Cathedral Gorge State Park Campground

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”

Very Unique location

This was a nice campsite. The sites are arranged in a circle and there are clean restrooms available. They were just a short walk from our campsite. They campground is first come/first serve and you will have to fill out a form upon arrival that goes on he dashboard of your vehicle for the duration of your stay. The park rangers did come around and check all license plate tags/registration forms. The hiking around cathedral Gorge is fairly easy, and the scenery is beautiful. We heard a pack of coyotes pretty close to the campground throughout the night, but they didn't disturb anyone. They also sell firewood in bundles at the campground. It's kind of the honor system, and make sure you bring cash for payments. 

clean facility, paved campsites 

I don't understand how this isn't more popular. The geography here is unlike any I've seen anywhere else and my girlfriend and I were essentially the only people out there, with the exception of two other couples utilizing campers. Well, in addition to the ranger who informed us the temperaturewould drop into the high teens, being that we ventured here back in March. There was wood offered to campers, based on an honor system where you paid for the amount one needed. The ranger we spoke with was extremely nice and informative. The best part was the bathrooms which were impeccably spotless. Avoid the crowds that National parks get and enjoy this gorgeous campsite/hiking area!

Remote, just the way camping should be

We stopped here on a road trip last year. We were just passing through and saw a sign for a campground and decided to camp for the night. The campground is a little oasis in the desert, with just a few sites situated among small trees and scrubby plants. The night we stayed - on a weekday in July, there were just three other campsites being used.

What we noticed right away, before we even started exploring the park, was that the wildlife was super tame. The jackrabbits and lizards came right into our campsite to check us out, and there were birds singing everywhere - not what we expected from a desert landscape. We hiked the short trail over to the cathedral area. The sun was setting and we were greeted by a family of desert foxes. We didn't get to close to them, but they were super curious about us and wanted to investigate. The babies were running in and out of the labyrinth of rock pillars and caverns. It was the cutest thing ever. We didn't stay long because we didn't want to disturb them.

The next morning we hiked the main trail to an overlook, which was really awesome. We left before the sun got too hot. I'm not sure this park would be a great destination for a vacation, because you can pretty much see all there is to see in a few hours, but it is a beautiful clean campground for an overnight, and I will definitely stop by again if I'm in the area. Also, I hear the star gazing is amazing here. It was cloudy night we arrived.

Awesome Place for an Overnight

Very clean well stocked REAL bathrooms with flushing toilets, sink and Mirror.  Shower available.  (I didnt use it, but heard from someone in our group that it was coin operated, and he was very pleased with length of shower and temperature).  Campsite had a fire pit, trash cans, and covered table with lights that come on at night.  Campground is in walking distance to all of the amazing sites and things to explore.    The rangers were very nice, informative and helpful.  They spent quality time with our group givjng us ideas on what to see and do to get the most bang for our time there.

Super Clean and Quiet

This campground is super busy in the fall. We arrived at approx 3 pm and there were only 3 sites available. Within the next 20 minutes, the entire campground was full. The next day, as people left, people filled the spots. The sites are really small and close together. There are fire rings at every site, but grills at about half of them. Our site didn't have a grill, but we managed ok. The awesome thing about this campground is that there are electric hookups at every site, which was very convenient for charging the phone, iPad and charge box! Wifi is available for a small fee which was awesome also! The bathrooms were very clean and heated, and even had a free shower!

The nature hike to the slit canyons was super short and the kids loved exploring the caves!

Small, busy campground surrounded by beautiful landscapes

Walk ups only no reservation I came into this campground around 4pm on a Friday in July a little worried about finding a spot. When I arrived I was relieved to see more than half of the sites were open. Easy pay system $15 to camp clean bathroom and a shower!! Which you may need if you plan on hiking it gets pretty hot but we enjoyed our shaded picnic table. Nights were cool a must see the caves were magnificent great stop on the 93. Do it!

Wonderful sunset

**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/](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.

Ranger Review: Kuga Campervan at Cathedral Gorge State Park

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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skM6RmPwVN4), so just be aware of that. From the [news coverage](http://www.lccentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/lcr-7-27-18.pdf), this does not seem to be a common event.  
  
I would definitely come back to this campground.

Quiet Desert Campground in the Heart of Cathedral Gorge

Ok so where do I begin... after reading the reviews raving about how amazing this place was, i couldn’t wait to check this place out!! And it turns out I can definitely agree with how breathtaking these little Cathedral sand, rock creations are... how in complete awe struck I was with how Mother Nature is the baddest bishh ever!!! On a side note When you first pull in there is a pull through dump station anyway back to what I was saying lol... After driving through this amazing state park 
we took our kiddos through the moon caves and the walls were ice cold, some places get very small but I’m a plus size mama and fit right in with a little tuck of the gut.. a really neat experience for our children and we had so much fun turning corners and finding our way back to the start. When I walked out the caves I touched the sand and it was the softest sand/dirt I have ever touched. 

A really lovely place for sure. 

The reason I gave this camp site a 4 is because I’m not liking having to pay for showers when you are already paying for a camp spot and to get into the campsite... I mean sure it’s just a few quarters and super convenient but not sure why there even charging for that.. anyway with that being said bring quarters if you like to shower!! Also they were clean, not as clean as some other places but decent for sure! Also majority of campsites had hook ups, water near by and they all had tables and awnings, with lantern holders which I really thought was cool. They do have a nice group camp area with horseshoe areas so bring your horseshoes and tether ball... I haven’t played tether ball in so long it was cool for sure to do that with my son. 
But really well kept, desert landscaped, camp spots. 

Carpe diem.. thanks 

Camping in a stunning surrounding

Came into the park late Saturday afternoon. All hookup spots were taken but dry camping is no issue for us. Utilized the overflow camping area. Great hikes and found nearby atv trails for our side by side. Much needed weekend getaway! 

Beautiful views and peaceful stay 

This place was awesome.  Stayed 2 nights after driving in from Utah. All sites were spacious and most had shade for the most part.  Just depends on what day.  Place was nearly empty the entire time.  Had pull thru and back in sites for rvs. Site 4 was perfect, as it had lots of shade in the late afternoon.  Easy to access the water tower and walking trails to the gorges. Electric hookup only.  There are plenty of water sites throughout but none to hook up to rig. Down the road 20 mins at Kershaw Ryan state park,  they have electric and water hookups for each campsite.  

Electric hookup and close trails 

If you need a breather from Vegas, this is a great weekend trip!  Great hiking trails and awesome views!  Dog friendly!  Restrooms and showers are clean!  So many state parks in the area!  Hour or less from Echo Canyon SP, Beaver Dam SP,  Spring Valley SP, and Kershaw-Ryan SP.  Town of Panaca is 15 minutes away if you need more ice or groceries. 

Great weekend getaway!

What a surprise?  Nice, small campground. Electrical hookup in all sites.  Note that there are free showers at the restrooms in the campsite.  The other facility nearby charges for showers.  Fire rings and large shade structures over picnic tables. Plenty of room for parking extra vehicles.  The formations in the park are fun to explore.

Great mud/rock formations to explore

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 :)

Overflow Camping

Quite clean and flat sites. Only had power but had nice and clean bathrooms with handicapped showers. Completely ADA accessible. I was even able to drive close enough to some of the rock formations in the day use area that I could walk up with my cane to feel them and get a photo. 

Amazing rock formations

Sites are a bit small &amp; close together but it’s spotless. Heated bathrooms with free showers. Overflow camping along the road to the group camp &amp; picnic area. 

Hidden Gem

We have a 36’ Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and stayed in site 23 for 3 days in early May. The CG is 1st come, 1st served, and very small, just 22 sites- some sites are small and some will accommodate larger RVs. All of the sites were occupied when we arrived, but there are two dry overflow areas you find out about after cruising the CG, and two ADA sites that can be occupied if all of the other sites are taken(Last to Fill rule), so we ended up in one of those. We try not to use ADA sites, but didn’t really have any other options. The CG and overflow areas stayed full while we were here, even mid-week. There are 2 showers in the bathhouse by the ADA sites, which are coin operated, so have a quarter ready for each 5 minutes, but you’ll lose the first minute waiting for the water to get acceptably hot. Not sure if the other bathhouse is coin operated too or not. The shower spray is acceptable, but the nozzle could stand some cleaning to produce a better spray. There are a couple of nice trails in the park as well. 

  

AT&amp;T coverage was marginal, with 2-3 Bars of 5GE service, but speeds only up to about 0.8 MB/s. There were only a few tall trees, but none obscuring our view to the North or SW, so we were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. We didn’t use the CG WiFi as we had an unobstructed view to the North and so had great Starlink coverage, with speeds up to 18 MB/s. We didn’t try the OTA antenna.

Nice, clean, small, quiet CG nestled in amongst some interesting geology

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. 

Peaceful

**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.