Its my favorite place on the river for all the reasons you give. It is not crowded at all. You can boat on the warm lake waters or take a drive upstream through the canyon and even all the way up to Boulder Dam. Be careful and go slow if you go that far. Its narrow with a lot of rocks. If you are brave, take a dive into the water up there. It will shrink your nads down to the size of peas eek! The draw backs are the lack of places to stay. It is next to impossible to get a place there so you either have to camp or stay in Searchlight. After driving forever to get to Laughlin, I'd rather not drive any further so I just stay at Cottonwood and camp but to each his own.