UTAH (and Surrounding Areas) BS Thread

Thanks, I'm applying for one in May for my trip, its a lottery so if I don't get drawn, I wont be seeing it. I'll keep the Vermillion Cliffs in mind if not!

Thanks for the info! Basically I want to make it where I can wake up, look out my tent, and see some awesome scenery. Grand Canyon, Zion, etc! I don't want to wake up and see my neighbor at a campsite so I want to make the best of that most of the time I'm driving around.

 

For sure. Totally understand.

Zion will be tricky because it's such tight quarters and a smaller national park. You're going to be hard pressed to find anything for dispersed camping. There are two campgrounds at the south entrance. "Watchman" and "South". Watchman is reservations. South is first-come first-serve. Be sure you have cash to pay for those. If you're going in September, you might be able to find good camping. During the summer, this place is PACKED. You might be able to find a good tree area where you won't see your neighbors.

I'm looking at your map and noticed antelope canyon. You might want to sleep at Lake Powell. That's what I did last time.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/L...1558af8be7f526!8m2!3d37.0196014!4d-111.542387
Lone Rock Beach. You pay to get in. (I think they take plastic). BUT, you get to sleep on the beach and wake up to the sunrise on Lake Powell. Granted, when I did that, I was decently close to other people and could see everyone else there but I think that's well worth it. That way you can hit up horseshoe bend and antelope canyon. Make sure you get reservations for antelope canyon. There are two companies that do tours.

Havasu Falls is gorgeous HOWEVER, you aren't allowed to day hike to it let alone take your car. You have to get permits to camp there (good luck getting permits. They open on Feb 1st for reservations) or stay at the hotel in Supai, AZ. It's all Reservation land. It's a 60 mile drive from the main highway to the trailhead to get to supai, AZ where havasu falls is located. MIGHT want to seriously reconsider this one. Not to mention the 10 mile hike through canyons to get to Supai, AZ. It's definitely a tricky one if not, THE trickiest on your list to get to.

Bryce canyon has a few camprounds. I just drove through it once. Haven't ever camped there. I'm not sure what the camping situation is around/outside the park. It's pretty desolate so I'm sure you can find some BLM land out there. You'd have to check the maps.

If you're going to Moab, you can camp in the La Sal National Forest on the side of the road. Fair warning, it gets cold up in the mountains especially in september. Bring cold weather gear. There are also plenty of campgrounds outside of Arches or Canyonlands. If not, you can go find some BLM land around that you can disperse camp...your tacoma should be able to handle most of the trails just fine.

I HIGHLY recommend going through moab, to see Arches at the very least. Hike up to "Delicate Arch". It's beautiful and very well known. If you can hit Canyonlands, Mesa Arch is about a 1/2 mile hike and easy to get to. Not to mention all the other hikes you can do there. Fair warning, a lot of Canyonlands is actually only accessible with some serious off-roading gear.

ALSO, if you spend the night in MOAB, go to Dead Horse Point and look at the night sky. It's one of the Certified Dark Sky places.

Hope that helps. These are all just me speaking from my personal experience.

 

If you’re camping in Moab in a park like dead horse point and your of trail and not at a desegnated camp sight you are required to bring a portable toilet

 

Thanks a whole bunch man. Lots of killer information that i can use to make my trip even better! Havasu was up in the air do to time constraints anyway. Antelope i plan on bookimg a tour, and the wave I'm going to try the raffle in May. Thanks again for taking your time to give me some info, greatly appreciate it.

 

But animals poop in the woods??? A shovel won't work!? Lol

 

I hate finding human turds, it’s gross. Not saying you wouldn’t bury it but there’s always that one douche, I can see why they have the rule.

 

@MedlinAround No problem at all man. Glad I could be of some help. Come enjoy everything Utah has to offer! Excited for you to come out and have fun out here! Just remember, "Leave no trace" and everyone will appreciate that.

 

Yea, I agree. Granted, some areas you can bury your droppings, others you're required to take a portable potty solution. But I totally agree. There's always one douche.

 

Re: Zion. If you camp in Watchman or South CGs, you will see your neighbors. 2 loops in Watchman are being renovated and look good from what I saw last week. It is reservation only most of the year. Currently there’s a few vacancies each night.

South CG will be turning into 1/2 reserved, half walk-in in the near future.

Presidents weekend starts the shuttle system back running. And it’s packed from there on out, thru summer.

For a way out of the way camp, try Lava Point, walk up only. No trailers allowed on the road to it, so tents only. And less than 2 dozen spaces. It’s in the middle of Zion away from all the tourons.

I also like the small CG at Cedar Breaks Natl Monument. A couple dozen sites, half reservable, at 10,000 feet. Not many campsites are that high.

 

@MedlinAround if you are willing to camp just outside of Zion NP itself, I know a few good places that you could go to that have "wake up scenery"

Here is where we camped for Red Bull Rampage: https://goo.gl/maps/8UD9AFHWPkN2 It is a huge loopish thing. Even if there are others on the loop, you probably won't see them. It is quite close to the park entrance / Springdale. Check out the Whiptail Grill in Springdale. They have amazing smothered burritos!



You could also go to Gooseberry Mesa. Zion would be a 30-45 min drive from here, but would be a lot more dispersed and generally more enjoyable, which is what I think you are REALLY looking for. Look through the trees over my hood. You can actually see the mouth of Zion from the top of Gooseberry Mesa! https://goo.gl/maps/97zVcy7CEXn This link will give you a direct pin to one of the best sites on the mesa.

 

Thank you sir, this is what I'm looking for!

 

they call that rock formation that looks super phallic "Old Stony" hahahahha

 

Ha ha ther every where down there pecker wood rock!!!

 

+1 for white pocket, its is an amazing landscape and I highly suggest it. Burly drive in sand to get there but once you are there it is phenomenal. The wave is ultra popular and I thini it is unlikely you will recieve a permit. If you do not want to go to white pocket go hike into Buckskin gulch via wirepass trailhead, it is also amazing.

Another amazing campsite is alstrom point by lake powell and page, Az. If you wish to drive a really long, poorly maintained dirt road you can drive from Hole in the Rock Road (Spooky/Peekaboo slot canyon hike) from Left han collet road -> croton road -> alstrom point. Its beautiful, just burly.

Buckskin via wirepass (note humans for scale)

Camp at sunset at whitepocket

White pocket
White pocket
Double Barrel Arch Found right off the road on the way to white pocket
Alstrom point

 

Thanks for all this helpful info. The next step is to plan my route from Zion up through Moab. The best route with some views. I'd prefer not highway/main road miles as long as its crossable, I need to get back to the desktop and google earth!

 

Make sure you go over highway 12 or hells backbone by Escalante, check out the Burr Trail as well, you could also drive up and over the henry mountains at that point, poison springs canyon and happy canyon is cool and you could get to the maze if you want to get really out there (horseshoe canyon, 5-hole arch are also out that direction). From there hop on i-70 for an hour, exit at 191 and youll get to moab.
here is a map I made that has a lot of info if you want to look up some of the spots I mentioned.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tvtpqPJtJV4o6KVtr2BLKFMgUbU&usp=sharing

 

I definitely want to hit Escalante on my way through! You sir, are a life saver. Looks like a good route! I've seen the calf creek falls and was wanting to swing by there on my way but didn't know if there was a route to go close by! You've gotten me even more excited for my trip now.

 

If you do go to white pocket, know how to drive in sand. I did it in a stock sus / mild a/t tires tacoma but I had friends just in case. Just stay on the gas and you can kinda plow through the thick spots.

There is a gate right before the white pocket parking area that had some WICKED washboard right after it when I was there. It was only about 2 tacomas long, but the rollers were ~4-6 inches high and perfect tacoma wheelbase spacing. "Items in the overhead bin may have shifted in-flight " AKA, I launched a loaded 65L RTIC, bounced off the bottom of my RTT and then landed on its side. I was doing ~5MPH maybe...

 

Another great short hike right by calf creek is called Phipps wash. Super easy/mellow hike but it does require basic route finding abilities. https://www.roadtripryan.com/go/t/utah/escalante/phipps-wash
That site is extremely helpful and its free to join, if you want to hike look through the site I linked above.

 

Just downloaded that app supper cool