Camping at Chief Mountain West BLM Campground + Bonus Mini Bike Track

So you happen to be in the middle of nowhere in Nevada and you’re looking for a great place to camp. Well the opportunities are pretty much endless haha. But we found a nice opportunity for free camping at Chief Mountain West BLM Campground that we’re going to cover in this article.

Chief Mountain West is located about half way between the towns of Alamo and Caliente in Nevada. Until recently, when we’ve been playing around with the map, we had never heard of either of these towns. But now we think fondly of Alamo because we had such amazing time camping and exploring in the area. And we are excited for what we’ll discover in the Caliente area. But we are glad that we stopped mid way to check out a beautiful swath of desert in between!

Read on to find out more about camping at Chief Mountain West and what to see while you’re in the area!

Quick Info: Camping at Chief Mountain West

Cost: Free

Ownership: BLM; 14 day limit

Directions: From Caliente, follow US-93 S for about 17 miles. Turn right onto N Poleline Road and continue for 3.2 miles. Turn right and in 0.4 miles, you’ll arrive.

Solar: Good

Miles From Town: About 21 miles from Caliente, NV

Water: None

Road Conditions: The dirt road to Chief Mountain West camp area is in great condition with slight washboard conditions.

Cell Service: Yes

Amenities: There are fire pits, ramadas, picnic tables, grills and vault toilets.

Good to Know: There are only 4 ramadas with the tables and grills at Chief Mountain West. And only two fire rings amongst those 4 shelters. It doesn’t seem to get very busy but in the event that it does, there is room for more than 4 campers here. You just might not have the amenities at your site.

Our Experience Camping at Chief Mountain West

Chief Mountain West is a designated BLM camp area that is located at the Silver State OHV trail access point. The camp area is essentially a large, mostly level lot with four ramadas with picnic tables, fire rings and grills. When we first arrived, we thought the placement of the ramadas was kind of interesting. They are all bunched up together in the center of the large gravel parking area. But hey, it’s awesome to have these amenities plus it’s free, clean and scenic so we’re not complaining! In addition, there are two vault toilets that are very well maintained.

As I mentioned, Chief Mountain West is located at an access point for the Silver State OHV Trail. This trail is a nationally recognized OHV route and it covers about 260 miles of Nevada Backcountry.

Another perk of camping at Chief Mountain West is the dirt bike practice area. Shane had a great time doing laps on this course with the mini bike! There are some sharp curves and fun humps with some surprise obstacles like rocks and bushes plus Joshua Trees leaning into the course to keep you on your toes!

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As far as traffic goes, it’s pretty minimal. We did have a couple days to ourselves but other than that there was only us and one other camper on most days. There’s no through traffic and you can’t hear the highway so it’s extremely peaceful. Unless the Air Force is out training but that’s pretty fun to watch.

We were here at the beginning of June and the weather was pretty mild, hovering around 80-85 degrees. But it was nice because almost everyday, there were a good amount of clouds that moved in and even sprinkled a bit some days. And the stars here are incredible!

While we were camping here, we took the time to explore the area a bit. In the immediate vicinity, we followed the dirt roads through beautiful desert scenery and enjoyed the solitude. There’s a nice variety of plants and flowers in the area and we kept our eyes peeled for wildlife. During our stay we encountered a beautiful herd of wild mustangs that seemed to stay in the area. We spotted a pronghorn as well as lots of birds and lizards plus a couple little mice creatures.

But if you’re looking for more opportunities (and don’t mind driving a ways) for exploring this wild state, you’re in luck.

Adventures in the Area

There are so many places in Nevada that are seemingly unknown and untouched. You can literally find adventure anywhere. Here are a few of the spots that we really enjoyed while we were in the area. And at each of these places, we were shocked that we had them all to ourselves. Gotta love Nevada for the unparalleled sense of solitude that’s in short supply these days.

Oak Springs Trilobite Area

Located only 8 miles away, this is a really random but cool opportunity to hammer away at some shale in search of 500 million year old trilobite fossils!

Big Rocks Wilderness

You guessed it! There are big rocks here to climb around on and an interesting but primitive landscape waiting to be explored.

Basin and Range

Basin and Range is a huge area with so much to discover! There are more petroglyphs here than we’ve ever seen anywhere else. And the landscapes are varying making it a place you’ll probably want to visit several times to really see what this area has to offer.

Box Canyon

We stumbled upon Box Canyon while we were on a run from our camp spot near the rocks by Alamo. This is a beautiful little spot with a spring and towering canyon walls just teeming with birds. The number of birds flying overhead and the many bird songs all at once made it feel like we were in a jungle somewhere.

Thanks for Reading!

We live on the road full time and love the adventure of finding and experiencing each new camp spot along the way. Every new camp spot allows us to explore a new area and experience a whole new setting for our life in that moment. A good place to call home can make all the difference in our experience in an area! Click here if you would like to read more about our dispersed camping experiences or check out the articles below:

• Camping Forest Road 07 Near Truckee
• Camping and Climbing near Alamo, NV
• Camping and Exploring the Flat Tops Wilderness
• Dispersed Camping near Fort Collins

While we are on the road we stay busy creating hand painted longboards! If you’d like to pick up a unique new longboard, head over to our Lost Coast Longboarding Shop to see our latest lineup. We also design and screen print our own t-shirts and long sleeve shirts.

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