Capitol Reef Dispersed Camping

This dispersed camping area provides a free place to stay right outside of Capital Reef. Just 12 minutes from the visitor's center, it served us as a great alternative to paying for a site in the Fruita campground (as beautiful and well-maintained as that campground is). We arrived at night and had to find a spot far enough from people as to be courteous, since there were many other vehicles occupying different corners of the area. This seems to be a busy and well-known spot.

Aside from the landscape itself, there's nothing glamorous about this dispersed camping location, and it's pretty wide-open; we had to hike a few minutes up the hill just to find a place to use the bathroom. That said, there was a family of 8 who had set up tents next to their big Econoline, so clearly this is a family-friendly location with room to run the dogs.