Orovada Dispersed Camping

This is an "oasis" of beauty in an otherwise boring drive. Lots of room on the pavement, especially if you get there early and can pull up parallel to the fence. If you want to do boondocking, you can cross the cattle-guard but check the road conditions before you go - there can be some bad spots. It snowed overnight around Memorial Day which was surprising but beautiful. See photos.

Got a late departure from Boise to California. It would have been around 9:00pm arriving in Winnemucca so I decided to stay here after reading some reviews. Extra bonus is it’s free. I thought I’d be picking up trash but those before me also respect this area so it was clean when I arrived and left. Also we’re on Boost Mobile, (T-Mobile plan), with our MOFI-5500 cellular router. Excellent data speeds out here in the middle of nowhere, 82mbs download 15.2 mbs upload!

Previous reviews have been mostly Nov-Apr off-season. As we are here in July, I can report that the dirt road beyond the cattle gate is rutted, but firm. There are plenty of suitably level places to pull off and set up camp. Just look for tire tracks in the well grazed grassland. We used 4WD on our truck camper, but it wasn’t really necessary. We are here all alone tonight except for a herd of cattle 1/4 mile away, and an abundance of grasshoppers. Road noise is minimal. This is a really nice option for a self-contained overnight stay when you’re headed this way. You can walk near the dirt road in sandals, but if you get much away from it you’ll probably want boots. AT&T coverage is a solid four bars, but it’s 3G, which is not one of the options in the menu.

Traveling solo with a minnie winnie, i was little hesitant about getting theough and over the cattle gate but scouted it out and ther are a few big flat spots just 20-30 feet afterwards. Dirt road was definitely beat up but just pulled off quickly upon entering to the first level clearing. Rest stop filled up with lits of truckers and generators running while i was alone in the field. Also saw some tow campers parked off the tarmac but still inside the rest area. Great spot if you need a break, mountain range views are spectacular with moonrise and sunrise happening. If you have a 4x4 or lifted sprinter, definitely head in further, very private and secluded closer to the mountains you go

Same as the other reviews... cross the cattle gate at the rest area and there’s an open range that allows for dispersed camping. Had one other camper in the area that stayed for a night, but that’s the only company we got. It’s exposed, so we were hit by snow and wind, but the view of the mountains were spectacular. Will have to come back to hike here when there’s not a blizzard. Absolutely no problem with Verizon/ATT, strong signal with both!

We stayed here for a place to sleep on our way from Oregon to Utah. Like the other reviews say, go through the cattle guard and you can pretty much park anywhere in this open space. The sunset and stars were amazing. We were also pleasantly surprised to have cell service. There was one other camper who went farther back. The road was pretty bumpy but we did fine with our 40 ft rig.

Dispersed camping doesn't get much more dispersed than this! Just drive over the cattle guard and head toward the mountains until you find the 60 acres of open space you want to make your campsite. I was dreading this stop but it turned out magnificent. Unbelievable view toward the mountain - jaw dropping evening sun on the desert hillsides.

The road is not a problem for anything other than maybe some big rigs. Even there, a lady drove in later in the afternoon with a full horse trailer, no problem. It is smooth dirt, with some significant dips, but no rocks or chance of getting stuck. You can camp in the rest area if you want, but frankly that looked miserable, ugly and noisy. Get 1/4 mile out and you wont hear (much) the highway.

One warning - there is a LOT of very fine dust, so make sure you set up camp on the up-wind side and you will be fine. And you will carry a fine layer of reminder of this interesting place with you inside your rig for the rest of the year!

We didn't go through the gate onto the BLM land because we were only staying for the night and 2 other campers were already at the rest stop for the same reason. The view was great and it was extremely easy access for our one night stay. If we were going to be more than one night we probably would have ventured through the gate but the road looked rough.

The highway noise was not too bad considering we were right next to it.