Camping Guide to Moab, Utah
Bring your sleeping bag and throw it down for one of the quietest nights of sleep to be had or find a spot to park your RV.
If you arrive late in Moab, you will want to consider reserving a place to stay. Te campsites operated by local business people have flushing toilets, showers, drinking water spigots and hook-ups at your disposal. Te developed camping in Moab provides 468 tent sites, 771 RV sites with hook ups and 118 camp cabins. Reservations with these campgrounds in Moab, especially during weekends or late arrivals, will decrease your anxiety for finding a place to rest for your adventure in Moab Utah.
Arches National Park has 53 campsites available seasonally in the Devil’s Garden Campground. Half are closed in the winter. Te camping in Arches is now reserved on line at
www.recreation. gov website. Te campground has flushing toilets in the restrooms and an occasional spigot for filling drinking water containers is interposed throughout the campground. Tere are no hookups for RVs. Tese reserved national park campsites fill up two months at a time, so plan ahead. Backpacking, on the other hand, is not oſten sought aſter in Arches. A free backcountry permit to backpack and camp is readily available. Inquire in person at the Visitor Center. It is open 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. April through October. Hours shorten to 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. November through March.
Backcountry use in Canyonlands National Park requires a fee and permits. In Canyonlands, visitors may camp by river raſting or canoeing, 4WD or mountain bike trails, or backpacking. Reservations for backcountry permits can be made the second Monday of July for the following year if you like to plan well in advance. Reservations cannot be made within two weeks of a date. In this situation apply in person at the applicable Visitor Center. Te Maze District camping is only available by backcountry permit. Te Island in the Sky and Needles Visitor Centers are open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Maze’s Hans Flat Ranger Station is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For front country camping use, the Island in the Sky district has 12 primitive campsites at Willows Flat. Bring your own water. A pit toilet is erected in the Willows Flat campground. Te 26 sites in the Needles District of Canyonlands are divided between two loops. Squaw Flat campground has drinking water. Some of the sites are adequate for
shorter RVs willing to park with no hook ups. Pit toilets are located in the campgrounds. Flushing toilets are housed at the Needles Visitor Center. Te Visitor Center is not immediately close to the campgrounds. Both districts have fire rings in the sites. Collection of wood is forbidden in the parks. Te front country of Canyonlands National Park camping is on a first-come-first-served process. No reservations are taken, except for the group sites. Plan to arrive around 3 PM for the best chances of acquiring one of these park campsites. If you arrive too late, understand that there are reasonable alternatives nearby.
Te Bureau of Land Management has 432 campsites located within 24 additional campgrounds dotting the surrounding canyons of Moab. Pay attention to informational signs for more campgrounds as you drive to the National Parks of Moab. Decide to nab one of these in route or plan to back track if the park campground is full.
Te Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites will have pit toilets, picnic table, and fire rings. Tere is no firewood collection allowed. Te BLM has 87 additional designated camping spots marked with a brown post and a tent symbol. Tese require the user to have a toilet. Bring your own or rent a camp toilet from Canyon Voyages, Tag-A-Long Expeditions, or Tex’s Riverways of Moab. Sometimes, the Moab stores, Walker Drug or ALCO, have portable toilets for sale in the camping aisle too. Dump stations are available at Dead Horse Point State Park, most of the commercial campgrounds and the Farm and City Store (formerly Quality RV) at 850 South Hwy 191 in Moab. Tese 87 sites are located in the Picture Frame Arch area, along the Gemini Bridges Road in Bride Canyon, near the Kane Creek crossing on Kane Creek Road, near Ten Mile Wash and in the area of Dubinky Road.
Dead Horse Point State Park can be reserved online too. Te 21 RV sites have hook ups, there are 21 tent sites, flushing toilets, picnic tables, drinking water spigots and fire rings. Bring your own firewood. Bundles of firewood are for sale at the grocery and convenient stores of Moab for around $4.99 a bundle. Bring plenty of water as there will be no water available at BLM campgrounds. Te shop, Gear Heads, and Moab’s gas stations are amenable to filling water containers. Arches National Park’s Visitor Center has a complimentary water station row of spigots available to fill water containers too.
Camping in the Moab area conjures azure skies, serene landscapes and a gateway to discovery. Find out more about pet friendly camping, shower options, appropriate RV lengths per campsite and contact information on
www.discovermoab.com.
RVT 148 • JULY/AUGUST 2012 59
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