Best Dispersed Camping near Central, UT

We stayed here for a week while waiting for a package to arrive in Cedar City. The gap is a beautiful place and the petroglyphs would be as well were it not for the vandalism on them. On some camping apps people are saying just camp anywhere out here. I wanted to clarify that. While there are lots of places to camp please don't make new campsites or drive off roads and in the desert/grass. We stayed in a lovely spot on Jackrabbit Road, but had to drive over a mile to find what I consider an established site. All along the road there is damage from people driving and camping wherever they want. This is tragic and violates leave no trace. So does the many bullet shell casings, broken glass, dog turds, old gun targets, shotgun shells, etc, out here. This is how public lands get closed. It's a nice place and we saw respectful campers, OHV'rs, and bicyclists. Just use existing campsites and roads.

I stayed in dispersed camping spot #5 arriving on August 31st, 2020. There are 11 or 12 designated spots here. There is a sign on the right side once you enter the Forest Service Road that maps all the hiking trails and dispersed camping sites available in the Leeds Creek dispersed camping area. No 4x4 is necessary to get to spots 1- 5. I didn't go all the way up the mountain and see the other spots. The entrance to spot 5 is a horseshoe shape big enough and convenient for an RV. However, for tent campers, you will want to go beyond the bushes for wind coverage and privacy. The space opens up with trails, amazing views, you can here the creek burbling below the canyon. Spectacular stargazing at night and pretty quiet aside from some road traffic. NOTE: tent campers; park your vehicle with visibility in the horseshoe drive in to avoid unbeknownst camp crashers. The coverage is good enough for tent campers that someone could easily believe the campsite was not taken. Also, bees like your trashbag. So, keep it in your vehicle rather than hanging it. Lastly, sadly there was A LOT of litter when I visited. I did my best to clean some of it up while I was there. Please remember to pack in/pack out and leave no trace!!

Ill start off by saying that you should probably have an AWD or 4WD high clearance vehicle for the upper campsites.  There are campsites lower on but are right next to the road.  Getting there you'll want to follow Dalton Wash Rd all the way to the plateau, staying left the whole way unless its private property.

There are no bathrooms or amenities here so either come prepared or take care of business before heading up or inbetween excursions.  The good thing from that is you'll be pretty secluded! (Cant speak for the peak months as we visited in May)  The upper campsites are ~45 minutes from Zion with the lower sites being only 30 minutes away!  Summer may not be the best time to visit as the sites are kind of exposed and theres not a ton of shade

After seeing how crowded hurricane cliffs were, camped on the left fork after the Windmill trailhead. Gooseberry mesa biking is incredible. The road to the mesa is very washboarded and will rattle the daylights out of your car. The sites are fairly spaced out and have great views. vault toilets at both trailheads but no water. Very strong (20mbps) cell reception on both ATT and T-Mobile. You will need to come from the apple valley side unless you have a very high clearance 4wd car. Smithsonian butte is no joke, I did it in my SUV with 8.5 inches of clearance and I would not repeat it.