Utah Camping Advice

I've been traveling/camping around southern Utah for about 20 years. Zion, Brice and Capital Reef are amazing, but you'll never avoid the tourist campers in any of those areas! Just gonna have to suck it up. If you want to get away, there are plenty of places for that. Take a drive down Lockhart Basin from Moab, head over Elephant Hill in the Needles, and up into Beef Basin and the Abajo Mtns.


Beef Basin Camp

The Needles

There are some tough spots on Lockhart Basin

 

So many places to camp for free or in self registration sites. I camp from NF to NF and BLM. National Parks are different, some have first come first serve Self Registration sites and reserved pay sites. Read up on National Forest camping. Even If you use the self registration sites it's never more that about $15night, most are cheaper in NF. If Disperse camping the NFS would rather you use sites already established by previous campers. That's what I try to do, find a fire ring somewhere nice and set up.

 

developed camp sites on US Forest property.......some may be a fee......

on your honor system...$4-5 night........expect a table...fire ring...pit toilet

other wise...BLM property..click link.......off course pack it in/pack it out !

yes....too many Mormons went skiing last year on Sunday......no snow yet this year...

but coming sooon....last winter was a M E G A ......225% plus !

So yes...purty much camp where you wish....always nice to use existing fire rings

https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/BLM Camping Guidelines.pdf

 

Utah snowpack link

pic.....camp away........don't sleep walk....

https://www.ksl.com/?nid=978

 

Well, here is one reason.

 

Dam what happened there toucan, somebody take a pot shot at you.

 

That happened at Little Hole on Green River. Found an empty beer can and bullet in the back of the truck after coming back from fishing. Found the hole the next morning and and called the cops. They never found out anything about who did it. Went through my cooler and took out a bottle of whisky, too!

 

Funny thing is, there are hundreds of people parked at that place during the day, FS hosts and guide service people. Nobody reported gunshots. And no, it wasn't from my pistol. It was found to be from a .45. I carry a .40.

 

But was the river fun.

 

Oh, hell yeah. Lots of fish!

 

Oh good, you’re talking about my mountains now.



Careful, I know what you drive.

 

Lol, used to.

 

Bastard must of been a toyota hater lol

 

I dont know what happened. I thought maybe some one was trying to unload their piece and it went off. Someone still should have heard. I never fixed it either. Just welded a slug over the hole and sold it that way years later. Told the guy it was way more authentic than a sticker. Anyway, you never know what might happen when you are out in the boonies.

 

"dueling banjo player mountain men" ... LOL. It's Utah (85% dirt and rocks), not Tennessee. Really nothing to worry about here except for the overly polite Mormons.

 

thanks for the discussion folks. It's very helpful. My time in Utah will be March 1st though the 8th. I may pound out the whole 15 hour drive in one shot and stay at an organized campground since it will be dark when I arrive. I'm thinking Quail Creek campground because of it's proximity to I15. I'm meeting a friend the next day we will disperse camp near a few different mountain bike trail heads in the area for the rest of the stay. I'm then driving south and picking up the wife in Vegas. One night in LV and then to Southern AZ form my mom's birthday. Back home camping and hoteling through California. It will be a two week trip.

 

My brother lives in Layton and that is a great jump off point for all of the NP and SP in the west. We have been everywhere in Utah but the real hidden gem for us was Mirror lake in the Uintas mountains in the northeast corner of the state. We spent 10 days at about 11000 feet. Heavy frost every nite and beautiful 70 degree days. 3 or 4 kinds of Trout are stocked so it was fish fried for breakfast. Talk about quiet.

 

Ssshhh! Nothing to see there...................... except some of the most amazing terrain in Utah. You do have to push into the bush in places and its not easy to get to but the reward is the beauty most don't or can't see. My favorite is the Red Castle lakes.

 

It looks like a Red Castle or something hahaha. Everyone should just stick to park city, its prettier there anyways!