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2025

Spots in Utah

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  • Rock Corral
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Milford UT
  • 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. :)

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Swasey’s Beach Campground
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Green River UT
  • Twelve miles north of the town of Green River, on the Green River. A nice swimming beach, boat ramp, dramatic formations of the Book Cliffs in all directions.

  • Preston Creek Campground
  • Cache National Forest, Logan UT
  • on a little creek near the busy road = occasionally sketchy neighbors

  • 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.

  • Sunset Campground
  • Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon City UT
  • The campground itself is kinda noisy, but it's a better camping experience than Yellowstone, because you can walk to the lodge and the canyon rim.

  • 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.

  • 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!

  • Marble Motel
  • private business Tremonton UT
  • Tidy little place near the center of a tidy little Mormon town.

  • Bridger Campground
  • National Forest, Logan UT
  • 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.

  • Mystic Hot Springs
  • private business Monroe UT
  • There is one big pool with a little waterfall, then up the hill are some bathtubs for your own private soak overlooking the wide valley. Really cool setup. Camping area is 200 yards down the hill. The pools are spectacular and the actual camping area is pleasant but rest of the property is extremely derelict. Walking up the crappy trail to the bathtubs in flip flops is hard for a 70-year old. It's pretty dangerous coming back down in wet flip-flops! Electric hookups and tent/van sleeping seem to be the same price.

  • 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.

  • Sandcreek RV Park and Campground
  • private business Torrey UT
  • Pleasant, well laid out, reasonably priced campground.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Sunglow Campground
  • Fishlake National Forest, Bicknell UT
  • 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.

  • 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!

  • Rodeway Inn
  • Rodeway Inn, Cedar City UT
  • Very basic motel on Center St, about five blocks south of Center and Main, the core of any good Mormon town. A lot of semi-permanent residents. Not really sketchy, just poor. Indoor pool and jacuzzi were very nice.

  • Comb Wash dispersed
  • BLM, Blanding UT
  • 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.