Free Camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake | National Wildlife Refuge

About an hour north of Las Vegas is a surprising opportunity for some beautiful lakeside camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake. All fifteen of the designated camp spots are along the lake shore with really nice lake views. Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge also has many great day use amenities and outdoor recreation opportunities. Learn about the area at the visitor center, use the helpful viewing scopes to take advantage of the abundance of bird species in the area, and hike a few of the many beautiful trails! Read on to find out more about the camp spots, amenities and what to expect while camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake.

Quick Info: Camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake

Ownership: US Fish and Wildlife; 14 day limit

Cost: Free

Directions: From Las Vegas, take the I-15 N to exit 64 for US-93 N towards Ely. Stay on US-93 N for about 70 miles then turn left onto Upper Lake Access Road. Continue on this well maintained dirt road for about a mile and you’ll see the designated camp sites.

Road Conditions: Good, the gravel road is in great condition, just a little dusty.

Miles From Town: About 5 miles from Alamo, NV

Cell Service: Yes

Solar: Good but there are trees so it might depend on which spot you choose.

Water: No drinking water available.

Amenities: Each spot has a fire ring, picnic table, and grill. There are three separate vault toilets located throughout the campground. Additionally, there is a large day use picnic area as well as hiking trails and viewing scopes.

Good to Know: The Pahranagat National Wildlife Visitor Center is located about two miles south.

Our Experience Camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake

Driving north from Las Vegas, there’s a lot of beautiful open desert. There aren’t many opportunities for free lakeside camping in this part of Nevada so we were excited to spend some time here. Once you turn off the highway, the dirt road is in great condition just a bit dusty. First, you’ll reach the day use area. This is where you’ll find pamphlets, a place to register, vault toilets and a large shaded picnic area. This is also the parking area for great fishing along the jetty as well as the hiking loop that crosses to the other side.

We drove past all of the camp sites before choosing our spot. There’s a large turn around at the end, so no need to worry if you’re towing. Some of the sites are small and work best for tent/car camping while others are large enough to accommodate any size rig. The most limiting factor when it comes to camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake is whether the spots are taken already or not. Another thing to note is that some camp spots are for one party while others accommodate two. But all of the 15 camp spots are on the lake shore with beautiful views of the lake.

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We chose spot number one because it was a single spot with no neighbors, had decent privacy (don’t forget there are viewing scopes on the trail just across the lake), and not too far from the restrooms. After we got settled in we ended up staying and exploring for a little over a week.

While we were camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake we noticed that the weekends saw more day use activity and the campground filled up completely. But we also noticed that many of the campers only stayed one night before moving on. During the week, the majority of the spots were open and there was only a little bit of day use traffic. And everyday, sometimes twice a day, a ranger would stop by and take note of the license plates. The restrooms seemed to be pretty well maintained.

One thing to note, the camp spots are along the eastern shore. That means they are pretty much paralleling US-93 so there is some highway noise but we didn’t mind it.

Exploring Upper Pahranagat Lake Campground

While we were camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake, we really enjoyed our camp spot as well as exploring the National Wildlife Refuge itself. This area is known for its abundance of birds and boasts over 260 species. And there are bird guide pamphlets available where you registered. So we would take the binoculars and the bird guide with us on our walks. After a few walks we realized that we were only seeing about 5 different kinds, but birding isn’t our forte.

The Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is only a two mile drive from the campground. But we used the trail system to go from our camp spot to the visitor center so we could see more of the area. The visitor center has nice restrooms, water refill station, both indoor and outdoor informative exhibits as well as access to several trails.

There are several trails that can be easily accessed while camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake. There is a nice trail map available as well so we were able to link some of the trails to make longer adventures. Here are just a couple highlights.

Upper Lake Trail

We really liked Upper Lake Trail. This trail kept the lake in view while accessing the jetty, amazing trees, several benches and a couple sets of viewing scopes.

Davenport Trail

We took Davenport Trail from the visitor center back to the south end of the campground. And we were surprised by how hilly the terrain was. Then when it leveled out, the lighting plus the scenery were just right. It looked so pretty!

Medsger Pass

While we were camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake, we took a drive on Medger Pass Road heading west into the desert landscape. We were really glad that we did! The desert scenery back along this road was just beautiful. We enjoyed the joshua trees and rocky desert mountains that looked like they went on and on. It was so quiet, scenic and peaceful. A perfect place to walk and see what you discover.

Thanks for Reading!

All in all we had a great time camping at Upper Pahranagat Lake Campground! Our favorite part about our experience here was probably the beautiful sunsets over the water. And the worst part about staying here was probably the number of bugs that came out at dusk but that’s to be expected. We would definitely recommend checking out this nice free camping facility and enjoying the beautiful setting.

We love experiencing new places to camp! Since we spend the majority of our time boondocking it was nice to have the amenities of this primitive but developed campground. If you’d like to check out some other great camp spots that we’ve shared, check out the article below:

• Free Camping at Volcanic Tablelands
• Harley Springs Free Campground
• Dispersed Camping at Mogollon Rim
• Pike National Forest Dispersed Camping

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