Camping near Dixie National Forest

It's a beautiful drive coming up here from Flagstaff and especially through Kanab, a sweet little town with such amazing people. For anyone wondering if your rig will clear the Red Canyon Arches on the 12, you probably won't need to worry about it like we did before we decided to stop here for sure, since according to all available info online, the clearance is between 13’ 6" and 20' , so I called the Red Canyon Visitor Center and the sweet girl I spoke to said it would definitely fit. Camping spots are not marked in this section of the Dixie National Forest Rd #117 (Tom's Best Spring Road) dispersed camping area, but we found what I would call a premium spot for the view alone... of the prairie through the trees. . As we entered the campgrounds off of the 12 and drove through, it looked like all the spots available were taken, though not surprising considering it was on July 4th, but then became discouraged when we were driving into a wide open prairie where lots of cows were grazing. Having never been here before, we had no idea if there would be more camping allowed past the prairie, so we found a spot to back our 44' rig into so we could turn around. On our way back from the prairie we noticed the first camping spot to the left and saw there was plenty of room to pull through it, so we proceeded left and came to that spot which actually includes space for 3 rigs, depending on their size. This camping spot is a nice combination of tall trees and open space for rigs, but we did experience a lot of uncomfortable heat from the sun (80 to 85 degrees)... so more trees would definitely have helped... just not sure our rig would be able to drive through it or not. Other than the sun, the worst thing about it is the dryness of the dirt, making it a bit of a dust bowl when the wind kicks up... oh, and if you're wearing sandals like me, they, along with your feet will get full of dusty dirt! Cows 🐄 do wander into the campgrounds from the prairie... so be prepared if you have animals that might "have a cow" 🐄 🤣 like ours did. We did not see any restroom facilities as we drove through to our spot, but they do have fire pits, though we just used our propane fire pit. There's a lot of OHV trails in the area which is great for those of us who love to ride, so you will hear the engines from time to time, but not constantly... and we were here over the holiday weekend! We would definitely return, but when it's cooler, although it did get pretty cold early in the mornings.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR “TOM’S BEST SPRING ROAD #117 — DIXIE NATIONAL FOREST RD #117 DISPERSED CAMPING AREA”

It’s a beautiful drive coming up here from Flagstaff and especially through Kanab, a sweet little town with such amazing people. For anyone wondering if your rig will clear the Red Canyon Arches on the 12, you probably won’t need to worry about it like we did before we decided to stop here for sure, since according to all available info online, the clearance is between 13’ 6” and 20’, so I called the Red Canyon Visitor Center and the sweet girl I spoke to said it would definitely fit. Camping spots are not marked in this section of the Dixie National Forest Rd #117 (Tom’s Best Spring Road) dispersed camping area, but we found what I would call a premium spot for the view alone… of the prairie through the tree. As we entered the campgrounds off of the 12 and drove through, it looked like all the spots available were taken, though not surprising considering it was on July 4th, but then became discouraged when we were driving into a wide open prairie where lots of cows were grazing. Having never been here before, we had no idea if there would be more camping allowed past the prairie, so we found a spot to back our 44’ rig into so we could turn around. On our way back from the prairie we noticed the first camping spot to the left and saw there was plenty of room to pull through it, so we proceeded left and came to that spot which actually includes space for 3 rigs, depending on their size. This camping spot is a nice combination of tall trees and open space for rigs, but we did experience a lot of uncomfortable heat from the sun (80 to 85 degrees)… so more trees would definitely have helped… just not sure our rig would be able to drive through it or not.🤷🏻‍♀️ Other than the sun ☀️, the worst thing about it is the dryness of the dirt, making it a bit of a dust bowl when the wind kicks up… oh, and if you’re wearing sandals like me, they, along with your feet will get full of dusty dirt! Cows🐄 do wander into the campgrounds from the prairie… so be prepared if you have animals that might “have a cow” like ours did.🐄 🤣 We did not see any restroom facilities as we drove through to our spot, but they do have fire🔥pits, though we just used our propane fire pit. There’s a lot of OHV trails in the area which is great for those of us who love to ride, so you will hear the engines from time to time, but not constantly… and we were here over the holiday weekend! We would definitely return, but when it’s cooler, although it did get pretty cold early in the mornings.