Valley of Fire State Park

[davidmurphy02]

Looking into a visit to Valley of Fire in an upcoming spring trip, I've heard that mentioned a lot by others and looks like a great place to see. All the campsites are first come / first served, looking for tips from any of you who have stayed there in recent times how hard it was to get a spot. Looks like there are some dispersed camping areas not far away at the north end of Lake Mead where we could spend the night and be close to Valley of Fire to arrive early next morning to get a spot.

Also, any feedback on Snow Canyon State Park in Utah? That's another spot we have never visited that looks interesting.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Looking into a visit to Valley of Fire in an upcoming spring trip, I've heard that mentioned a lot by others and looks like a great place to see. All the campsites are first come / first served, looking for tips from any of you who have stayed there in recent times how hard it was to get a spot. Looks like there are some dispersed camping areas not far away at the north end of Lake Mead where we could spend the night and be close to Valley of Fire to arrive early next morning to get a spot.

Also, any feedback on Snow Canyon State Park in Utah? That's another spot we have never visited that looks interesting.

Valley of Fire is my favorite Nevada park. The serviced sites are tough to get in - I don't have any easy solution other than to watch for folks leaving as you cruise the loop, and arrive early. There is a primitive section that often has more available sites. Be prepared for wind!

Some photos from my visits - Valley of Fire

[Perry Butler]

Two years ago we stayed at Echo Bay at Lake Mead for a week in January. Very few campsites were occupied. We had a fantastic site facing the south for great solar. On one day we drove to Valley of Fire and had a great time. All the sites were taken and were told they were hard to get. In 2023, we plan to go back to Lake Mead and spend a day at Valley of Fire again.

As you know we hike, and found many great hikes in the area.

Enjoy,

Perry

[IanC]

We stayed at Valley of Fire in 2018. There were two campgrounds as I recall. The western campground was far nicer than the east one, with some really great sites amongst the rock formations at the back of the campground. Arriving late in the day, everything was taken, so we stayed at Echo Bay for one night, then swooped in early the following day to grab a fabulous site that was opening up. Lots of nearby hikes and sightseeing.

[Greg and Kathy]

Hi David, the sites are FCFS. it is a very beautiful park with awesome hikes.the Prospector trail and the Pinical trail are the best although the wave trail is beautiful as is white dome. we have spent 3 stays there at 2 weeks each. there is lots of Boon docking just on the lake mead side of the valley of fire area. Stewarts Landing has lots of space and then you can drive in early in the morning and find a site that is opening up. we lucked in each time and got the same site each time #8, but that was with a trailer not a fifth wheel. not sure the 5.0 will kneel low enough to get level but if it does you have awesome privacy and dark Skys. text me on FB Messenger and I can give you other info. Greg Clarke I am on the Escape FB Page.

[saguarocat]

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We just returned from Snow Canyon SP, absolutely loved it. Stayed in #25 with plenty of room for our 17b and truck. The campground has a dump station that is easy to access and many water spigots around the park.


The sites along the rock wall seemed closed-in to us due to the vegetation. Those had a very long pad. Site 16a had a 15b and seemed nice, secluded. There are also a number of side-by-side full hookup sites that we avoided.


We liked our site, but beware of the mice. Had one spend the night in our cab before we deployed our mouse deterrents.



We had fun hiking the park's trails (Hidden Pinyon, Petrified Sand Dunes, Lava Rock, White Sands) and I wish I'd brought our road bikes. CG host doesn't sell wood, but he'll have a recommendation nearby in St George.


I believe sites 24 and 26 are first come, first serve. Sites 24 and 25 are sand/gravel, thinking everything else is pavement. We could boost our Ting/Verizon 4G LTE to 5 bars, but the throughput was still pretty poor most of the time.



We also visited Valley of Fire last February and stayed west of the park on BLM. Should probably have stayed in the east BLM area which was easier to access the park.


We tried to get into the park's campground twice. It was a zoo and on later reflection, I'm glad we didn't because while very nice, there was way too much traffic with people looking for a spot.


We used the dump station in the park and lo and behold, there were 15 bighorn sheep nibbling away right next to it. All males, those horns are big.


BTW, thanks for your recommendations at Dead Horse Point SP. We stayed in Windgate #52, great views of the snow-dusted La Sal mountains.