Big Bend of the Colorado State Recreation Area

Knowing this was a first-come, first-served campground I made arrangements to arrive early. The posted sign at the entry office window said "campground full". But just as I was about to pay the $10 daily use fee which was posted as required to "look around", one of the office staff told me to hold off while she checked to see if anything might open up. Sure enough, within an hour or so another camp staff member came over to say a site had opened up. I paid $60, $30 per night ($20 camping and $10 for hookups) - you have to pay for camping AND hook-ups, so they should just say it is $30/night. The sites are amazing - HUGE, level, and modern. Wonderful shelter with a picnic table and a very nice central bath/shower area. The road is paved and sites are gravel. but big enough to fit a semi. The only issue is that the area has undergone a controlled burn and appears to be expanding as there is construction going on in the adjacent land. It was way too windy to spend much time outside other than walking the dog so that was hardly an issue. The views are terrific and the layout provides lots of open space between sites. Great cell reception with access to casinos and the Colorado River area at Laughlin and Bullhead City.

Site fee reflects the discount with a Nevada All-Access pass, which eliminates the daily rate and leaves only a $10 fee for full hook-ups. (Normally a FHU space would cost $30 per day.) With only 24 spaces, the campground can fill up on weekends and holidays, but had plenty of open sites while we were there. TV picks up seven broadcast channels clearly. Cell phone signals are strong. Laughlin and the casinos are just a couple of miles down the road, yet seem a million miles away.

Spacing strongly affects the kind of camping experience you have. Here, with 50 yards between RVs, it's less sociable and more private, as in sipping your morning coffee and enjoying a spectacular pink sunrise over the mountains. Most of the spaces are huge gravel pull-throughs, but three nearest the showers/restrooms are handicapped sites and fully paved. I believe these are held for those with a disabled card unless all other sites are occupied.

Note that winds can get brisk in Laughlin from time to time and typically blow north/south along the Colorado River. As such, spaces 12, 15, 16, and 17 will leave you positioned for the least amount of rocking on windy days. Less road noise too.

Big Bend has some beautiful sandy swimming beaches with covered picnic tables in the day use area (dog walking distance from the RV campground) as well as paved tent-camping sites. There are also a half-dozen well marked nature trails.

The campground is also expanding with more dry camping sites being built for both tents and RVs.

The price reflects staying 14 days, buying a $200 Nevada State Park pass, which then lets you stay free + $10 for hookups! Normally it's $30/d. We can now stay again and only pay $10/d at this or some other Nevada State Parks. It's a deal!

There is no pre-booking, so there is always the chance of not getting a spot, but there are so many RV places in the area we figured that we could have found a backup plan easily. The nearest is the KOA at the Avi Casino to the south, there is also a dry camping option at the casino that looks free or cheap.

The spaces are large and easy to get into. Full hookups with 50A. Fire pit, BBQ and large cover over the concrete bench. The Colorado River is walking distance away, or you can be lazy and just drive the car down to the day use parking lots. The beach is pretty good and there are also covered benches there too.

Location is quiet. A Roadrunner visits each day and a small flock of Quail passes by some days.

There are stores a few miles south by crossing into Arizona. To the north, there's a USPS that accepts General Delivery as you hit the outskirts of Laughlin. There is a cinema and plenty of other entertainment options in downtown Laughlin because of the Casinos.

Hiking, offroad ATV, jetskis on the river, fishing, etc. So lots of options for activities.

Loved this place and will definitely be coming back.

Update: We returned in February. Although there was a very good Verizon signal the bandwidth at 6 am was 30+mbps, but once the traffic increased it was falling to 1-2 Mbps throughout the day. Too slow for me. T-Mobile was better at 3-5 Mbps. Sprint was awesome at 30-70 Mbps.

If you purchased the Nevada State pass try and check out Valley of Fire State Park. Stunning and $10 with hookups is a steal.

On our way home from Tucson to Boise we decided to quickly make this stop in order to go see the Burros in Oatman. We searched for places to stay all over the area and settled on this State Park. We were completely surprised by this great little park! As we drove through Laughlin and saw all the Casino RV parks (not our thing) we quickly began to worry that this might not be our thing.

We were so wrong! This State Park has none of what you see in the heart of Laughlin or even the casino RV parks further south. Each site was quite large and the placement of each made for really good privacy. The bathrooms were clean and had showers. If you choose not to hook up you only pay $10 a night instead of the $30 we paid. But at 100+ degrees were chose Air Conditioning!!!

The big rock mountains on the west side of the park were quite beautiful. This is in the Mohave Desert climate so you have to appreciate desert flora and fauna, which we do. We took a nice walk to the river at night on a dirt access road to the south of the sites. It was really nice and the river is so nice.

If you go straight upon entering the park (instead of turning into the campground) you come to a beach on the river with many covered picnic tables and a small boat ramp. We spent an afternoon on the beach and really enjoyed it. I wish I had my paddle board but this was an unplanned side trip. There were only a few other people there and it was just “low key.”

We will definitely return to this campground!

This is a nice campground and it was never very crowded while we were there. The sites are HUGE and are full hookup. The showers were clean enough but...you also had to pay, or get tokens or some such thing. Showers and restrooms were individual though, that's a plus.
There is a picnic area and boat launch, both close fairly early and are separate from the campground. The campground is immediately to the right of the entrance station, we missed that and toured the picnic area as a result.
The road in the campground is completely navigable but a bit narrow and curvy so big rigs, be forewarned.
It's a good base camp for day trips around the area.

The price we paid reflects the $10 daily fee assessed for full hookup use and in conjunction with the annual Nevada State Park pass at $200. Otherwise the sites would have been $20 without hookups, $30 with hookups.

All sites have a covered picnic area. The sites are large and not too close to each other. There are trails leading out from the park towards the Colorado river where you can do some bird watching. The park is close to all kinds of amenities, but the setting is truly natural.

This is a first come first served campground (14 day max stay) so in the busy season get there early in the day. There is an overflow area where you can camp (no hook up) and wait for a spot to open. The ranger will call you when a site is available.

Our rate reflects our Nevada parks pass discount.

We arrived the third week of September and thought it would be full of snowbirds but lucky for us, it was almost empty. Beautiful big level sites with concrete slab, picnic table, fire rings, and shade Ramada. Short drive into Laughlin. Would have cost 10 if we had needed full hookups but we didn’t so we stayed for free using our Nevada parks permit. This campground is definitely at the top of my list..

This campground is spacious, clean, well maintained and run by a camp host who is on the ball.
We needed cell service and electricity, as the constant rain and clouds rendered our solar panels useless.
We extended day after day , as we hated to leave. The sites are large and spread out. The campground is separated from the rest of the park, minimizing traffic.
There are hiking trails and geocaches in the park. It was a joy to be here.