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.
Ten miles of washboard-y gravel road off of Utah 121. Not worth it as it turns out. A very full open-top trash barrel in the middle of the camping area and not even a porta-potty. Some cool big boulders at the edge of the camping area, but otherwise nothing interesting. Update: The signs were (IMO) misleading. I am not at the official camping area. In the morning I chose not to subject the van to 10 more miles of this bumpy, dusty road, so I will probably never know what it's really like. :)
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.
On a hill, some sites have a great sunset view. New and very well laid out
Pleasant, well laid out, reasonably priced campground.
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.
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!
Coming north on Utah 95 from Blanding you drive through a deep cleft in the rock, and when you emerge is a breathtaking panorama. That is Comb Wash. It is BLM land, there is a dusty road down it's length, and it is ok to camp there.
Pretty name, but kind of a dusty little trailer park of a campground. It felt like a lot of folks there are semi-permanent residents. There is a tiny creek. A short walk up the hill is the town of Mantua, where there is a reservoir and a swimming beach. The full service town of Brigham City is a right down the hill.
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.
on a little creek near the busy road = occasionally sketchy neighbors
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)
Somewhere between Natural Bridges NP and Lake {Powell (Hite UT) there is a sign to turn off for a Historical Marker. On that turnoff there is at least one really quite nice place to camp. There was already a fire ring, so I know it's OK! A couple of miles south of the Jacobs Chair sign.
On lovely Williard Bay, the northeastern, freshwater(!) arm of the Great Salt Lake.
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.
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.
Tidy little place near the center of a tidy little Mormon town.
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.
Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, there were a few sites available at 3pm. I got what I hope is the least nasty. Bless my van for being tall enough to generate its own shade.
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!
A few short miles up the canyon from lovely Logan UT. The next campground up, Spring Hollow sounded nicer, but was FULL on Labor Day Friday. My modest little campground is NOT reservable, so there were still two of the ten sites available. I feel lucky.