Best RV Parks & Resorts near Ruby Valley, NV

The  Iron Horse RV Resort in Elko, NV is a real gem in the Nevada desert. It's on the main highway parallel to I-80 on the north end of town. You have to keep your eyes open on the right side to catch the entrance signage. The Resort is tucked down a private road. The office folks were very professional.

This RV Resort was extremely well kept and fairly quiet in the evening. Like many RV Resort these days, there are permanent or transient work related residents that are mostly out the perimeter sites.

All sites have concrete patios, flat and level packed gravel pads, picnic tables and full hookups. There are even a series of mini bungalows.

As you can see, Yoshi agrees!

We spent a night in hot August here in our Westfalia camping van. There are no tent sites but cabins and RV spots. Nice bathrooms, showers, a playroom with a ping pong table. The cabins looked attractive. It looked like a lot of people were there long-term. It really is more for RVers and those that want to stay in a cabin. I would recommend, except there is a train that goes by at least two times and blows its horn (this on a Saturday night). The coyotes in the middle of the night were wonderful but the trains weren’t. Also I had trouble getting on the internet with my iPhone 6–couldn’t connect to their WiFi.

Just like the next door campground of Coyote Cove, these shoreline campsites lack a lot of charm. But with your eyes constantly drawn to the Ruby Mountain's striking beauty, who needs anything more than the usual picnic table, sunshade, wind block screen, and fire ring. The pit toilets were clean and tidy, but there was no drinking water available at this campground.  

The Jet Ski Beach is a great beach for swimming, launching canoes, kayaks, small fishing boats, or personal watercraft. The boat launch and boat trailer parking lot is in the nearby Coyote Cove campground. The area offers opportunities for water sports of all kinds, hiking & mountain biking along many trails, or just sitting by the shore with a line in the water. Bird life is abundant in this area, with many species stopping along their migration route. We saw Loons, Dowitchers, White Pelicans, Coots and even the shy Hermit Thrush.  

The closest town with services is Spring Creek a short 12 miles away, a dozen more miles northwest is the city of Elko which has all the usual suburban amenities and big box stores and interstate 80 running through the middle of town. We had good mobile service and data throughout the campground. Showers, water and a dump station are available at the developed campground across the lake, though it is only open from Spring until Fall, depending upon weather conditions.

Along the south west side of South Fork reservoir, these functional spots carry all the charm of a dirt parking lot, but the views of the Ruby Mountains reflected in the lake will keep you coming back. Each site offers a picnic table, sunshade, wind block screen, and fire ring. The pit toilets were clean and tidy, but there was no drinking water available at this campground.  

The Coyote Cove is a great beach for swimming, and launching canoes and kayaks, or small fishing boats. The boat launch and boat trailer parking lot is on the south side of the campground. The area offers opportunities for water sports of all kinds, hiking & mountain biking along many trails, or just sitting by the shore with a line in the water. Bird life is abundant in this area, with many species stopping along their migration route. We saw Loons, Dowwitchers, White Pelicans, Coots, and even the shy Hermit Thrush.  

The closest town with services is Spring Creek a short 12 miles away, a dozen more miles northwest is the city of Elko which has all the usual suburban amenities. We had good mobile service and data throughout the campground. Showers, water and a dump station are available at the developed campground across the lake, though it is only open from Spring until Fall, depending upon weather conditions.

One of three campsites on a small reservoir outside of Elko. There weren’t many water craft on the water today, but it is October. It’s sunny, warm and breezy today, but the snow on the mountains are an indicator of what is to come. Simple sites on level lots, with a shade structure, picnic table, fire pit, bbq and right on the beach. Summer is much busier I’m sure. Pit toilets but no potable water so be sure to bring your own. Looking forward to the night sky and stars!

Later that night; the light pollution from the neighboring houses and from the town have made them less than wonderful. On a side note, there are feral cats here so don’t leave out anything they may want to eat. We caught one jumping out of the back of our teardrop where we had left some bread. Naughty kitty!

We rolled into Elko on a Saturday night and tried a few different RV parks that were either full up or overpriced. Gold Country had a spot available for $27 with AAA discount ($30 without) and it was either this or the Walmart parking lot. The two other RV places down the street were $50 a night.

All their 22 spaces are mainly in the back parking lot of the hotel and “back in” only - not pull through. We had a trailer so ideal. We ended up pulling into the space at night and then backing up and out of the spot in the morning.

I saw a security guard walking the grounds at night while i was waking my pup and it did help me feel a bit more secure since we were hauling a uhaul trailer.

Bathrooms were dated but seemed clean. We decided not to shower in then tho. We were almost to our destination and they were a bit too... something. Two stalls, two showers in the ladies room.

The lot we were next to looked like they had been there a while as they had a whole yard setup with fencing for their small dogs and potted plants. Some local flavor.

Wifi was for hotel guests only, not the RV folks.