1/12 Big Bend of the Colorado River State Recreation Area, Laughlin, NV

One of the state parks I enjoy for a quiet few days is Big Bend of the Colorado River, near Laughlin, NV, which is about 50 miles north of Lake Havasu and about 60 miles south of Hoover Dam.  The day use area is located directly along the Colorado River, though the campground is a bit of a walk from there.  I have stayed here several times and enjoyed it.

Across the river is Bullhead City, AZ, with its shops and casinos.  About 3 miles to the north on the Nevada side is the smaller city of Laughlin, which also has several casinos, but not as wide a selection of shopping.

Positives are that the campground is reasonably priced and has very large, full hookup sites, about half of which are pull-throughs.  Sites are widely spaced apart, so you do not feel cramped and the noise level is substantially less than a lot of campgrounds.  

A big negative, however, is that during two of the three times I stayed here, the wind was extremely strong and created substantial sandstorms.  These were the kind that if you went for a walk or had to do some work outside for very long, you need to shake your clothes off and brush the sand out of your teeth as soon as you get indoors.  In fact, I also had an awning tear here a few years ago and had to help the mobile mechanic I called to take the remnants off and tie the loose awning bars into place with zip ties and a lot of duct tape!  After half an hour of being outside in the blowing sand, I had to strip off my clothes at the door, and take an immediate shower to get the sand out of my hair, and then I had to brush my teeth to get the grit off!  

I did not go outside much this stay, but I did notice after a couple of days that somehow the sand was making its way inside through cracks.  This meant wiping down counters and cupboards, as well as damp-mopping my floors!  It was also a very rough drive the day I left to drive north to the Las Vegas area since my motorhome acts a lot like a towed billboard in the wind!  I drove very slowly, taking three hours to drive what should have taken 1.5 hours. Not fun to have to be constantly steering to keep your rig going fairly straight down th road. 

Anyway, here are some photos of Big Bend of the Colorado:

 

 

 

 

 

The campground was not full, as you can see from these next few photos. 

 

 

From a few places in the campground, you could see across the river to Bullhead City, especially at night when it was lit up. 

 

 

Nice restrooms, but no showers and no laundromat!  

I did drive across the river one day to mail a package at a UPS store.  I did not take any photos of the Bullhead side of the river, but here are some of the casinos in Laughlin. 

And a last glimpse of the Colorado River.

In spite of the wind and sand, I will probably come back here some day, though I will check the weather next time.