Utica/Union Reservoirs

I stayed at Sandy Flat Campground for two nights. The only reason I gave this two starts is because it has a good launch area for paddle craft and Utica Reservoir is lovely. For $16 a night I got a place to park my van, a broken picnic table, vault toilets swarming with flies, no garbage removal, no campground host, no drinking water. Next time, I’ll launch my kayak and paddle to an island to camp. It has to be nicer than the campground.

We've been coming to Utica and Union for years. Weekdays are the best if you want to find an actual campsite and avoid most of the crowds. Saturday nights are terrible now as lately large groups overcrowd campsites and party into early Sunday morning. The lake and area is beautiful with excellent trails into the Carson/Iceberg Wilderness and great for water activities. There is a lot of trash and litter, so please bring an extra trash bag just to help clean-up after others. No potable water, and you need to pack your trash out to the containers a few miles away at the crossroads.

I really enjoy these two lakes. One of my "go to places" when I have several days to go camping. We recently drove up to see this years conditions and was met with a huge filthy hoard. There were 5+ tents in each camp site spilling into each others. As if that wasn't bad enough, there were literally hundreds of people camping all along the lakes. Tents on boulders 4x4 vehicles parked off road on boulders, there wasn't a square inch of space not filled with some type of tent, tarp, lean to, or other type of shelter. There were so many vehicles you could barely navigate the narrow road and in some places you couldn't. To say I was appalled in an understatement. Trash and filth everywhere. Latrines emptying into the creek. Perfect place and condition for covid to inhabit.

I won't be back this year, maybe not next because it will take that long for nature to clean up after these slobs.

If you do not know how to care for our precious wilderness places, or don't care to, STAY HOME!