Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge

This is a small camping area located between the highway and the lake. The sites are widely spaced (we are two campers together in my pic as we were traveling together) along a long gravel road. There are a lot of mature cottonwoods that provide nice shade. There are tent and RV spots and technically we were in a 1 RV or 2 car spot, but the camp host was ok with it. There was a lot of road noise, as these are very near the highway, but it was somewhat less at night. There are two pit toilets, one at each end of the camp road, that were very clean. There is a 3 mile walking trail along the lake that was a nice morning walk. We were joined by a blue heron in the water near us both in the evening and morning we were here. Note, there is no notice of the turn to the campground if you are coming from the north. The sign is around a slight curve behind a hill so look carefully. I can't remember exactly what our cell coverage was, but we have ATT and it was good enough to stream a video.

We found this place by accident. We were on a road/camping trip on our way to Yellowstone, via Big Basin National Park and the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. We only stopped for the night. Very surprised to find out that it was free. Only other two campers were there. Did not explore, but enjoyed the one night stay. The small lake is pretty. Very quiet, but it was a Sunday night. No services except pit toilet.

We walked, visited the visitor center, and watched the birds. We enjoyed our stay here. We took a short ride north to Mt. Irksh Wilderness to see the rock art. So worth the drive!

I have wanted to camp here for many years. I stayed here in later October and was lucky to find an open spot at noon. Camp sites are on the side of the dirt road and small loops off the road. Larger rigs were in several of the sites. A couple of the sites are tent camping only. The highway runs Other than the highway noise which runs along the lake this is a peaceful, beautiful oasis in the desert. There isn't any potable water in the campground. The town Alamo is a couple of miles north of Pahranagat. It has a surprisingly good grocery store for a small town. The store is located at the gas station. I had intermittent cell service in the campground, which is why I marked none. There was 3G Verizon service in Alamo. Even with the highway noise I hope I will be lucky enough to find a site here again.

Super spacious and private spots all with lake access. A little road noise but the view makes it so worth it

This is the 2nd time we have visited this location, it’s a great quick get away close to Las Vegas where we live full time. First visit was in November of last year and lucked upon site 1. Which is an amazing spot, has less highway noise than site 7 we used this past week.
It is dry campsites, no water or dump stations available. There is a dumpster at the entrance only, and they ask campers to take out all garbage. There are 3 locations for bathrooms, ports potty style, entrance day parking area, middle and end of the loop.

Fishing is allowed with permits, as well as small boats, there are specified times if the year for fishing and types on their web site.

We have a 37” class A and can get in an out pretty easily. Best times to get a spot seems to be Wednesday to Thursday mid afternoon, after that it’s usually full.

There is a 3 mile, easy walk around the lake and off shoot trails to take as well. Would be great to bike if someone desired too.

My husband has an android note 5 and had data access on his phone. I have an apple 8 and could not access my data. We have Verizon. Not sure what was up with my phone so keep in mind it’s spotty coverage.

Great campsite right by the lake. Would give 5 stars, but lots of road noise. Cell service was spotty on my phone, but get on husband's

We got site 7. We think Sites 1 or 7 are the best because they are very private, single sites. Many of the other sites are dual sites. All the sites are right in the lake, great bird watching. We are not typically bird watchers but our binoculars were out all the time!

A couple miles down the highway is the Visitors Center, very worth the drive. We rode bikes around the lake, maybe three miles, good trail, not too difficult, just lots of Joshua Trees and Desert. The other reviews regarding highway noise are true. A couple of nights I incorporated the trucks going by in my dreams, they can be noisy but they really did not really bother us much. And the traffic gets very light at night. (Btw, we are from a very quite, small town with no traffic noise but it didn't bother us.)

The town of Alamo is a Mormon town, so no liquor is sold there. Fortunately for us they sell liquor at the motel just south of town.

One more thing, this is near Area 51 and we had jets flying overhead. We could not see them often because they were so high. (They probably don't want you to see them.) A couple times we heard what we thought were huge explosions but the ranger at the Visitor Center assured us they were sonic booms from Area 51.

The road going in and out is a well maintained but very long and dusty. Both our car and RV were covered with dust. The dumpster is right at the entrance, that was handy. After staying for for a week we dumped and got water at the Picketts RV in town for $15, also handy. Also the grocery store in town at the Sinclair gas station is great, really nice people in town!

Better coordinates are for the entrance off of US 93 - 37.31691, -115.12968. Reason being that this the ONLY entrance to the campground (there's a sign). Coming from the South, I put in the coordinates listed, which are for the middle of the campground, and my GPS said to turn at the visitor center entrance and go north on the dirt road leading to the campground. That road is closed to vehicle traffic!

When we came into the registration station (just a sign-in book), there was a sign that showed "campground full" but we found 6 RV sites open! It's safe to go all the way to the end of the road to the large turn around area. There's a pit toilet there. A trail map and campground map are available on the web site.

Otherwise, the other reviews have lots of pertinent info and pictures.

We loved the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. The wildlife especially birds are abundant although I also walked up on a skunk coming up from the lake shore. The campground is spread out along the eastern lakeshore so most sites don't have neighbors. There are 3 drop pit toilets spread out along the gravel road. The only downsides are the proximity to the highway and that the cell service is spotty. We used our WeBoost to make our Verizon connection reliable enough to work here. T-mobile is non-existent.