Squaw Lake Campground, Imperial Dam, California & Arizona

Backroads Destination-Squaw Lake Campground, Imperial Dam, California & Arizona

Squaw Lake is a BLM campground and day-use area on the Colorado River.  The BLM  advertises 125 RV sites right on the Colorado River as well as numerous dispersed camping sites in the area.  In addition, the facility includes paved parking, restrooms, outdoor showers, picnic areas, swimming area, and boat launch ramps.

The area is also a day use site.  Fees are $10 a day with a 50% discount for the federal passes.  You can also buy an annual pass for this and other areas for $75.  The camping fee at Squaw Lake is $15 a night with a 50% discount for the federal passes.

The day use site has a host.  And an artifact from the past.  A pay telephone complete with a bench seat for making phone calls!

We were hoping for wide open campground with long spurs fronting the Colorado River for fishing and kayaking.  What we got was a parking lot with 125 parking spaces. Unless you have some sort of floating craft I would probably pass on this campground.   The campground is right next to the Senator Wash Long-Term Visitor Area that we will cover in the next posting.  I would camp up there and head to the lake whenever the mood strikes me.

Here are the rules and regulations for the area from the BLM and here is the link to the official BLM web site on Squaw Lake Campground.

The desert and water is a great combination was we noted earlier in  posts about the eastern Washington desert.  There is a lot less water in the Arizona desert and the BLM and other agencies do charge premium prices for access to water.   The good news is the crowd in the winter is much more sedate and law-abiding than the crowd in the summer.  Having worked in Lake Mead National Recreation Area for the Park Service in the late 1970's that summer crowd does party hard!!  Where did all that energy of youth go??

The hosts in the Senator Wash Area monitor CB channel 12 for emergencies.  Be sure to get an external CB antenna.  Remember it is all about the antenna in radio's.