East Creek Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $5From, per site
- Sites
- 12All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Located high on the slopes of the Schell Creek Range in the Duck Creek Basin, sitting in the middle of an alder, pinyon and juniper forest, East Creek Campground offers a wide range of recreation opportunities to the forest visitor. Hiking, mountain biking and off-road vehicle riding are just some of the popular activities enjoyed by visitors to the area. Elevation is 7,400 feet, located approximately 20 miles from Ely, Nevada. Keep reading
Recreation
The Ranger Trail can be accessed from this campground. The Ranger Trail is a designated OHV trail that also accommodates hiking and mountain biking use as well. The 30-mile Success Loop Scenic Drive is also in the area, with views of high desert and mountain terrain.
Facilities
The campground has 12 newly improved sites and 3 vault toilets. All sites have picnic and serving tables, campfire rings and grills. Water is not provided at this campground. This is a "pack it in, pack it out" facility.
Natural Features
East Creek, a perennial stream, runs directly through the picnic area and many birds make it their home during the spring and summer seasons. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (775) 289-3031.
Nearby Attractions
Cave Lake State Park and Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park are both a few miles from Ely. Interesting historic stone ovens and an interpretive trail are available there. The Northern Nevada Railway in Ely has a museum and offers train rides.
Charges & Cancellations
All change and cancellation requests should be done through Recreation.gov.
What the agency tells you
Utility hooksups are not available
Click here for more information on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org .
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 12
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…has 12 newly improved sites and 3 vault toilets. All sites have picnic and serving tables, campfire…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…tables, campfire rings and grills. Water is not provided at this campground. This is a "pack it in, pack it…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:38 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $5 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“All change and cancellation requests should be done through Recreation.gov.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:38 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 sites
All 12 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 12 of the 12 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| East Creek Campground | 1 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 10 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 11 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 12 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 2 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 3 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 4 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 5 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 6 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 7 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 8 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
| East Creek Campground | 9 | standard nonelectric | $5 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bird Creek CampgroundHumboldt National Forest · 2.3 mi
Timber Creek CampgroundHumboldt National Forest · 6.8 mi
Cleve Creek CampgroundBristlecone Field Office · 21 mi
Ward Mtn. Campground (Murray Summit)Humboldt National Forest · 26 mi
Wheeler Peak CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 38 mi
Upper Lehman Creek CampgroundGreat Basin National Park · 40 miThe East Creek Campground is located approximately 20 miles from Ely, Nevada. Travel north on Highway 93 to the town of McGill. From McGill, go north approximately 3 miles on Highway 93 to the Duck Creek Basin turnoff. Proceed east on Duck Creek Basin Road and turn left at the sign for East Creek Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for McGill, NV
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 7°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
East Creek Campground is in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Mark Amodei (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →