Start your Moab adventure at the Big Bend Recreation Site. Located along the Colorado River, visitors enjoy a sandy beach, boat launch, river viewing areas, picnic tables, campsites, and group campsites. Adventurers also enjoy rafting the Moab Daily, a beautiful section of the river that includes several smaller rapids sections - perfect for all watercraft types.
Within close proximity to national parks and countless trails, outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy hiking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, and four-wheel drive tours in the surrounding area. The town of Moab is approximately 30 minutes away and has dining, shopping, sports rentals, tour companies and museums.

INDIVIDUAL CAMPSITES:
Campsites tucked along the "Big Bend" in the Colorado River Canyon. Individual sites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Three group sites are reservable through Recreation.gov. The campsites can accommodate tents, trailers and large RVs. many of the sites are located next to the Colorado River and are surrounded by imposing cliffs. Big Bend has a sandy beach, a river viewing area and accessible facilities. (Do not enter the river without the required life jackets; it has dangerous under currents.).

GROUP CAMPSITES:
The recreation site includes three group campsites that can accommodate tents, trailers, and large RVs. Sites A and B are beside the Colorado River. Site C is across Highway 128 in a side canyon, allowing for privacy and is ideal for small family gatherings or weddings. Each site includes fire grates, picnic tables, vault toilets, and shade shelters. The sites do not include potable water, dump stations, or electric hook ups. All three sites have spectacular canyon views. Reserve your site through Recreation.gov.

Big Bend Campground 

This is a great camp site that provides easy access to Moab. A bit close to the road but still offers some of the best scenery you can ask for. We used this as our base for rock climbing and enjoying the river for a few days in October. Great climbing and bouldering all along the canyon!

Stunning spot by the river

23 sites at this no frills BLM campground. You can use a vault toilet and dispose of your trash. That's it, but it's quiet and most of the sites are large. A few of them are side by side. Most are along the river side but there is some heavy brush to get through at some sites to actually get to the river. There is a small area that could pass for a beach.

We arrived at 9 am and waited for people to leave a site. More sites turned over during the day but the place filled up again.

#20 is large and private. See photo. Some of the sites look rocky for a tent but there are a few where you can get your tent into the brush area...hidden.

There are 3 group sites (reservable); one is across the road. There is also an overflow area across the road which was used by 1 RV and 2 tents when we were there. Met a couple in a rental RV who was getting desperate because this is the 6th of 7 BLM campgrounds within 10 miles of Moab on the river. There are 5 more beyond milepost 20\. Overflow area is still a fee area ($15, $7.50 with NPS senior pass).

Also across the road - a bouldering area.

Convenient camping along the Colorado River, close to Moab

There are so many campgrounds along the road into Moab, but we decided to stay at this once in the over flow area. The over flow was just a open area to set up your tent. No pre designated spots. We set our tent up right along the back border. We had an amazing view of the stars at night and woke up to the most amazing sunrise over the rock behind us. 

Great way to start our camping road trip! 

Big Bend is in a convenient location. During popular travel times, Big Bend is very busy and almost always full. It's a very popular place to camp. It's right next to U-128 (Noisy and well-used road into Moab). I always enjoy my time in the Moab area but definately appreciate a good location. This is a great site for a first time vistor or someone who doesn't enjoy remote (quieter) campgrounds.

Camp within view of the stunning red canyons & the Colorado River.

We rolled into the Moab area a bit late in the day, so were unable to snag a site at our preferred location. We were lucky to find a decent enough tent-camping spot in the Big Bend overflow area. Our friends who were car camping joined us later that night and it proved a really easy place to meet. Bathrooms and water access were located just a short walk across the street in the main Big Bend campground. Being riverside for a night was great, but the combination of wind through the valley and the close proximity to the road resulted in a lot of dust being kicked up. Overall, we recommend Big Bend if you want to be closer to Moab and by the river (great for a quick dip/rinse!).

Great riverside camping option!

Big Bend campground consists of a few large group sites right along the edge of the Colorado river. They're only about a 25 minute drive from Moab. The sites are perfect for large groups of campers, because they're pretty big. The sites have picnic tables and fire rings. It was awesome to just sit around the fire at night and listen to the river.

My favorite part about the sites is that there is a huge bouldering area right across the street. You can rent a crash pad for about $10 a day in Moab, so it's pretty inexpensive if you want to give bouldering a try. There are some nice routes for both beginners and experienced climbers. Be sure to pack plenty of water if you go in the summer though, because there's not really any shade.

Of course there's also Arches National Park nearby to explore. I could spend days in there and never get bored. Moab is a really cool town too. Be sure to explore the food, shops, and whatever else you can find.

perfect for large groups

There are trees that offer shade and some privacy. Some sites are better than others. It's very busy gets full quickly. Some noise from the road but not too bad. Definitely enjoyed staying there! 

On Colorado River with shade

Very primitive, has toilets. It’s a popular spot, right along the scenic route and the Colorado River. It’s pretty Quiet at night even though it’s along the roadway however, a tractor trailer or ORV at an odd hour can be disruptive to the peace. Perfect for tent camping but smaller spaces, so larger trailers wouldn’t do well here. Though there are some spaces that fit decent sized trailers. It’s a great spot so close to Arches, Canyonlands and tons of hiking and mountain biking trails. During the high season, these spots fill up so you’ll want to arrive early to scoop a space. The good news is that if you don’t find a spot here, there are lots of other options in the area that are first come first serve in which you might find availability... plus the surrounding BLM land.


Popular & central spot

We camped here in November and had an amazing time. It still got pretty full on the weekends, even though it was November, but if you get there in the morning there was usually a few spots open. We would definitely stay here again. 

Beautiful spot on the river

We were able to snag site 8 during a super busy Easter Jeep Safari week.  At $20 a night it was awesome! The actual tent site sits down from the road and the sounds of the Colorado River flowing just feet away was a perfect backdrop! Stunning canyon and river views, clean site, clean pit toilets, on site dumpster, we loved having this as our vase camp in Moab!

Amazing!

One of our favorite campgrounds we’ve stayed at on our cross country road trip. With Covid looming it was great to stay in a gorgeous campground with not a single other camper there with us. There were toilets and fire rings so it covered our basic needs. If there were showers I would give this campground a 5. The BEST part was the riverside beach down below the campsites. It was gorgeous waking up in the morning to the teal blue water with the breathtakingly beautiful rock formations behind us. Would stay here every time to go to Arches National Park even if there were cheap 5 star hotels nearby. 

Views of Paradise and Close to Arches NP

Was hotter than Hell on arrival,  but thankfully cooled down enough to need a light blanket in my tent. Pitched my tent closer to the river, stars were amazing. Traffic very minimal,  but starts early in the morning. Beautiful views &amp; nice to hear the water (Colorado River).

Nice views,  quiet,  & cool at night

Moab was poppin’ on a Wednesday when I came to town and I was SUPER lucky to snag the last available site here. It was super comfy, right on the river, and all of my neighbors were so nice. I ended up staying an extra two days! The view was serene, the stars at night were unreal, and it is only 15 minutes from town whenever you need to stock up on supplies. 

AMAZING little spot 

Obviously this is a tough place to camp because yes it is one of the busiest campgrounds in the area. I stayed across the highway at the overflow for two nights and was finally able to secure a spot at the actual campground. 

The camp host was very nice and very helpful
My spot was pretty level and easily accessed
No service for verizon or any other carrier i believe 
Well kept, clean and safe

Stunning view🤍

Gorgeous

Along the Colorado River right outside Moab lie many lovely, simple, riverside campgrounds that even in the early spring can be crowded. The BLM campgrounds offer a variety of individual and group sites with picnic tables, fire rings and varying degrees of privacy. The bathrooms are all pit toilets, and kept very clean. This campground offers trash and recycling bins, while some of the smaller campsites along the river do not. Water can be found at the town park 10 miles back down the canyon at the intersection with Hwy 191. Filtered drinking water can also be found (for free) at the outdoor gear store next to the grocery store in town.  There are no electrical hook ups at any campground along this stretch, but if you run on solar like we do, you'll never run out of power.

  

These campsites are awesome because of their proximity to the hiking, cycling, slick rock mountain biking, rock climbing and paddling opportunities that Moab is known for. The view from any campsite up and down the river is a stunner and makes you think that $20 a night is a pretty good bargain, despite some road noise on a busy weekend.

  

Moab offers all the amenities of a small town that thrives on tourism without the sprawling consumerism of the suburbs. If you can’t get it there, you probably don’t need it.  Arches National Park is a short drive up the road– get your entry reservations in advance from April to October. The Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park is within 45 minutes of downtown, as well as Dead Horse State Park. This area is an outdoor recreationists dream, and everyone knows it so plan ahead on those busy weekends in the spring and fall!

Gorgeous Views of the Colorado River

We were fortunate enough to score the last spot in the overflow sites across the street on a Friday afternoon. Our 16’ trailer squeaked into the spot- this would not be a good campground for larger rigs.

Our spot did not allow campfires but that was fine, as it was super windy. The canyon must be conducive to wind and it was howling for a good bit. I felt bad for folks in tents; we could hear their rain flys whipping about.

The sites are close to Arches NP and other solid hikes in the area. The vault toilets were clean and they had a dumpster for trash.