Buckskin Mountain State Park Campground

This is another terrific state park in the Parker/Lake Havasu area. This one sits on the Colorado River and there is quite a bit of grass considering it's desert location. The entrance road to the campground may seem a bit steep for some, but it is fairly short and was no problem. It seems the more popular sites sit down on the north end of campground (sites 58, 62, 66). I stayed in site #6 which was a fairly quiet loop. Sites #3 and #4 have big sandy backyards, while sites #7-#11 have open space at the end of the rig for watching the river. This loop has a narrow turnaround, but with a 27 foot trailer, I had no problem. Sites #12 - #16 may not have water view, but seemed to have very good spacing.

The campground hosts/rangers were extremely friendly and overall this park had a great atmosphere. Dogs are allowed on the north beach which is sandy. I would have loved to stay longer or come back for an extended stay, however the river current was probably too much for my swim loving dog in her advanced age and we may have had to dodge boaters in the narrow river areas. The park does have hiking trails that appeared to be fun but we didn't partake this trip. I will definitely come back some day. Probably the one downside of this park is the price, at $35 night it can be a bit much. Easy access dump station.

At site #6, I had varied Verizon service from 2 bars 3G to 2 bars LTE, so internet service may vary with sites.

Buckskin Mtn State Park is a beautiful little state park nestled between a small mountain and the Colorado River. The campground is small, the spots placed tightly together (you will for sure get to know your neighbors) - but in turn is only a short walk to the beach, river and some hiking! We found that the spots in the middle of the campground were more shaded, whereas ours (#18) had no shade - which was tough when it was 90+ degrees each day. We found ourselves moving our chairs around our fifth wheel as the sun moved to keep in the shady spots - which worked out just fine. I would also try to avoid spots #16-17, 22-23 as they were next to a water treatment area and we smell a pretty strong odor overtime we walked by the area. The bathrooms were OK - nothing I would jump at showering in, but not disgusting, either. They worked fine for rinsing off all of the sand after a day at the beach!

WIFI/CABLE: We saw many people struggling to get their satellite dishes to work to get a decent antenna. Can’t speak more on that though - we go cable free! They also had free wifi- however it did not reach our site. One of the rangers let me know that if you stand near day-site #1 it’s right by the transformer - so I did head over there once to upload a new book to my kindle and I was able to connect.

A brisk 62 degrees, the river was chilly in mid-March, but we were able to get into about our knees to cool off here and there. A few musts: bring a shade (canopy cover of some sort), a tube or two (there is a Walmart right up the road with quite a few options for as low as $12), a rope (100ft will do just fine), a cooler, sunblock and some beach chairs - and you have the makings for a few fun days on the beach! Tie yourself off to a rock or tree - and float your afternoons away! We also saw people walk their tubes up to the top of the park, and free float all the way to the other end (*note* - we were told that on Thursdays they shut down the dam for maintenance, which reduced the current and water level - so this might not be your day to drift). Many people also came with their boats, there is a launch right at the campground and then they’d tie off right to the shore where we sat, walk about convenient!

We spent our time on the “dog beach” - and although we have no dog, the beach was smaller and we were able to find some fun little spots to hang out for a day with some extra shade from the palm trees. Speaking of dogs - this campground is a dogs heaven for sure. There is a large, fenced in dog run area. Part of the beach is “dog friendly,” and lots of grass and room to walk, run and play.

This park also features a bar, restaurant, convenient store and swim shop all in one. The swim shop and convenient store opened the day we left (I walked through briefly, saw snacks, beer, some pots and pans, swim suits, tubes for the river, etc.) and the bar was set to open the following week - with huge signs boasting happy hour (4-7pm), $.50 hot dogs and pitchers for $4.99. The store also had a spot for inflating your tubes - but it wasn’t open until the day we left, so I’d plan on bringing your own unless your positive the store is open when you visit!

Finally, the campground hosts and rangers were awesome - very helpful, friendly and welcoming. We highly recommend this spot!

Check out our video review here: https://youtu.be/KZpSVKxPuEk

perfect location. a lot of boats in the river. super fast wifi in the whole park.

We stayed there April 29 - May13, 2019.
We had so much fun at Buckskin Mountain State Park. Right on a perfect bend in the Colorado River. We originally had site 26, but when we arrived I asked if they had anything available with full hookups, and they did. They gave us Site 65, which we really enjoyed.
The internet was practically non-existent on that end, but there is a covered picnic table area that is right under their router so good internet could be had there. Cell service was bad, too, as it is located in between tall mountains. Kind of annoying, but the spot was worth it to us.
We have kayaks and put them in the water just about every morning or evening. We also took them to the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge and had a wonderful day of kayaking. It's just up the road toward Havasu City.
Such a clean and attractive state park. Super nice people running it. Golfing nearby and the Pirates Den is super fun. Great access to supplies and provisions in Parker.
Gets busy on the weekends, but people are having so much fun! It's fun to watch.
Gave 4 stars for noise because of weekend boats, but it didn't bother us at all. Very quiet at night.

Beautiful State Park! Well done, Arizona! The staff are VERY helpful and kind! The park is awesome.

Cons: The internet is only good if you sit close to the office. The TV reception is non-existent. The showers are just okay.... the doors are like the swinging barn door type, only go halfway up. Showers in the very back are better. Water only gets warm.

Pros: WOW! The park is picturesque!!! The view outweighs the cons!!!! It will take your breath away!! The staff is AWESOME! The sites were great! Full hookups. Very little leveling required. One side needed a couple levelers. The view of The Colorado was unbelievable!

Will definitely be back!!

If you travel with your 🐶 you will love this campground. It has a big, grassy, fenced dog park and dogs are allowed everywhere within the park, including trails and beaches.

The location of this campground seems to shield it from the winds that you typically get in AZ desert parks. There also are many large, established trees that shade many of the sites, so if you go in summer be sure to pick a shady site (check satellite maps). There are flush toilets and showers, although the facilities are ancient and in dire need of replacement. Even after cleaning, everything in the bathhouse still looked dirty. The faucets are all corroded from hard water, although the toilets, sinks and showers were all functional. I visited late December and with no heat in the bathroom it was not warm enough for me to use the shower, but there was hot water.

I was in site 11 which was considered a “premium” site, so it was $40 per night versus $35 for non-premium. It seems any site that was on the end with no campers on one side was considered premium. My site was close to everything, bathroom, dog park, beach, but it was not level. Most of the sites seemed to be backwards at this campground. If I had backed into my site, that would have put the electric/water hookups on the correct side, but would have meant I would be facing away from the lake/view. I’m not sure who designed these sites but they don’t make sense. The power and water were right next to the picnic table and fire ring? Luckily I travel in a 20 foot van so I was able to just park sideway across the site where my doors opened toward the view and toward the picnic table and fire pit, this also allowed me to get my van a bit more level. Luckily I always bring two 25 ft electrical cords so I was able to use both to reach the 30amp plugin (I never hook up to water). The site was not cleaned between guests, so I had to sweep the hard surface before I set up, and the fire pit/grill was full of partially burned wood. This site had an old tree that was mostly dead and constantly dropping leaves, so there would be no shade here in the summer, but for winter it was OK. The spacing between the sites was Ok for being on the end, but if you had campers on each side it would be too close for me, closer than most of the AZ state parks. The sites all have double pads, so plenty of room for parking and seemed to fit pretty much any size rig, because I saw some giant ones there! The sites were all back in sites, although as I said, they were not situated properly to maximize the view so some of the larger rigs and towables ended up facing the neighbors instead of facing the water.

This park is on the Colorado river very close to Parker. Directly across the water there are several commercial/private RV parks with docks, park models, restaurants etc, so I imagine it would be busy on the water in the summer, but winter was quite peaceful. I was able to easily carry my inflatable kayak the short steps to the beach and launch from the sandy water entry (not as many rocks here compared to lake Havasu SP). There was some boat traffic, but not much and no wake issues. The water is very clear.

I have Visible which is on the Verizon network with mostly 3G and I got 2 bars without a booster and 4 bars with a booster. With 2 bars I could text and stream video, with 4 bars I could upload pics and video.

There is a small gift store on site that sold firewood ($8) and some snacks and drinks, but mostly small trinkets and t-shirts.

There were a couple of trails here, but I did not hike them. There were camp hosts and lots of Rangers on site. There was a boat launch and a small play area for corn hole and horseshoes and you could check out the games from the store. There are no boat rentals, but Parker is 10 minutes away and I’m sure they have rentals of all types there (boat and ATV).

I arrived early, a couple of hours before posted checkin time and they allowed me into my site. There is a dump station here with potable water. The dump station could accommodate 2 rigs at a time and was old and stinky. Note two of the premium sites (57, 58) are close to the stinky dump station, so I would not rent those even though they had excellent views of the water. I think the sites located on Ranger Way are the best because they are close to everything; bathhouse, dog park and water. There are sites labeled “riverfront” that when viewed online seem better for tents, but they actually are not too bad if you want a good view of the river. They are basically parking lot type sites, but they are long and wide so depending on the size of your rig you could park sideways across the site and have a great view without being too close to your neighbors. I saw one class C rig do this on and end site (#69) and it seemed to work well.

Overall I enjoyed my stay here and would go again.

Much prettier than the two other nearby state parks - Cattail and River Island. Because it's on a bend in the river, you feel a little surrounded by the Colorado. Beautiful cliffs on one side (but also views of two RV parks on the CA side). No road noise because it's tucked around the mountain (River Island gets lots of road noise). Many sites had good tree coverage. Bathrooms were tired and had weird short doors with little privacy for the dressing area part of the shower. Cell coverage was crap.

We are here now. We stay in a lot of Arizona State Parks. We would not stay here again and this is why. Close sites. Although we have plenty of room for our camping needs the spaces are staggered and open so people walk through your site constantly. Lots of barking dogs. We are in site #21 directly across from the parks very own septic processing plant. Smells like septic constantly. This area is not close to the dump station at all so I can’t say how it is down there. On the good side it is very clean and quite beautiful right on the river. For us this is too much like the KOA experience. We have Verizon and the cell service is terrible. They have wi-fi which can be ok if you get close enough. Overall not for us.

I spent two nights here on my way to the California desert, and couldn't have been happier. My dog is now spoiled and thinks all campgrounds are supposed to have dog parks with lots of friends to play with and their very own beach!

Made these campground reservations online. The Arizona State Park system has updated their reservation system since we stayed at their campgrounds 2 years ago. The rangers and hosts take a lot of pride in this state park. One of the few parks I actually see people cleaning the sites between campers.

The campground roads and sites are paved. It has both back in and pull through sites. Sites have either water & electric or FHU. There is a dump station available with 2 spots to dump. Most of the sites have gravel/rock between them. There is some grass throughout the park. Some sites have more shade than others from mature trees.

Site #22 was a back in site with FHU. Site itself was pretty level. Sites came with a fire ring and picnic table. Some sites were spaced out better than others.

Campground has hiking trails, dog park, bathrooms, showers, boat ramp, picnic areas, area for outdoor games (including cornhole and horseshoes), and a small store. The bathrooms and showers were a bit dated.

Verizon signal was not great. Would go between 5G, LTE & SOS. Mostly unusable.