Virgin Valley Campground

Nice out in the middle of NoWhere... Virgin Valley Campground.
Happened on this as I was running out of daylight and the one I was planning on was "Closed" Looks like an irrigation project with various "Ponds" around. Has a "Hot Spring" with shower and swimming pond/pool. Nice area, also ORV area too, I think? One was riding, but not sure allowed. Not much to do there except to hang out, so I stayed 3 nights, heheh, Yah, I dunno why, but it seemed to work.

Another one night stop on our slow journey to Washington State.
Unpaved road from highway 140 to the CG is gravel and well maintained. The information kiosk near the highway had lots of brochures Sheldon National Refuge. A sign just after the kiosk advertises the Royal Peacock Ranch which has full RV hookups, but the sign near the CG says it is closed for the season.
Arrived at the CG, no one else was there. One class C and a couple of small trailers came in later. Lots of campsites for any size RV, 3 vault toilets, and a shower house with two continuously running warm showers. Wooden sign on the shower door reads “UNOCCUPIED” with a sliding panel to cover the UN when in use. There is a lock on the inside of the door as well. The swimming pond is also warm but we didn’t use it or the showers. Too cold – daytime high of 49 F, nighttime low of 26F – catalytic heater was great! There is one operating fresh water spigot near the shower house with a sign “Do Not Wash Vehicles. As reported previously, zero Verizon cell.
Nice walks despite the cold. Lots to see in the preserve when the weather is nicer.

This free campground is truly impressive, not only because of it's serene beauty & amenities, but because it was built and is maintained by volunteers! We camped here in mid November and there were 2 other rigs on Friday night and we had it to ourselves Saturday night. The sites aren't too clearly marked as it is mostly an open-ish area with picnic tables and fire rings loosely designating sites. The road in is gravel and not all that bad, a little wash-boarded in spots, but nothing too nasty.

A big draw of this place is the warm springs. It is about 4 feet deep and around 80 degrees in mid November. There is a shower house that runs continuously and that water is a bit warmer. The shower building door locks so that you can have some privacy while using them. The pool and showers were also built and maintained by volunteers, so it has a certain charm about it.

Virgin Valley is known around the world for it's Opal mining, so while you're there you can pay to dig at an established mine, or wander around for ones on the surface. We enjoyed the open terrain by hiking around and exploring the wildlife refuge. We did not see many antelope this time of year and as of our visit most of the horses have been relocated from the refuge. (non-native animals that competed with native antelope and vegetation).

Aside from the complete lack of cell service, this site was nearly the total package, but for us it made for a perfect weekend layover before we had to get back to work.

I was really surprised by this campground. It's just a free campground in the middle of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. It's a gravel road down to the campground, which was in excellent condition while I was here. Some of the sites are in lesser quality, but a few seemed like pretty good quality also.

There is a spot for a campground host, but there was not one present at all during my night here. Nonetheless, the vault toilets were clean and well stocked overall. There is a swimming pool, which appeared clean and I saw some people swimming in it. There are fish in the swimming hole, but fishing them is obviously not allowed. Children less than 12, adults over 65, and disabled persons are allowed to do some fishing in the pond near the campground. I found my pleasure in driving on the dirt roads to check out Thousand Creek Gorge nearby.

There is no cell service here at all. However, I actually got some spotty, unreliable Verizon LTE up at the Thousand Creek Gorge area that I drove up to. There is no camping allowed up there, but if you have a vehicle that makes it up there alright (the road had some good ruts in it when I made my way there, which I would be nervous taking a standard sedan down), it should be good for making any phone calls or that like, if necessary.

This is pretty out of the way of anything, so you probably want to get gas before driving in here. However, when you're in, the silence was wonderful and the stars at night were even better! I really liked this spot and would certainly stay longer if I didn't need to worry about having cell reception for work.