Needles Outpost at Canyonlands is a privately owned dry campground at the entrance sharing a border with the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah, just a mile and a half from the visitor’s center. The Needles Outpost combines the fun of rustic, primitive camping spots with a few modern conveniences.

The Needles Outpost can accommodate both RVs and tents. We do not reserve specific sites, and they are all first-come, first-served. Reserving a site guarantees you one. All sites are dirt pads. We only specify RV and tent sites so we know the sizes of RVs and we don’t fill up with larger RVs that wont fit in all the sites.

This is a quiet, private family campground with a bathhouse that has flush toilets and token-operated showers. We have Camping Rental Items (tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, cots, and coolers) available if you email ahead to reserve them. Visitors staying with us fall asleep the quiet desert and wake up to natural morning light shining on the Needles of the Canyonlands National Park.
Services

    86 Octane gasoline only
    General store where we sell firewood, ice, cold drinks, ice cream, camping supplies, camp food, snacks, and toiletries
    All sites include a fire pit and a picnic table
    No water, sewer, or power hookups
    Rental equipment: tents, bags, pads, charcoal grill, chairs

Needles Outpost Campground

This outpost offers supplies and clean bathrooms for all those staying there. Campsites are fairly close together but light pollution is low and most are in bed by 9:30\. Other sites are clearly visible as vegetation in the desert is low, but the access to Needles in Canyonlands is amazing! When I went in April, 2018 and did multiple hikes My favorite was a moderately hard Druid’s Arch hike. Campground was clean when we got there and there was plenty of wood around the campsite for two nights of fires. The one star taken off is for being able to see and hear neighbors. However, while you can see and hear neighbors, you can sleep well knowing that no wildlife will come inspect the campsite in the middle of the night. Overall, this was a great experience and an amazing jumping point for incredible hikes.

Steps Out of the Wild

In search of a camp spot outside of the Canyonlands Needles District we happened upon the Outpost after considering snatching a spot at Hamburger Rock (also great spot but blazing hot and little shade). Its hot this time of year - June - so we opted for the shade at the Outpost. We shared part of the large group site with another tent camper and felt like we really scored. (Though the other non group sites looked decent.) the campground was only half full which was great. With a bunch of RVs it might feel crowded. We had a great little nook up against the rocks with plenty of trees for shade and hammocks. We camped 2 nights ($21 per night). The campground has a store which was a bonus for ice and ice cream! The owners were very nice and apparently they just took over the place. The biggest downside were the showers. Not clean or inviting. With a little bit of elbow grease the bathroom could be way better and for a $3 shower it was fine but not awesome. The best part: we climbed up the rocks behind our site for 2 spectacular sunsets looking over the national park. The location of this campground is great - right next to the park entrance so we spent the day hiking and enjoying the park and it was nice to be close to camp. Overall would recommend this campground and hopefully they will tidy up the bathrooms to make it even better.

Great spot in this area

This was another stop on my national parks road trip. Had planned to hit Arches N.P., since Canyonlands N.P. was pretty much on the way, why not stop.

All of the campgrounds inside the park were full and I hadn't the time to backcountry camp, so I headed to a nice campground just outside the park; Needles outpost.

This worked out in my favor, as these grounds were open with plenty of sites available. The view from my tent was amazing and the sunset...

This campground has a little mom and pop store on sight with plenty of neccessities and a gas pump. It also has teepees for rent, showers and decent restroom facilities. This is a very good backup spot as I believe all of the sites inside Canyonlands are first come first walk up only. Definitely worth a stay if you are going to Canyonlands or Arches.

Not too hot to handle

This place was really really excellent. its mostly walk ins i believe. This place has something for the whole family. The coolest thing was the Teepees for rent. I can imagine some young kids would have a blast with that. Canyonlands and arches both are amazing. This campground gives you some sweet but set pics.

Enjoy and make sure you swing into the little store if you need anything. (a bit over priced)

Canyonlands rocks..

I'm sad to be the first non-five star review, but want to give folks a heads up about this campground so they can be prepared and hopefully have a great time.

First of all the drive out to the campground is really long, but beautiful. Make sure you have everything you need with you because your options are the outpost store and that's about it.

The campground is set up against some large rock formations. Those site set along the rock seemed to be nicer and more protected from the elements, but because of when we arrived to the campground we were limited to one of the more exposed sites.

Bathrooms and showers were pretty nasty. We had been on the road for days but both opted to hold off on showering because we were fairly certain we would have come out of the shower dirtier than we would have entered. Frankly I expected more from a private hosted campground.

The biggest issue for us was the sand and wind. The sand was super fine and got into everything. Upon arriving we started to set up our tent and at this point on the trip we had been car camping for a week so had the set-up and breakdown of our camp down to a science. Nevertheless after getting the tent set up very quickly and only opening the door to put a few pieces of gear in, there was a solid layer of sand inside the tent. We realized that rainfly or not, anything that was placed outside was going to get covered in sand. We opted to put some of our gear and cooler in the tent and we slept inside of the car.

Not sure what the solution would have been other than a solid-walled tent, maybe with a large closed off vestibule, but hope others might be able to bring gear to help minimize this issue. There were some other tent campers at the campground, but most folks had campers or RVs. My one thought is that the sites around the rock formations would have provided more protection.

Overall Canyonlands was beautiful and I wish we had spent more time there.

Great views, but exposed and sandy

Operated privately and inside the park. Tent and RV sites. Flush toilets, sink, coin operated showers. Host has a store with ice cream and essentials. Also sells the only gas ($6/gal) if you need it. We found the owners and extended family helpful and nice. Bathrooms could use renovation but they worked. Price was $23/night and sites included a fire ring and picnic table. We were encouraged to climb the red rock which encompasses the sites, which ended up being just as fun as exploring the park.

Near the Canyonlands Needles District.  Remote bit has the necessities. 

Great place if campsites nearby are full or you want to guarantee a spot. Small store if you forget something. 

Others have mentioned the bathroom issues, which weren't great, but it's a campground, in the desert, water is a limited resource out there.

Only services for miles!

One of the best campsites I've stayed at! This privately owned campground is owned by a very friendly couple and has a small amount of reservation-based sites. Most all of the campsites are fairly separated and secluded. The entire campground sits in-front of a huge red rock structure that is climbable and explorable making each (or at least campsite #4) feel infinitely large. The fact that the campgrounds faced west towards the sunset made for some amazing evenings. The couple that owns it is very friendly and nice, they have clean facilities, $3 showers and a mini market in the check-in house. Would highly recommend this campsite for exploring Needles. \*\*FYI it will take at least 2 hours to drive from this campground to other areas of Canyonlands because there are NO roads that go through the park.\*\*

Secluded, privately owned campground right on the SE edge of Canyonlands

Stayed here with my family of 6 in June, 2020.  We arrived on a Saturday and we have a huge tent so the owners gave us part of the Small Group Site.  On the map it is the second little drive-in to the right in the Small Group Site.   This was right up against the rocks to minimize wind on our tent.  We were able to put the majority of the tent under the trees to keep it cool and shady.  

  

The bathrooms were adequate, though one of the men's showers was closed.  You can stretch your shower time ($3 for 5 minutes) by shutting the shower off while you lather as that time doesn't count and doing that 5 minutes was plenty of time.  The showers could use a little TLC and a paint job, but they were fine for all of us with good water pressure.

  

Campground was extremely quiet, which was nice, and the kids loved climbing the mountain behind us.  Of course it's within 2 minutes of the Canyonlands entrance which makes it incredibly convenient.  I've stayed in the Canyonlands campgrounds, and they are nice, but the bathroom and showers is great when you're traveling with teens and toddlers.

  

Also convenient to have the store there for extra ice, even though it's understandably expensive ($5/bag).

An Oasis

I chose the Needles area of Canyonlands NP on accident while on a road trip. I had no idea how desolate it was out there but ended up being an incredible experience as I only saw a handful of other humans while in the park. Needles Outpost was really great aside from some noisey neighbors and bathroom facilities need some work and cleaning. Gas at the campsite store is expensive so fill up your tanks before you arrive! Camp spot 5 (I think) is the one in my photo, owner said it’s one of the best but I had quite a massive swarm of different kinds of ants to contend with. Made it nearly impossible to cook on the nice picnic table/fire ring they had set up without shucking and jiving lol...

Another planet

Pictures can't do justice to the serene beauty of Needles Outpost. Uplifting views facing all directions. The hosts are great- I appreciated straightforward and detailed communication, from the posting description all the way through to check-in. Beyond its stunning natural beauty, this place has great vibes.

We stayed in site 11 and it was great. If we return we'd choose site 4 - it seemed to be the most private site tucked up on its own little plateau.

Stunning site with great vibes

Very far off the beaten path yet located walking distance from the Needles district of Canyonlands Nat'l Park. Night time sky was incredible. Zero light pollution. Owners were friendly and the camp store is well stocked with anything you need. Public bathrooms clean w/ running water. Highly recommend.

Secluded & Quiet

Woww this place is the most beautiful place I ever seen and I truly enjoy the time here! 

The best experience ever!!!!

Beautiful campsites with space for RVs and camper vans.  Located right outside canyonlands NP.  They have a little outpost with some supplies if needed.  Some sites had nice trees and shade.  The owners were very nice and accommodating.  (And they had 2 cute cats 😸). Pretty chilli at night 

Great place 

We came across Needles Outpost on our road trip across southern Utah. After some nights of dispersed camping, this was a welcome treat. The camping grounds were pleasantly spaced and we did not feel like we were on top of other campers. Amber, owner of the site, was absolutely wonderful and we enjoyed stopping into the outpost to chat with her. Amber had a store with crucial essentials that you may need, firewood (which was thick logs that go a long way!), gas for when you’re in an absolute pinch (nearest gas station is 30-40 miles away), and bathroom with showers (must purchase tokens, similar to NP sites). We did one night staying at site 4 and a night in one of Ambers canvas (glamping) tents. Both were extremely well kept and had beautiful surroundings. The sunsets over Canyonlands NP and the star gazing were outstanding and alone made the stay worth every penny. If we ever find ourselves back in the needles region of Canyonlands, Needles Outpost will be our overnight stay. 