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White Rocks is a unique uplifted geomorphic rock formation in the south end of Skull Valley near Dugway, Utah. This site provides excellent opportunities for dispersed camping, hiking, climbing, and photography. The cone shaped rock formations rise several hundred feet off the desert floor and are fun to explore and climb around on for kids and adults. Sandy soils and juniper shade trees make it a great location for spring and fall camping. No developed facilities, water, or restrooms. No fees are required.
High-clearance vehicles are recommended. Check weather conditions before you go.
There are no services or bathrooms in this area. The closest place with bathrooms and running water is Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge. The closest gas station is in Dugway, Utah.
Camping is allowed and free but please be courteous to other people. Avoid camping on the excavation pits.
Bring plenty of water and remember to bring a functional spare tire.
Tools recommended: a shovel, pick, safety glasses and hammer (in case you want to break your geodes on the spot). Whole geodes can be taken to your local rock shop to be cut in half.
More importantly, be patient and have fun collecting!
Ranger
Good dispersed campsite, especially if you’re on a road trip along I-80 (which we were, evacuating from a wildfire in CA). There are no hookups or services. This is really just a spot of BLM land that has some fairly level sites cleared. Some sites probably required 4WD. Looks like it would be really fun for OHV’s. We were car camping, so didn’t have to worry to much about space. From what we could tell there were probably only a couple good spots for an RV or tow-behind. There are no reservations, just find a place where your car fits and park it.
Rumor has it there’s a neat stream nearby, but we didn’t get a chance to check it out.
Legend
This is such a cool spot and one of the many reasons I can’t get Utah out of my outdoorsy heart. On BLM land, so it’s pretty much up to you where you camp and how you set yourself up, provided you follow basic courtesy and common sense. The rock formations out here are magnificent and so much fun for all ages. The camping area down below has soft soil to make for easy staking and is protected and shaded by leafy trees. Definitely worth a visit and costs nothing.
Guide
Tons of dispersed camping areas along the 196. We stayed about 12 miles off of the I-80, on the east side of the 196. Beautiful views, wide open spaces and super quiet. LOTS of mosquitoes and flies. We brought a 30’ RV with a lifted Ram 2500 and had no problem driving over the washouts. Lots of ATV traffic during the day, but we rarely heard anything.
Ranger
This is a large area in the west desert available for disperse camping. No services and no water, and not particularly scenic. It's fun to ride ATVs and go shooting. There is no shade so be prepared.
TravelerMany dispersed campsites surrounding the Pony Express Road over Dugway pass. The geode beds are nearby, as is Topaz Mountain, both excellent rockhounding experiences.
Each campsite has a pull off and a rock fire pit.
Expect to see antelope, herds of sheep and wild horses!
Traveler
Simple primitive camping, a few spots for rv and trailers to pull through, good amount of area to pitch a tent. Rock fire rings, not too far from town. Pretty quiet, some road noise. Fantastic lake and mountain views.
ScoutYou can see other campers but they are so far away from you, and if you park facing away from them, it's nice and feels pretty private. Easy to find camping spots, even big enough for our 32' no problem. Could easily see much larger RV's fitting in and getting out easy. We took a spot in the beginning I think about the 4th one you pass.
TravelerStayed there for Memorial Day weekend and had a really good time. Even though it was a holiday it wasn’t too busy, there were still a couple campsites available by the time I went to sleep. The campsites themselves were beautiful, there’s a massive rock you can climb with small caves for exploring. I’ve heard some people camp in the caves which sounds like my personal h*ll but if that’s your thing the caves are accesible for that. The view from the top of the rock is really pretty, you can see the whole valley with the mountains in the distance. Overall, the area is pretty wide open, not a lot of coverage since it’s the desert. Would recommend camping in spring or bringing shade. I saw families with ATVs and dirt bikes, lots of room for that stuff. There are campsites available for larger groups and RV’s.
I would recommend driving a 4x4, it is a dirt road to get there and a little bumpy. I drove my VW Taos which is back wheel and was fine, but some areas were a little sketchy.
One downside is that it was a little noisy camping here. There were people shooting not too far from camp. The site is also close to Dugway Proving Grounds so there was a loud explosion sound at one point as well.
Overall great experience and I would recommend!
GuideThis is a beautiful lakeside camp site ruined by people who dump their trash on the side of camp and throw glass bottles everywhere. It might not be bad if you're secluded inside a plush RV, but it's definitely not a place you walk around with kids.
There are plenty of camp sites here so it's best to have an off-road capable vehicle that will take you away from most of the mess. The trails look like hard and rocky, but it's soft dirt so be careful of getting stuck in places with deep muddy ruts.
On a Tuesday night in October, it was nice and quiet. No bugs or high winds, although I'd recommend checking the weather forecast beforehand. There's nothing to protect you from the wind here.
Traveler
Set up was easy, drove past the BLM sign about half a mile and stayed on a flat open area. Mosquitos were terrible, bring bug spray! Happy camping!
Traveler
This is BLM. A couple of different camping sites. Most have fire rings but no water or bathrooms. You will need a 4x4 with high clearance to get up the mountain (the road is rough). There are sites at the bottom of the mountain that you can get an RV or car in but those are crowded and around the shooting range. We had a great time at the top with beautiful views and quiet. Nobody else around. oHV area too.
GuideFREE! No amenities! Must carry in all water. Shooting Range nearby. Great for ATVs and off road vehicles. Hiking is easy to moderate in abilty. Fire ring established in most common camp areas. Animals allowed. Close to Utah Lake.
GuideIt's not great. Next to a shooting range and orv trails, so you'll hear that. Shrubs and a few small trees dominate the landscape, so there isn't much privacy. Roads were bumpy, but manageable. Access depends on where you go, Several paths to take w other sites. Lots of trash. Rock fire pits. Amazing views of the mountains behind Provo and Utah Lake. Full cell service w At&t. Free!
ScoutCame out here because the road washed out at Paul Bunyan's log pile. Wide open, easy to find a secluded spot. No hiking, no services, decent cell reception. It would be a great spot if you have ATVs, dirt bikes, etc. I just needed a place to try out some new gear so this place worked out.
TravelerWe arrived at a campsite and there are posted no tresspassing signs
Be warned
RangerQuick and easy camp site for an adventure in skull valley. We had the place to ourselves and had no issues finding it. Great views and a fun place to hang out alone in the desert.
Guide
Rough roads. The main one isn’t so bad but the side roads are awful. Tons of flies. Like actually so many. Campsites are far away from each other which was nice. Fire ring was filled with trash. Lake is disgusting, dead fish on shore and trash, don’t swim in it. An obviously “long term” resident said he wouldn’t swim in it, one of the factories on the other side of the lake dump into it.
GuideThe GPS coordinates appear to be a bit further north from the accessible camping and it seems like a solar farm was built there recently. We kept driving south on the 196 for a few miles and took some washed out roads in closer to the mountains to find some campsites. Probably don’t need 4WD but low clearance vehicles might have trouble. Not the flatest pullouts but workable and you’ll have the area to yourselves. Lots of biting bugs and moths. Not much shade to be found.
LegendWith 5th wheel, took a couple sites before we were happy. Landed with large windows facing lake, lovely.
Starlink is a little slower, but maybe cos I am roaming. 60 meg down, 7 or 8 meg up. Visible and Verizon pretty good. Cricket 2 bars
No facilities, but we’re self contained
Maverick gas station about 5 Miles’ish down the road has free dump station
Legend
We are full-timers and have a 36 ft Class A with a Cherokee Trailhawk tow. The second half of the~7 mile gravel road in is a little washboarded in places, but not too bad if we kept it under 30 mph or so. We stayed here for one night in early June on a Thursday. Only two other overnighters, one near the pools and the other across the road. There were only a few day trippers, but I’ve read it can get busy on the weekends. The entire area was clean and nearly free of trash. There is also a pit toilet onsite now. There are 3 pools that are fairly clean as far as natural springs go, as there is usually some algae present. The very hot(180º) and cold water entering the pools is adjustable using the towels and clothing others have left to control the inflow, but stirring the water occasionally helps keep the overall temperature comfortable. The camping areas could be a little sporty with any significant amount of rain. Some areas were fine, but others were very heavily rutted. AT&T coverage was fair, with 2 bars of 5G and speeds up to 4 MB/s.
TravelerCan be a bit windy some days but nice spread out area with beautiful views of mountains and Utah lake.
TravelerPros: Gorgeous view of Utah lake. Sunflowers and purple hummingbird flowers galore…skyline and stars are stunning.. ample amount of spots. Don’t need 4x4 but could use it on some roads… there are plenty of mellow routes to take without needing 4x4.
Cons: So much trash, so dude was letting his hounds bark and roam the sites all night long,… I am putting black widows as a con, but I love them,.. also this is a recreational area so our neighbors kept going back and forth on their 4wheelers and made it pretty dusty.
The lake was beautiful, but we were told there was a red algae outbreak and advised not to swim but some locals.
All in all it was awesome,.. we cleaned up the trash on site and the noises neighbors left… view and sky is incredible!
GuideHoly moly, this place was magnificent! I arrived in the evening and was greeted with an incredible view: a vast lake backed by snowcapped mountains glowing in the light from the setting sun; the lights from Provo, the city across the lake, twinkle throughout the night; and it is definitely worth waking up early to catch the sun rising over the mountains. I slept in my crossover here, and I would recommend this place to anyone sleeping inside a vehicle.
The weather was cold, so I had no issues with bugs (some of the other reviews had mentioned bugs). I do imagine that staying here in the summer might not be as great.
The campground: Getting here is fairly easy. If you're heading south on 68, you'll see a Public Land sign on your right and the turn will be on your left near mile marker 19. The road becomes a dirt gravel mixture, and things do get a bit bumpy the further you go. There's different levels to this area, and while I kept to the road that stayed low, I did see some RVs up in the middle section. When I was there in the late fall, with no foliage, it was pretty clear where other people had stayed. There were about four other vehicles camping, but we were all able to be so spread out that I never saw any of the other people. It was a peaceful and quiet stay. As a solo camper I was very comfortable here.
The downside of this area was the trash; there wasn't anything large, but the ground had plenty of bottle caps, nails, and a little bit of glass. This is why I recommend sleeping in your vehicle instead of a tent. Ultimately, for me, the beauty and quiet of this place far outweighed the trash issue.
The area: This land is located right off of Utah Lake. It's about twenty minutes from the town of Saratoga Springs, and less than an hour from Salt Lake City, which means there are plenty of places to get food and supplies.
Cell service: It was pretty good with Verizon. I was able to watch a live hockey game on my phone.
TravelerI drove out to watch the meteor shower and photograph the milky way. It's a very quiet area and scenery is beautiful. I noticed a couple of spots were trashy and took out some of the trash when I left. I would go back when I just want to get away from it all.
GuideA lot of sites in an open field next to mountains. Sites are pretty spaced out. LOTS of gnats and other bugs, but quite and pretty view of the sunset.
TravelerWe stayed here one night. We went at night for a place to sleep. Know that the sites are on the left of the main road coming in, I was unaware of the layout. Sites are decent, bugs are terrible. Road is rough coming in as well.
ScoutStayed for 1 night. Very quiet and private. I imagine if during the busy season this place would not be a great place to stay but the last week of April was not busy and it was very quiet.
Discover the beauty of dispersed camping near Dugway, Utah, where you can immerse yourself in nature without the constraints of traditional campgrounds. This area offers a variety of options for those looking to escape into the wild.
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