Looking for feedback on Eastern/Southern Nevada Parks

ttavasc · 02-14-2016, 11:56 PM

We'll be headed to Southern Nevada first part of April as the DW has a convention in Henderson. I was looking to stay at Valley of Fire State Park which is about an hour northeast of Henderson but have noticed that the Nevada State Parks don't take reservations and that looks like a pretty popular park. I'm wondering about the possibility of finding an open space on a first-come first-serve basis so I thought I'd see if anybody else has been through these areas in the early April time frame before and could comment on how busy things were.

We will be coming down US93 so I've got a couple of alternates a bit further north as well - Cathedral Gorge and Kershaw-Ryan. We've always had confirmed reservations in advance so this is a new twist for us.

Nukeneck · 02-16-2016, 06:28 AM

We stayed at VOF over the thanksgiving holiday. The campsites are first come first serve; however, we stayed in the group campground which you can reserve. If you've never been there, it's worth checking out, it's absolutely beautiful!!!. You may be able to get a site as long as you're not rolling in on a Friday. Good luck!

Seann45 · 02-16-2016, 07:56 AM

I will bet you will be able to get a site there on Monday.. as most will be just weekend camping...

ttavasc · 02-16-2016, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nukeneck

We stayed at VOF over the thanksgiving holiday. The campsites are first come first serve; however, we stayed in the group campground which you can reserve. If you've never been there, it's worth checking out, it's absolutely beautiful!!!. You may be able to get a site as long as you're not rolling in on a Friday. Good luck!

Whether or not we get a site there we'll definitely be spending some time there hiking. Our schedule is fixed as I need to drop DW off in Henderson for her convention on Monday, so we'll be rolling in late afternoon/early evening Sunday. Our youngest daughter is driving up from the Phoenix area to spend the week camping with me so we are juggling a couple of different things here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seann45

I will bet you will be able to get a site there on Monday.. as most will be just weekend camping...

This is what I'm hoping will happen. I've got a list of a few private places in the area as well. I talked to one of them today that's in Moapa. It sounded like even if they didn't have any open spots with hook-ups that we could probably dry-camp there. If we could do that for a day or two until something at VOF cleared out that would be great. I'll be calling them back middle of March to see how things are, but as of today they felt like they'd probably have a couple of hook-up spots open then. I guess with the high number of snow-birds some of these places have a hard time with short-term reservations.

There's also two or three Utah state parks that take reservations in the St. George area so I'll keep checking them for any openings due to cancellations. We added a second battery, a 2kW gennie and a portable waste tank to our gear over the winter so if we have to do a bit of dry-camping we should be fine as well.

Country_Mouse · 02-17-2016, 12:51 AM

We stayed at Lake Mead RV Village in Boulder City in November. A lakefront spot is the only way to go. Beautiful. Full hookups. Reservable! 5 min from Hoover Dam for some touristy stuff too.

Nukeneck · 02-17-2016, 07:21 PM

Country Mouse, looks like a nice clean place except there are no trees?!?!

Country_Mouse · 02-17-2016, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nukeneck

Country Mouse, looks like a nice clean place except there are no trees?!?!

Well it is the desert, lol. This time of year you're fine. When will you be there?

Next door at Boulder Beach campground there are trees but no hookups.

Nukeneck · 02-17-2016, 08:07 PM

We go to Valley of Fire during the Thanksgiving week. I'll have to check Lake Mead RV village out though. I like the fact that it's on the shoreline. With the large amount of snow pack this year, Mead should rise a bit

ttavasc · 02-20-2016, 06:29 PM

I went ahead and got a reservation for our first night at Lake Mead RV Village - Echo Bay location. It's close to Valley of Fire and I was told if we decided to stay longer that wouldn't be a problem. I think we'll stay the first two nights there and then see about moving up to Valley of Fire. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions!

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