Carson River Ranches Campground
Nevada Division of State Parks - Fort Churchill State Historic Park
Longitude -119.23554, Latitude 39.28521

Carson River Ranches Campground is located above Lake Lahontan along the Carson River in Fort Churchill State Historic Park, 10 miles south of the community of Silver Springs not far off US Highway Alternate 95.

The camp is located approx. 1/2 mile off of the Highway down a fair dirt road, no problems for minivans or better, but not advisable to really low clearance passenger cars. This campground looks like it was recently converted from a primitive campground or day-use area. In fact, I never knew it existed until some new Campground signs were erected along the Highway recently.

Campsites are set in one simple loop along a dirt road. Campsites are shaded from a fair sprinkling of cottonwoods, but some are quite out in the open. The area is rather lush for the high desert with lots of grass, willows and some flowers. Most sites have nice views of the river riparian zones and a couple in the back have limited views of the Carson River.

Each site has a fire pit, and most have picnic tables. The camp is very popular with the equestrian set. There is a corral for hoofed visitors between sites #7 and #8, near the river. There are a lot of horse trails in the area that run up and down the Carson River and into nearby Lake Lahontan.

The vault toilets near Site #8 are new and in good working order. The bathroom near Site #2 is a chemical toilet (temporary facilities). There is an RV Dump Station at nearby Samuel Buckland Campground over at Fort Churchill.

Visited August 2005.