South Ruby Campground

I arrived the afternoon of Monday, Memorial day. By then the campground was nearly empty but it was obviousit had been a big weekend because the dumpster was overflowing with stinking bags of trash. Thankfully I was not camping anywhere near this spot.
The campground gives good access to the National Wildlife refuge. In the dawn hours you can hear the sandhill cranes from camp.

Having a kayak really enhanced our experience!

It is a nice campground and area. The only issue with our visit was a dead animal in the dumpster that was rather unpleasant for all campsites downwind.

Campsite 15 is listed as an RV site, but there was plenty of room for two tents.

I have been going to this campground for30+ years. The host is usually at least good, sometime great, rarely awful. We had friends there before us and then us that spanned about 3 weeks. Although the log was signed, the rest rooms WERE NEVER CLEANED. Ed had to ask for the trash to be emptied. The host had his young kids checking reservation placards- that was all they did.
The fish cleaning station is out if order which cities lazy people to put carcasses in the dumpster. That is disgusting!
The location of the dumpster also impacts the quality of the upper loop experience. We will be back and hope for a true host willing to do their job.

Unfortunately the FishCleaning station was closed and they had a trashcan right in the middle of the campground that stunk so bad! The Large Dumpster should not be located in the middle of the campground..
It used to be down near the Fish Cleaning station... Should be moved out of the camping spots... and FIX THE FISH STATION!

We really enjoyed our stay here. We reserved the double site and was able to secure a nearby site for the rest of our family upon our arrival. The campground was amazing as always.

We love the view and the ease in which we can back our trailer into spaces

Close proximity to the marsh and a quiet campground (except for the weekend) made it a great place to stay

South Ruby Campground is situated 79 mi south from Wells, NV or 94 mi north from Ely, NV and is within the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge; surrounded by cattle ranches, hay fields and national forest. It's a dry campground, and as you're so far away from anything, you want to fuel up, have black tanks empty and water/propane and fridge full. The only amenity in the campground was a dumpster at the end of the loop and a vault toilet. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring. The sites are surrounded with pine trees and semi-level.

The road to the campground follows part of the "Hastings Cutoff" of the Donner Party tragedy. The Ruby Lake Refuge has some roads into the marsh area that's great for fishing, waterfowl hunting and birding. Further down is the remnants of Ft Ruby (not much left) an Army post that was built to protect travelers on the Emigrant Trail to CA and the Pony Express route. There is a ranger station that has some maps outside the office, but we didn't go in. There's also a fish hatchery in the area but didn't appear to be open to the public.

It was peaceful and quiet, and we would stop again if in the area.

The place was kept up very well, no trash, nothing broken or damaged. Restrooms were clean. All in all, a most pleasant stay. (Fishing was super, too!)