Water Canyon Recreation Area

Dirt road leading up the canyon. Sites are scattered along the road and river. The road is close but very little traffic. Might need some leveling in some sites.

Thought we would be solo but discovered we were a part of the many. Just 6 minutes off I-80 this dispersed spot was active. Every spot full by sundown and saw constant traffic (on a dirt road) until sundown. The views are breathtaking, there’s a bathroom AND a trash bin (yay!!) plus the short (.6 mile) trail/walkway by the creek was perfect to stretch our legs. For a quick, free overnight stay it was perfect.

Stayed here in May. Loved the smell of the cottonwoods (the source of the sticky that people mentioned).

Camping for up the three nights in 30 days is allowed. This was a roadside pull off close to a little stream.

The road was busy throughout the night and morning. I arrived at 10:30pm and got one of the last two spots on a weekday. I had two other people walk through my site and had BLM stop and leave me a note (so don’t expect solitude at all). I did not feel in danger here but didn’t feel totally safe either given the amount of traffic and the proximity to town.

Good enough boondocking spot for a couple nights and close to services. Loves has decent but older showers.

The little ball park in town has nice grassy areas and good service for video calls. Poor cell service at camp, 1 bar on Verizon, not enough for texts for me.

We have stayed here three nights over a year, once in a snowstorm. We had a great time every time. I second the warning about the sticky stuff in early May. It’s impressively persistent on dog paws and the bottom of shoes, and stains floors and whatever we and the dogs walk on. I also wanna mention that this last stay a neighboring camper told us they had seen a mountain lion roaming on the hill 100 feet from their campsite.

I’m so happy I found this little gem. It doesn’t have a lot of spots but the spots are spaced out along the creek and it’s so pretty.

Easy to find and really pretty with amenities. First come first serve so get there early!

My original review was because I lost my earbuds. But since I found them 🤦‍♀️.. I am just going to say I loved this site!

Up out of the dust. Nice level site near creek. Small creek and trail that follow it as well as trails that go up the hill. Toilets and garbage cans

Free camping for up to three nights here and it’s beautiful! Lots of trails to hike around and a creek running through some of the spots. First come first serve but I got there late evening on a week day and was able to get a spot.

It was Mormon Cricket season, so that was weird. They were everywhere, but they were chill. The deer were fun to watch, as well as the cows across the street. The road is a little busy (off road vehicles whizzing by) but there are lots of places to pull off with picnic tables and fire pits by the water.

This wonderful 10 large spot free camp has a 9 hole disk course. The course has legit "tee pads" and manicured "greens" around each basket. But. .. the rest of the course is wild rough, I had to shoot for the 4' wide trail to avoid loosing my disks

10 sites well separated along the dirt road. Most will fit 25' rvs, a few will take larger rigs. Pit toilets, picnic tables, fire pits, BBQ grills, vault toilets and trash pick up! And did I mention it's free! AND. A Legit 9 hole disk golf course. Way to much rough, you'll spend a bit of time looking for disks unless your very good.

We loved our overnight here, we got here on a Tuesday afternoon around 5pm and were able to get a good, spacious site for our 28 foot TT without detaching it, win-win! Site 7 that was, by the river (20ish steps away). Peace and quiet plus the river sound! Also saw a deer jumping through the bushes near our site, quite marvelous.

Rolled in at night....got my pick of camp sites. Not too cold, but awesome morning view

What an amazing camp site! Free, 3 nights, and by a creek. Unreal sunset. Super clean and sites are huge for big rigs (easy turn around)! Dirt road is an easy drive. We will absolutely be back!

This location reminded me of a county park. Maybe I'm jaded for spending too much time in the outback doing disperse camping. This reminded me of a lot of county parks in California. I looked at campsite 9 which was one of the better sites, and not much in the way of excitement came to mind. The creek was a minimal trickle, and lots of flies. It was hot and mucky and I decided to not camp out here and drive two hours north into Oregon and back to the wild. The positive about this location is the other campers who all wave when you drive by. That is nice hospitality.

We had a lovely stay! Close to the mountains and water. Don’t worry while leaving the road. Just drive straight on. Be aware of all the locusts -) there were a lot of them … I mean a lot

This campsite felt like a little oasis after driving two days in the desert. The creek cools down the temperature a lot and the trees provide some relief from the scorching sun. There aren't very many sites, but they're fairly big and apart from each other.

Not too far from town which is good. Campgrounds are right next to a creek so you can get your feet a little wet. Each campsite is very large.

This camping area was easy to get to in a small car, seemed well kept, and overall was a good place for an overnight camping trip. 

EXCEPT the sticky stuff on the ground from the trees. It matted up on my dogs paws and all over their fur, it does not come out with soap and water hardly and it stained the white parts of their fur. It also does not come off my shoes, even after scrubbing. It’s all over everything!!!

I know- sounds nit picky, but I was surprised no one mentioned this so I decided I would to save some other travelers who are tent camping with dogs. If I was in a truck or a van or something, maybe not a problem, but I don’t recommend for tent campers.

Really clean and well put together campgrounds. Has tables and fire pits around each site. There’s options between single camper sites to larger group sites. I stayed initially at a group site but realized some of the larger pull offs had people driving in during the day so I switched to a single campsite for more privacy. The only downside I have is that the sites are pretty close to the main road, but otherwise they are good.

Got lucky, rolled in about 5pm and got the last of about 10 shady, free campsites. It's a lovely tree-lined stream, what a relief from the day of Nevada desert. Don't believe the Dyrt directions (Sept 2021) as they lead you to a suburban cul-de-sac. Just Google Water Canyon and go there.

Heading south to Vegas from Bend OR and stopped in Winnemuka NV. This is. BLM managed spot. Free with fire pits tables and bathrooms. Most spots not level- but free! Good places for quick hike and saw several deer

I loved how far apart the campgrounds were. You can’t see or hear other campers, which makes you feel really isolated and gives you the full outdoor experience. There was a native plant garden, and we saw many hummingbirds and butterflies. Very peaceful spot.

We pulled off I 80 at around 7:30 on a Friday night, we found the last open site out of 13 official sites. They are first come first serve. A few other people pulled up later and just slept in their cars down the road.

We had a few dogs with no issues. The tent spot was a little sloped but not too bad.

The sites have picnic tables and a firepit and grill area.

Next time we will get there earlier to have more options for available sites.

This was a handy stop over on the 80, easy access to campsites along a small stream. It’s just outside Winnemucca, which boasts a full range of services and stores such as Walmart. Will keep this location saved for future use when traveling through the area

We stopped here on our way through NV. We had a travel trailer and didn’t go all the way into what I think is a prettier part is the area. Most sites seem to have turnaround or drive through access but we didn’t look at all of them. site 3, is where we stayed. Nice picnic tables but it was too sunny to sit there past noon. It was next to the pit toilet so the smell did waft over. Pretty sunset but BOY was it hot and sunny. The other sites seemed to have a cooler climate and were closer to the creek, but didn’t have a view. I would stop Over again but be more adventurous and seek out a better cooler spot, closer to the creek. Site 5 looks really cool.

Stopped here with my dog for one quick night in early May because my travel plans changed suddenly. Didn't make a fire. Beautiful sunset. For a free spot that's super close to I-80, it was great! The creek gave some nice white noise and there weren't too many bugs--except for the half dozen crickets/grasshoppers I woke up to on my tent!

Sites are off the dusty gravel road, relatively far apart. Some are huge and could accommodate 4 cars and a large camper others are just a small parking along the road. The 2 left when I arrived were very uneven. But the sound of the creek under my window is so relaxing. On this 97 degree day, it was also 10 degrees cooler.