able to really appreciate the beauty of the park and the creation of the formations. You can see the rock formations in all stages of life. It’s a great spot to hike, bike, and play. 

**Travellers Autobarn Kuga Campervan Review(Cooking): **While out volunteering over a week for the Audubon Bird Counts, I was able to evaluate the AWESOME Kuga campervan. Check it out: https://www.travellers-autobarnrv.com/campervan-rv-rentals/kuga-campervan/

Since I was gone for 7 days, I broke my evaluation up into sections where the most important features of the van were utilized. If you want to see the rest, check out my reviews for Pahranagat Wildlife Refuge, Cathedral Gorge State Park, Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge, Desert Wildlife Refuge, and Big Dune Recreation Area. 

This company is awesome, they come from Australia and New Zealand and we are super excited to have a truly affordable rental camper van in the United States! You can rent out different sizes and get an array of gear with them. This is perfect for music festivals, road trips, and for camping in extreme weather. 

• Cooking: In order to cook in the van you will need to get out of the van and turn on the propane tank. It’s a good idea to leave the door to the tank open too for extra ventilation. This makes it a bit frustrating when you have to keep going in and out to open and shut the door/turn it on and off but that is campervan life. You will also need to open the top vent(and maybe even the fan) when you are cooking. When you get ready to take off, you will need to shut all the open doors and top vent so it doesn’t get caught on anything or taken in the wind. You will need to pay for the propane tank to be refilled or prepay for the tank before you leave. 
• Water: There is a 14 gallon tank on board and I didn’t even come close to using it all on my 7 day trip. There is a switch you will need to turn on in order to activate the pump. Make sure you turn it off at night so the pump doesn’t freeze! There is not a garbage disposal in the sink so make sure your plates are scraped off before you wash them. Don’t put garbage down the sink. It is only cold water for dishes so you will need to boil some water and fill the sink in order to scrub dishes properly. I used the sink for storage of clean and drying dishes when I was travelling too. You will need to empty the tank when you are done. It is easy flip open of a toggle underneath the edge of the van. 
• Food storage: There is plenty of counter space but no way to keep the food from moving around so with the cabinets filled with gear, I had to do some rearranging to get food stored in there too. The fridge was totally big enough for what I needed for my trip(lunch meat, cheese, dips, condiments, beer, and veggies). I even had some ice cream and whiskey in the freezer. It stayed nice and cold due to being run by the solar panels. The microwave is run off external power so you will need to be connected to an electrical outlet in order to use it. The cables are supplied in the van.

As a tent camper, this place is well manicured and most tent pads are level. I prefer Echo Canyon campground to this neighboring site, but due to the lack of water at the Echo Canyon Reservoir, we decided to come here instead because we drove 3 hours.

Time of the year: July 13-16, 2022

Cost to camp: $15 per night

Reservations: First come

Site: 21. Around noon, the sun exposes the west side of the shade structure. So, remember to move your coolers as the sun moves throughout the day. This site is located at the very end of the entire loop. It is nestled up against the mountain, where you could possibly hike it, but it was too hot. There are no water spigots at the site, but 2 sites down there is a community water spigot and the flushable toilets. There is a fire pit only, so bring additional cooking gear if you don’t want to cook on the grill grate on the fire pit.

Restrooms and showers: Yes, to both. However, the showers are in the lower campsite area.

Water: There are community spigots throughout.

Firewood: I didn’t see firewood for a donation.

Handicap accessible: Yes, there were a few.

Stargazing: it was cloudy and it rained for 3 nights.

Fishing: Yes. We tried at 6am, 1 pm, and 7pm, but we didn’t catch much. There was an occasional catch by others, but it wasn’t what I remembered. Worms and green Powerbait were the winners of the season.

Bugs and such: Tons of flys at this time of the year. You must have bug repellent!

Temperature: Rain wasn’t forecasted, but during the day is was about 75 and 67 at night.

Other: If you need to get ice, drinks or food, there is a store and bar to get additional supplies. The neighboring town, Pioche, had a small grocery store and 2 gas stations if you need them.

Overall, clean campsites, but too warm. I’d go back in the spring.

One of the best hidden gems in Nevada! Great camping with clean restrooms and well maintained campgrounds. Plenty of good trails nooks and crannies to explore.

Highly recommended!!

I happened upon this campground by accident and so happy about it. There is a sign warning that the grounds are not suitable for RV or trailers so it's perfect for tent campers wanting to get away from that. The campground is set just off the highway leading to Spring Valley State Park. It is a small campground but is surrounded by untouched natural beauty. All of the sites have picnic tables (not covered), fire pits and grills for cooking. The sites are pretty good sized and set far enough away from each other to give plenty of privacy. There are tent pads at some sites but all sites seemed level and spacious. There's easy access to the bathrooms. Bring in your water as there is no access.

This campground has super small sites that are close together and offer little to no "camp privacy". I would say that this is more of an RV/trailer friendly campground than tent-friendly. There are tent pads at a couple of the sites. Each site offers fire rings, grills and covered picnic tables. There is flushable toilets and free showers available which is super nice.

The more we explored this park, the more awesome things we found. Close to the day use area, there is a horseshoe pit and a very nice volleyball court. There are a couple short hikes super close to the campground also, that offer beautiful views of the fall foliage. I highly suggest visiting this in the Fall as the colors were amazing.

Nice little campground located in the Cathedral Gorge State Park in Eastern central Nevada. Sites are first come first serve. Each has Electrical hook ups, but no sewer/dump facilities. Bathrooms have running water and a shower which is very nice. The hiking trails are great and provide lots of exploring on the Cathedral Gorge.

Steve, the “Happy Camper”

If you need to throw up a tent and wake up before dawn to go fishing this is the place. Enjoy some of the darkest and clearest night sky. Enjoy being along the shore with a fishing pole and pulling in some trout. And no need to build a latrine, there is a fully functioning bathroom at the camp grounds.

This was our second Nevada State park campground and it was just as immaculate as the first. The sites were level, groomed, and not a speck of trash to be found. Great Verizon service, no ATT. We didn’t use the bathroom because of covid, but based on the cleanliness of the rest of the place, it was probably perfect. The park is nice, definitely worth a day’s visit. This campground would make a good base for exploring more state parks nearby.

We had site #6 - campground was not crowded, lots of empty spots. Easy walk to the reservoir. Large area for a tent, a centrally located fire ring and bbq. Each site had a nice covered table. We did have to kill a couple black widows that had setup shop under the table. And day 2 we fought some tiny little gnats that left some nasty bite marks on both of the dogs. bring bug spray in future All that did not put a damper on our visit. Bathrooms were an easy walk, and clean. The little library was great and had a nice selection and the Family had no problems catching fish (10 bass & 1 crappie) on this visit. We will be back.

Nice and quiet campground in an interesting state park. We went for site #4, which was in the interior part of the single-loop campground. The bathrooms were a short walk over a hill shortcut or you could walk the campground loop road to them.

Bathrooms are clean with a single shower. I had no problem with hot water, but the campground was not busy on the Monday after Fourth of July and it was hot out. It was nice to be able to get off the dust!

We had checked out another site on the outside part of the loop (#12, if I remember correctly) and it had a nice tent space, but ours could easily fit two small tents and possibly up to three if you did not have a fire.

There was an electrical hookup box, but the regular plug-ins were blocked, so we were unable to use it to charge our phones. (There was like a plastic insert blocking the plugs.) I didn't have an RV-style plug to try.

People were good about turning off their generators at 10pm.

There are a few trails that go off from the campground to explore the local area and its slot canyons. A nice afternoon excursion if you have the time. Pretty flat trails, though the one we took had been washed out in places. Just follow the trail posts up the dry stream beds in those parts and you'll be fine.

Beware of flash flooding in this region. I know the campground was caught in a flash flood in July of 2018 because of video online, so just be aware of that. From the news coverage, this does not seem to be a common event.

I would definitely come back to this campground.

There are natural springs and the flora is gorgeous!!! The short overlook trail is absolutely stunning. Our trip was in Fall so the colors were amazing. We camped for only one night but had a good visit and plan to return since this is a very nice place. This is a small first come, first serve campground with electric hookups, restrooms, and more. Each site has a picnic table, BBQ, and fire pit. The picnic table has shade and there are trees around the campground. There are showers but I didn't use them to verify they work well or are warm. There are water spouts, for use but not to hookup. There is a dump station at the park entrance but no sewer hookups. We got the last spot in the campground, it fills up quickly and people came after us who had to leave to find another place. Lesson: arrive early in the day probably between 10am-1pm will get you a spot. The campground is at the park entrance and is 0.8 miles from the main park area where the playground, wading pool, grassy areas, and most trail heads are. That main area is also where you will find maps and the stamp to use on your Nevada state parks passport. When we came the wading pool was empty. But I guess during summer it's a nice refreshing place for children to play. There are two spots to play horse shoes and one for volleyball. The playground equipment is old but usable. Cellular service is better up at the main park area than at the campground but the campground does offer wifi for a fee. Just outside the state park is a grazing area with cows and just past that is the railroad- you may hear the train from your campsite. We liked that but I'm sure some people wouldn't. Animals in the area we saw: turkey, rabbits, kangaroo rats, frogs, and various butterflies. The camping price is$15 per night without hookups,$25 with hookups OR if you get the state park all access pass then camping is free and you just pay$10 for the hookups if you use them. Read up on the Nevada State Park website for more details.

Spring Valley has meadows camping, horsetheif gulch, an overflow for campers and a ranch campground.

While we were camping the Ranch campground was closed down, not sure if it opens when the other campsites fill up so they make sure people have a place but not really sure, all we know is when we were there it was closed.

There was a cool log cabin also closed due to covid so once again not sure....

anyway, such a neat little trail that you can drive up and see the ranger station and the cattle along the side of the roads.

These campsites are big and can fit RVs and tents.

electric hookups available.

A community library is available and tables.

each site is covered and has tables and grills. 

all the roads are gravel.

The lake has great trout to catch and hours of fun in your small vessel.

Bird watching at its finest and deer running through.

There is no phone service 

Family-friendly camping for sure and the rangers come by regularly.

I want to start off by saying I was never able to check with a park ranger and ask how the overflow camping is technically supposed to work but here was my experience. I arrived at the campground around 5pm on a Friday night and everything was full. After driving around for a bit I saw signs for Overflow camping. There appeared to be two sections where overflow camping is permitted. I will post pictures of the one I stayed in over by the slot canyons and day use areas. Since my setup does not require a tent and is super easy to move around. I was able to use the camp fire rings at the day use area for dinner, s’mores, and star gazing. It was actually lovely because the noise of the busy campground was far away and I had the entire day use area to myself. Then after I put my fire out I drove back over to the overflow parking spot. If you are in a Van or similar car/suv setup this may be an option for you if the campground is full. Also, I was still able to use the showers at the campground and use the bathrooms at the day use area so that was nice :)

We spent three days/two nights. We got to campground around 10am. Their was a few people already setup. They have hookups for RVs and campers. A few spots for handicap accessible. They remolded the first bathroom. Two showers and four bathrooms. Shower is fancy, it has a rain shower faucet. Bathrooms are cleaned every morning.

We camped in spot 27. It easily fit two tents. Close to second bathrooms, not close you can Enough to hear people coming and going. All sites come with a fire ring and covered table. I noticed a cleanup crew come in and rake the area and clean up every site.

10pm is quiet time. No generator after or loud music after 10a.

Ranger comes by frequently. I saw a sign that They put out fire wood every morning. I didn’t noticed. We took 4 bundles of firewood. Sign was posted that no campfires were allowed. I saw quite a few campfires burning. Gas propane were allowed.

The reservoir was maybe 4 mins walking. Was very close depending on where you were. We were in the back so it took a little longer. The hookup sites were in the front mostly.

Plenty of places to sit and fish. It was stocked With rainbow trout.

Happy Camping

Whipple cave is located 3 hours from Las Vegas, heading north. Coordinates to the cave can be found here: latitude 38.48909 longitude 115.01829

Once you get to the Whipple cave access road, pass the wire fenced gate located on the right hand side. Here, you will drive on a dirt road for about 2 miles. A 4w drive is highly encountered. You won’t be able to make the drive in a sedan. You will see the trailhead at the end of the road.

You can camp here for the night. There’s fire pits available throughout, it’s a very secluded area so you will not run into other people or crowds. Just an FYI, it gets pretty windy at night. Dog friendly! No reservation required, free to camp!

The cave is located a couple minutes away, up the mountain. You will see signs for it. You can enter the cave by rappelling down 70 feet. Once at the bottom, you can embark on a 2 mile spelunking adventure!!! You will need a 165 ft rope and headlamps to accomplish this adventure as well as technical rope-climbing skills.

Was excited to finally make it to this lake. First, the camping sites are spaced out and each has a water access point. Plenty of shade on almost all sites. Staying near the top will give you easy access to the trails. Secondly, the sad sad sad lake....the water was sooooooo low, muddy all around the shores and lots of thick water vegetation that it would be near impossible to fish without breaking your fishing lines, let alone catch anything. Only 3 campsites occupied on the weekend.

The water-level now is high.

Nice campsites might be a little muddy if it has rained.  A couple of nice hikes with lots to see.  We had plenty of wildflowers to add to the beauty of the unique geology.  Campsites were somewhat close together.  Sun shades. tables, and fire rings at the sites.  Water available with a dump station down the road.  Bathrooms with showers were clean.

This was our first stop on our two week excursion. It was first come, first serve. Thankfully we got a spot with electric and water. There are showers here. It was too cold to check them out,(the shower on our conversion van is tiny) bathrooms are nice and clean and plentiful. Go see the slot canyons and moon caves. Several trails in the park. Well worth it.

General: 24 sites, all with 50-amp electric hookups, a covered picnic table, and grill (two are ADA accessible). There are also several “overflow” spaces with no hookups and two group sites (there were AmeriCorps volunteers in these sites when we were there). The only sites that are reservable are the group sites. 

Site Quality: All are level, and the surface is gravel. Some are pull-through, some back-in, and some can easily accommodate two vehicles. Many were a bit close together with minimal foliage separating them. If you can get it, IMO the best site is 14; it has unobstructed views on one side. 

Bath/Shower: Basic but clean. Shelves for toiletries and small but noisy hand dryers, but NO soap. One shower looked okay but didn’t use it. 

Activities: Explore the slot canyons! These narrow canyons cut deep into the old muds that millions of years ago were at the bottom of the lake. Exploring these was so much fun! There are also six hiking trails, ranging in distance from .5 mile to 6 miles. We hiked to Miller’s Point, taking the steep stairs others have mentioned. If you want to go but don’t want to hike, you can drive - there is a parking lot at the top! 

We had been apprehensive that the campground would be full but on a Tuesday at the end of March, it was only one-third full, making our stay peaceful and quiet (it might be a different story if the campground was full). We had planned to spend two nights here but the second day was forecasted to bring rain, wind, and snow so we decided to find a campground in less inclement weather.