Utah National Parks

[deppstein]

My wife (Deborah) and I are headed out to Utah for a month-long visit to those National Parks mid September through mid October--Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and Capitol Reef. The advance reservable park that I had my eye on at the entrance to Zion is already booked! Yikes. Does anyone have a good recommendation of other places to camp in the area? We like to tuck into the more remote sites, and avoid RV Hell at all costs. No need to hook-up, as we are outfitted with both solar and a very quiet 1000 watt Honda Inverter Generator (for quick charge of the Copenhagen Wheel Electric Assist Bikes).
All suggestions, most appreciated.
David

[pdemarest]

Hi David - we visited all 5 of Utah's National Parks but weren't in an RV at that point but I do have some info about Capital Reef. Since you are set up for dry camping you'll find several spots in Capitol Reef that allow for primitive camping and these are "first come, first served". We only saw two campers on the whole 75 mile loop. The road itself is not paved and can be rough in some spots but going slow and running your tires at a softer pressure should deal with that issue. Allow about 3 hours to drive the whole loop. The big issue is that the entrance to the loop requires you to drive through a shallow river. The crossing is a bit tricky so you should get out of your rig to check the depth of the river as well as to note where the road continues on the other side of the river as it is not a straight path. The river bed itself seemed to be comprised of small rocks so there was never a point where you sink into the sand. We did this three times (once with my wife waiting on the bank to see if I'd be washed away, one with her and one a week later when I decided I had to have a photo of our Navigator crossing the river!).

One other thing to be aware of is that the Moab/Canyonlands/Arches area has frequent 4 wheel drive related events that fill up motels, campgrounds restaurants and crowd nearby parks. Check the Moab events calendar to make sure you avoid these problems. If you have time there are several places that rent off road vehicles so you can try out some of the many trails in the Moab area.

Have fun!

[A Rooney]

If you are by Bryce I have stayed at Kodachrome Sp,i think it was a tad $$ for my typical stay but extremely quiet and pretty with friendly folk and trails.Regardless of how quiet the Honda seems compared to Onan it would still be restricted during the quiet time there after 10pm.Rooney

[deppstein]

Thanks Paul and Rooney for the suggestions. The "Loop" at Capitol Reef sounds right up our alley...our end of camping with some adventure thrown in for good measure. And Kodachrome is now at the top of our list! I also appreciate the heads-up about Moab "Events." I remember the town from my river running days (we did the Green through Desolation and Grey Canyons in an open canoe with support raft--was a hoot!).
David

[chin_k]

We looked into camping in Zion area, and I heard the South Campground has a two-weeks window for reservation. So if you plan two weeks ahead, it is very likely that you can make a reservation there.

[deppstein]

Yes, I read same about South Campground at Zion and do plan on seeing if we can sneak in via the "two-week" window. Other than that, the previous suggestion of Kodachrome Basin looks to be best second choice. Will probably make a multi-day reservation there for exploration of Bryce and surrounds, then move on up to Capitol Reef before trying to get a spot at South.
Again, thank you all for these good comments and suggestions.
David