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2025

Spots in Utah

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  • Bridge Hollow Campground
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service, Maybell, CO
  • Right on the beautiful and swift-flowing Green River. Migratory birds. Winter grazing for big game (elk, mule deer), the occasional moose they say. Biggest thing I saw was a dragonfly, but the place is beautiful and remote. Getting here entails about 20 miles of gravel road, most of it pretty nice. The rest is rough and washboardy.

  • Bryce View Campground
  • Kodachrome Basin State Park, Cannondale UT
  • Nine miles south of beautiful Utah 12. Yet another scenic red rock wonderland. Basin Campground is the main one, with a paved road, hookups and running water. This one is a short ways off on a gravel side road, pit toilet and no other amenities. But it's quiet and very pleasant.

  • Ouray National Wildlife Refuge
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ouray UT
  • Not at all interesting on this visit. I hope I caught them at a bad time of day in a bad time of year, because there was neither wildlife nor good infrastructure. Four or so miles into the auto tour loop the road was blockaded - no loop. They could have given some warning at the start of the tour that it was blocked. No wildlife of any kind visible to me. There is camping nearby at Pelican Lake

  • Horsethief Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab UT
  • This is where you camp when Island in the Sky is full ... which it always it. The method is to stop here on the way in, nail down a site then continue on another 20-odd miles to the Grand viewpoint ... then come back.

  • Pelican Lake Campground
  • BLM, Vernal Office, Ouray UT
  • Very hot here. But it's a dry heat. The lake sounds kind of underwhelming from the BLM page, but there is a boat ramp and picnic area which looks like it has the best morning shade in this whole godforsaken acreage. The actual campground is a few hundred yards up the road before the boat launch. Once the sun got low it was really very pleasant there. Hawks and owls hanging out in the tree at my campsite!

  • North Campground
  • Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon City UT
  • The other campground at Bryce, open longer into the fall. I like this one better, more convenient to the Lodge and Visitor's Center (wifi) and right next to the Rim Trail, which is what Bryce is all about.

  • Big Bend Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab UT
  • Heading north out of Moab, take a left before the Colorado River and head upstream. There are a string of BLM campgrounds along the river. This is the sixth one, about eight miles out. It is more deluxe than Drinks Canyon, it actually has a bathroom and a dumpster! Campsites here are bigger, RV sized, but equally Spartan -- a picnic table and a fire pit, that's it. But you are on the Colorado River!

  • Oak Grove Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab UT
  • One more in the string of handy, heavily used campgrounds up the Colorado River on Utah 128 from Moab. This one is past Drinks Canyon CG, and right before Big Bend CG. It's very small, 7 sites. So named I think, because sites 6 and 7 re hidden away in a little grove of scrub oak.

  • Crystal Hot Springs
  • private business Honeyville UT
  • Camping is expensive and the pools are extra, so not my thing. However just the pools is $5 for an old person, which IS my thing. There are: - three small pools ranging from very hot to way too hot. - one unheated pool for them kiddies - the biggest pool varies in temperature, see below. The big pool has three little waterfalls set up. The middle one is very hot, the left medium and the right cold. The left is always crowded, the right empty, and the middle always has an old dude or two planted under it.

  • Willow Creek Campground
  • Williard Bay State Park, Williard Bay UT
  • On lovely Williard Bay, the northeastern, freshwater(!) arm of the Great Salt Lake.

  • Devils Canyon Campground
  • Manti-Lasal National Forest, Monticello UT
  • On a hill, some sites have a great sunset view. New and very well laid out

  • Dixie dispersed
  • Dixie National Forest, Panguitch UT
  • bad: right next to a dusty, gravel road good: right next to a happily burbling brook I am here because the campground a mile away is closed for the season, so my hope is there won't be much traffic on this road tonight.

  • Oak Creek Campground
  • Fishlake National Forest, Torrey UT
  • Elevation 8,800'. Small, very handy campground in the high mountains Route 12 traverses between Boulder and Torrey. All the other campgrounds up here are closed for the season.

  • Green River Campground
  • Dinosaur National Monument, Jensen UT
  • Very hot here, tried to choose a site for morning shade. There is a nice trail up the river. Sunset against the mountains across the river is beautiful.

  • Dewey Bridge Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab UT
  • Right on the mighty Colorado River. Small, seven sites, a picnic area, and a boat ramp. Oh, and the ruins of the historically interesting Dewey Bridge across the road. pretty and quiet (at least the night I was here)

  • Drinks Canyon Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab UT
  • Heading north out of Moab, take a left before the Colorado River and head upstream. There are a string of BLM campgrounds along the river. This is the third one, about six miles out. It is three sections, the pay station is in the middle. A campsite consists of a picnic table and a fire pit close to a busy road, that's it. But you are on the Colorado River!

  • Waters Edge Resort
  • private business Garden City UT
  • Was called the Bear Lake Lodge until recently. The old motel seems to be some kind of doomed placeholder for a deluxe extended stay place "coming soon". Great location, the lake directly in back, pizza place to the north and a nice modern place that even serves beer to the south ... which turns out to be the same owners as the motel.

  • Sheep Creek dispersed
  • Uinta National Forest, Spanish Fork UT
  • Quite a nice semi-dispersed camping area. One mile off US 6 on paved Sheep Creek Road. A big field on a bluff overlooking the valley. It would be nice if they had a portapotty, but they don't.

  • Lodgepole Campground
  • Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Heber City UT
  • Elevation 7,800'. Across the valley from busy US 40. Open, well-maintained, paved roads. Pretty deluxe as these things go, but nothing to do that i could see. From here it's straight downhill for a long time to Heber City There's a resort with restaurant and store right up the hill, but you gotta drive to it.

  • Duke's Slickrock Campground
  • private business Hanksville UT
  • Campground, cabins, and a restaurant in the junction town of Hanksville. The campground is reasonably priced. The restaurant has frustrating service and indifferent food, but it's a short walk.

  • Sunglow Campground
  • Fishlake National Forest, Bicknell UT