Cathedral Gorge State Park Campground

General: 24 sites, all with 50-amp electric hookups, a covered picnic table, and grill (two are ADA accessible). There are also several “overflow” spaces with no hookups and two group sites (there were AmeriCorps volunteers in these sites when we were there). The only sites that are reservable are the group sites. 

Site Quality: All are level, and the surface is gravel. Some are pull-through, some back-in, and some can easily accommodate two vehicles. Many were a bit close together with minimal foliage separating them. If you can get it, IMO the best site is 14; it has unobstructed views on one side. 

Bath/Shower: Basic but clean. Shelves for toiletries and small but noisy hand dryers, but NO soap. One shower looked okay but didn’t use it. 

Activities: Explore the slot canyons! These narrow canyons cut deep into the old muds that millions of years ago were at the bottom of the lake. Exploring these was so much fun! There are also six hiking trails, ranging in distance from .5 mile to 6 miles. We hiked to Miller’s Point, taking the steep stairs others have mentioned. If you want to go but don’t want to hike, you can drive - there is a parking lot at the top! 

We had been apprehensive that the campground would be full but on a Tuesday at the end of March, it was only one-third full, making our stay peaceful and quiet (it might be a different story if the campground was full). We had planned to spend two nights here but the second day was forecasted to bring rain, wind, and snow so we decided to find a campground in less inclement weather.

We have a 36’ Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow and stayed in site 23 for 3 days in early May. The CG is 1st come, 1st served, and very small, just 22 sites- some sites are small and some will accommodate larger RVs. All of the sites were occupied when we arrived, but there are two dry overflow areas you find out about after cruising the CG, and two ADA sites that can be occupied if all of the other sites are taken(Last to Fill rule), so we ended up in one of those. We try not to use ADA sites, but didn’t really have any other options. The CG and overflow areas stayed full while we were here, even mid-week. There are 2 showers in the bathhouse by the ADA sites, which are coin operated, so have a quarter ready for each 5 minutes, but you’ll lose the first minute waiting for the water to get acceptably hot. Not sure if the other bathhouse is coin operated too or not. The shower spray is acceptable, but the nozzle could stand some cleaning to produce a better spray. There are a couple of nice trails in the park as well. 

AT&T coverage was marginal, with 2-3 Bars of 5GE service, but speeds only up to about 0.8 MB/s. There were only a few tall trees, but none obscuring our view to the North or SW, so we were able to get DISH coverage on all three western satellites at our site. We didn’t use the CG WiFi as we had an unobstructed view to the North and so had great Starlink coverage, with speeds up to 18 MB/s. We didn’t try the OTA antenna.

I want to start off by saying I was never able to check with a park ranger and ask how the overflow camping is technically supposed to work but here was my experience. I arrived at the campground around 5pm on a Friday night and everything was full. After driving around for a bit I saw signs for Overflow camping. There appeared to be two sections where overflow camping is permitted. I will post pictures of the one I stayed in over by the slot canyons and day use areas. Since my setup does not require a tent and is super easy to move around. I was able to use the camp fire rings at the day use area for dinner, s’mores, and star gazing. It was actually lovely because the noise of the busy campground was far away and I had the entire day use area to myself. Then after I put my fire out I drove back over to the overflow parking spot. If you are in a Van or similar car/suv setup this may be an option for you if the campground is full. Also, I was still able to use the showers at the campground and use the bathrooms at the day use area so that was nice :)

Stayed for a couple of nights in April 2021. The campsite is pretty small and also popular, so get there early! We'd gotten some advice to arrive between 9:00 and 11:00 AM. Turned out to be great advice! We arrived at 10:30 and had several sites from which to choose. It wasn't long after we set up to see that the remaining available spots had disappeared quickly. Rigs continued to circle through for the rest of the afternoon. They have an "overflow" area, but there are no power hookups there.

The restroom/shower was clean, but there is only one shower stall in each of the restrooms. It wasn't a problem for us, since most of the rigs there had their own facilities. The app says the campground has water hookups, but it does not. The have potable water stations, where you can fill your tank before setting up, but no hookups at individual sites.

Seems like most of the folks were locked inside their trailers by 8:00. We were one of maybe three sites that actually had a fire and s'mores! It was quiet and peaceful in the evenings.

During the day, we explored the adjacent slot canyons. They are beautiful and a great way to escape the heat! Most are great for kids to explore, but be careful as we found one had a sudden vertical shaft straight down. Gorgeous for sure, but just watch your kiddos!

We highly recommend this cozy spot if you're in the area!

Ok so where do I begin... after reading the reviews raving about how amazing this place was, i couldn’t wait to check this place out!! And it turns out I can definitely agree with how breathtaking these little Cathedral sand, rock creations are... how in complete awe struck I was with how Mother Nature is the baddest bishh ever!!! On a side note When you first pull in there is a pull through dump station anyway back to what I was saying lol... After driving through this amazing state park we took our kiddos through the moon caves and the walls were ice cold, some places get very small but I’m a plus size mama and fit right in with a little tuck of the gut.. a really neat experience for our children and we had so much fun turning corners and finding our way back to the start. When I walked out the caves I touched the sand and it was the softest sand/dirt I have ever touched.

A really lovely place for sure.

The reason I gave this camp site a 4 is because I’m not liking having to pay for showers when you are already paying for a camp spot and to get into the campsite... I mean sure it’s just a few quarters and super convenient but not sure why there even charging for that.. anyway with that being said bring quarters if you like to shower!! Also they were clean, not as clean as some other places but decent for sure! Also majority of campsites had hook ups, water near by and they all had tables and awnings, with lantern holders which I really thought was cool. They do have a nice group camp area with horseshoe areas so bring your horseshoes and tether ball... I haven’t played tether ball in so long it was cool for sure to do that with my son. But really well kept, desert landscaped, camp spots.

Carpe diem.. thanks

Nice and quiet campground in an interesting state park. We went for site #4, which was in the interior part of the single-loop campground. The bathrooms were a short walk over a hill shortcut or you could walk the campground loop road to them.

Bathrooms are clean with a single shower. I had no problem with hot water, but the campground was not busy on the Monday after Fourth of July and it was hot out. It was nice to be able to get off the dust!

We had checked out another site on the outside part of the loop (#12, if I remember correctly) and it had a nice tent space, but ours could easily fit two small tents and possibly up to three if you did not have a fire.

There was an electrical hookup box, but the regular plug-ins were blocked, so we were unable to use it to charge our phones. (There was like a plastic insert blocking the plugs.) I didn't have an RV-style plug to try.

People were good about turning off their generators at 10pm.

There are a few trails that go off from the campground to explore the local area and its slot canyons. A nice afternoon excursion if you have the time. Pretty flat trails, though the one we took had been washed out in places. Just follow the trail posts up the dry stream beds in those parts and you'll be fine.

Beware of flash flooding in this region. I know the campground was caught in a flash flood in July of 2018 because of video online, so just be aware of that. From the news coverage, this does not seem to be a common event.

I would definitely come back to this campground.