Virgin Valley Campground — Hotel in Alturas

Me and my partner were roadtripping on Memorial Day weekend when we got stranded a few miles away from this campground. We had zero cell signal and no one in sight to help us. We were able to start our car and drove back to this campsite to seek shelter. Luckily there was a campsite host who was more than willing to take us in!! Our lovely, “jewel of the desert”, a cute nickname we gave her, Tina was so gracious and kind enough to help us. Tina is an amazing host/human. She helped two stranded strangers traveling from Oregon. Two adults trying to roadtrip and camp along the way, stranded in the most beautiful way possible. We couldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for Tina. She quickly made us feel at “home” offered us food, drinks and made sure we had everything necessity wise. She’s a warm, kind, and welcoming person. Universe was on our side that weekend. We had a place to camp, clean restrooms, clean flittered drinking water!!!!!! A SHOWER WITH NATURAL WARM SPRINGS!!! We showered at least twice a day for the 2 nights and 3 days we stayed there. We also shared the campsite with Tina and had the best view. Can you guess what it was?? A FAMILY OF OWLS!! There were 4 baby owls and we owl watched our entire stay. I had never seen owls that close before so it was such a wonderful experience. Got to see the best sunsets. Also, got yummy treats from Tina. Did I mention she’s a an EXCEPTIONAL BAKER?! She baked us fresh apple fritters in her tiny camper home, which btw is good cute!! It felt like home :) she makes you feel at home. She LOVES popcorn with HOMEMADE GHEE!! She bakes everything from scratch. Who bakes goodies from scratch in the middle of nowhere???!!!! Our Jewel of the Desert! She’s the only one that can do that. I could keep going on and on and on about how wonderful of a person she is. She shared some of her amazing Europe trips stories with us, while eating some of that homemade ghee popcorn with grinded salt. Tina, I miss your popcorn ❤️ we miss you and we hope to come see you before you leave in October.

Anyway, after being stranded we finally got rescued by my friend and my brother. We drove back a week later to pick up my partner’s car. We brought some goodies for Tina. She loves dried mangoes, dark chocolate, popcorn (obviously), she could eat popcorn for days (I’m just saying if you ever want to bring anything for her from the town). We towed our car back and said goodbye to our Jewel of the Desert 🌵 we message her often to see how she’s doing. She’s been keeping us posted about the campsite and the lovely weather. We love you and miss you!! Thank you for making us feel at home, helping us with using your satellite phone, being so positive and kind to us. You kept our sanity while we were stranded. You brought so much ease and calm to us and we will NEVER forget this experience. You taught us a lot in such little time. I hope everyone has the same amazing experience, maybe not the stranded part hahaha, but if you ever want to get...

This was only our 2nd time at a BLM campground. Virgin Valley Ranch Road is dirt road off the I-140 leading to campground. First half mile a little rough then smooths out. Drive past the Refuge HQ about 1.5 miles to the campground. Sites are to the left, do not go right as that leads to the mines and private camping and very narrow, hard to turn around. No campground host when we were here. Only 3 other campers. There are quite a few actual 'sites' with fire rings and different kinds of picnic tables. But if they are all taken there is enough space to park/camp in between so long as you are not too close. Sites are kind of scattered and not really a pattern to placement or definition of individual sites. Three vault toilets. Even an official Little Library inside what looks to have been a wildlife watching blind at one time. The shower building is about 500sqft with benches and hooks, two shower heads which are continually flowing with water from the warm spring. Was actually not a half bad campground shower! The latch on the inside of the door is broken. I was going to fix it but my wife decided not to use the shower so I didn't. No shower curtains or interior stalls. Door to shower building needs a new frame and some roof work. This was a large open bay shower building built by the CCC. No privacy. There is a sign on the door you can flip to 'occupied' but ladies may not feel comfortable with the broken latch. Being prior military an open bay shower didn't bother me. Our fire ring was full of trash, as was the shower building. We packed it out. There are no trash cans or dumpsters here so you have to pack out your own trash. The setting here is high desert chaparral and scrub, not much in the way of trees. But still pretty. We opted for just one night and moved on. RV Life shows this as being in Winnemucca but it is actually in Denio. I counted 24 sites including the camp host. But there is plenty of space in between for extra campers. By 10pm there were 13 sites filled. Very unsafe, no police presence or...

We stayed at Virgin Valley our final night of a weeklong camping trip in the desert. It was probably my favorite stop on the entire trip.

Why?

That building next to the hot springs has showers in it 😍 After a week of staying in the desert and being covered in dust & sweat, that shower was heaven.

The shower pulls water directly out of the hot spring so you never have to worry about the water being ice cold.

The spring itself is more of a warm spring than hot making it perfect to get in year round. The majority of the Spring is only about 4 ft deep so it's perfect for swimmers of all experience levels and all ages.

There is only a pool ladder to get in and out of the spring so it's not suitable for anyone with disabilities unfortunately.

🔸Campground: The campground is maintained by a park host and very well kept. There are the pit-style toilets here as well so no need to wander off and dig holes. Campsites were large enough for us to fit several vehicles in. There are no hookups that I am aware of.

🔸Things to Do in the Area: This spring is surrounded by a nature preserve with trails going all over. About 5 miles away there is a place where you can mine for opals. Bogg Hot Springs is also close by

I highly recommend this spring as a place you must stop if you are traveling in the area. It is truly a beautiful area. Just remember, always watch for rattlesnakes and other wildlife when...