Cathedral Gorge State Park

I think of a gorge as narrower than it is deep, but Cathedral Gorge is more like a valley. Nonetheless, the "caves," which are more like narrow passages between hoodoos, are a neat experience. All the campsites are well cared for and clean, with electricity, covered tables, BBQs and fire rings. Most have shade trees. Site sizes run from small-ish to large enough for the biggest RVs. There are a few pull-throughs, but most are double-wide back-ins. There are flush toilets, sinks with hot water and free showers. However there aren't water hookups at the sites. The park road is paved until the turn-in for the campground, but the gravel loop is smooth. Cell coverage dropped from 3G to 1X at sundown.

Dates Stayed: November 18th and 19th,, 2015

The campground is located just a couple of minutes off of the 93 but it just far away enough to have no road noise. Driving around the camping loop is a bit tight but nothing any 40 footer couldn't handle. There were a couple of really nice pull-thrus right in front that is your best bet with a big rig. We picked a pull-thru spot far away from the entrance that was close to a water spigot for our rig.

I can't say enough about the location. Any pictures of the area can not capture neither the color not the beauty of the cliffs.. you just need to see them for yourself. We stayed in the off season so there were only a few of us in the campground. The ranger told us that the campground gets very busy in season and we can understand why. The sites were well situated and were a good size for a state park. We loved the area and decided to brave the cold to be able to enjoy the area for a full day. In the morning we hiked across the campground and thru the handicapped campground over to the picnic area near the cliff walls. There was a cute little trail that had informational posts on the local flora. The picnic area affords some spectacular views of the nearby cliffs and we were lucky enough to catch a squadron of jets marking white streaks across the azure sky. Exploration of the area led us to find several different animal tracks and droppings; we even stumbled upon a somewhat fresh kill in one of the nearby slot canyons. Hiking into the small slots is a very unique experience where the temperature drop and being surrounded by the high walls makes one feel as if they have stepped into another world.
After our little excursion to the cliffs we decided to head to town to stock up. The gas station is less than a mile from the park entrance and the tiny town of Panaca is just one mile past that. After our trip to town we headed north to Miller Point. There is a large parking lot with restrooms, a picnic area and some wonderful views of the north part of the gorge. There is a one-mile trail that has several narrow paths and steep staircases that leads down into the park. The views from this area are indescribable.

The park itself was pristine, in more ways than one and there were dumpsters situated at the campground entrance. There was even a little shelter that housed about a half a chord of wood that was "give a stack - take a stack" that we were able to use for a campfire in the evening. During our stay the only noise we heard was from the local wildlife.

Unfortunately neither of us can remember the AT&T coverage.

We would highly recommend a visit to this state park. Even if you do not stay at the campground seeing the area and Miller Point is well worth the time.

Loved our visit here with our den. Josh, Park Ranger took us on a hike where we learned about the park, when developed as well as the flower and fauna. Group Campground #1 had EVERYTHING.. covered tables - 6 picnic, electric outlets in state of the art bathrooms and at the covered tables area, fresh running water, fire ring pit, 2 bbq's, dutch over, tether ball and horse shoes as well as a grassy play area... they thought of it all.

I stayed at Cathedral Gorge State Park in July 2017 with my eight-year-old granddaughter. We were there for three nights (Site 16) and then were gone for a night and back for two more nights (Site 14). I have the Nevada Senior Discount Pass and paid only $10 a night for electricity.

Our first three nights, July 21-23, 2017 were at Site 16 which is a pull through site with lots of shade. We had a covered picnic table and a grill. Our site was conveniently located near the trails to the day / play area. There was a small outdoor theater area with benches and screen. No activity occurred during our stay.

July 25-26 we were at site 14 --- a back-in site which had the best view as it was on the end of the loop with nothing to obstruct the view of the beautiful desert landscape. This site, like all the sites, had electricity, a covered picnic table, some small trees, and a grill. All of the sites appear to be quite level.

The park has a couple of very nice shower facilities with toilets and sinks. There is a large garbage dumpster at the entrance/exit of the park. This is located very near the self check-in area. Park Rangers rode through the park regularly and were quite friendly.

My granddaughter and I walked out onto one of the walking trails for about a mile and took lots of pictures. We walked to the nearby play/day area and played tetherball and horseshoes. On the morning we left the park, we drove across the road to where the caves are located and enjoyed exploring and taking more pictures.

I particularly enjoyed the quiet of the park. Our last two nights there we were one of 2 and 1 of four overnighters, respectively. The park and all facilities were kept clean. We had electric hookup at each site and were grateful for the electricity to run our air conditioning as the temperatures were quite hot in July.

Wi-Fi was available for purchase at $10 for 1 GB. We ate that up very quickly! I have Verizon cell service and it was available at the park.

The only thing I would change is the placement of the water faucets. Whereas there are several faucets located around the park, it would be nice if a faucet was at the very least between each site so that moving a rig was not necessary to replenish water supply when staying a few days.

Cathedral Gorge State Park is on my favorites list. I definitely will go back there again.

April 9, 2018: Nice park close to US 93. What we would call parking lot camping - sites close to one another. Was very quiet and clean (like most Nevada State Parks). Electricity available at all sites and all sites look to be level. Can pretty much see everything there is to see in the park in an afternoon. Park fills up in the afternoon, and clears out in the morning. While other local parks were pretty much vacant (Echo Canyon and Spring Valley) this one was pretty much 90% full by the evening. Pretty location, but not a whole lot to do. Definitely worth a stop if in the area - but not worth a special trip.

We stopped here for a couple of nights to break up the drive from Las Vegas to Great Basin National Park. Cathedral Gorge is a great state park, with nice spacious campsites. There's not a ton of privacy, but the sites are spaced out fairly well. Each site is equipped for electricity, which you can hook up to for an extra $10. There are water spigots throughout the campground, as well as a dump tank and water fill station in the park, right down the road from the campground.
I don't know if I'll ever be in the area again since it's kinda in the middle of nowhere, but I would stay here again for sure. Plus, Cathedral Gorge has some super rad slot canyons to explore, and no crowds. So, if you're into that kinda thing, make sure to check this place out.

The RV park was closed due to a flash flood. The wife and I drove in just for further reference to see what the park was like. A park ranger followed us in and told us he had two spots that they were letting people stay in so we took one of them. I have to say I was very impressed with this park the facilities and the way it was maintained. the caves are unlike anything you're ever going to see it was just a neat neat experience I would highly recommend it.

What a hidden gem! Thanks to Campendium we made a slight detour in our travel plans to stay here in early November. Weather is perfect, only three other campers are here (this is a Thursday, mind you). Thankful to have electricity as the overnight temps dipped towards 30. We enjoyed the several miles of easy hikes throughout the Cathedral Gorge which reminded us a lot of Utah's Goblin Valley State park.

On Friday we back tracked to the cute town of Pioche, ate a great lunch at GhostTown Art and Cafe, then walked slowly through town soaking up the local color.

We also drove about 20 miles west beyond Spring Valley state park, traveling back in time to look at old pioneer stone cabins and a cemetary.

Cathedral Gorge is Definitely a worth while the day, two night adventure.

We stayed for 2 nights in early May. The rangers warned us ahead of time that sites usually fill up by 1 p.m. We got there at a little after noon and got the last campsite with electricity in the campground, although there is overflow camping if all the sites are taken. The weather was great. Our campsite was supposed to have a fire ring, but didn't. The location wasn't too far from the bath houses. One is free and has a single shower available in the public bathroom area, the other site had two private showers, but it was 25 cents for 4 minutes. There is WiFi available for purchase and it worked well enough, we didn't try to stream movies on it though. There is great Verizon service but no T-Mobile. We brought a Straight Talk pre-paid SIM and it worked great. All in all, a great trip, very easy to access, although if you need electricity or a BBQ stub, be sure to get in early. Echo Canyon is a very short drive away with great campsites as well.

We spent Thanksgiving break camping and exploring in the area. We used this campground at our base camp, which was very nice. Very well-maintained campground with adequate water and available hook ups. There were quite a few people in the campground, but it was still quiet. Restrooms were clean with free showers. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit, so we were unable to explore unique features of the park. We look forward to visiting again.