Best Tent Camping near Dugway, UT

We tent camped on the beach and loved it all from the oolitic sand to the absolutely insane sunrise view from the window of the tent! On the north side you see the lake and the south side you see the Rio Tinto smelter it’s a really cool dynamic. We have enjoyed our stay

Nestled wonderfully between Stockton and Dugway, Clover Springs offers a scenic getaway from city life. If you park on the south side you get close access to the springs. $12 for a single car and it was self serve.

This road which, is the old Pony Express Trail, is surrounded by many varied activities to keep you entertained for weeks. To the north of the road past Boyd Station is the Dugway Geode beds where large soft ball sized geodes can be dug up! South of here at Topaz Mountain you can find, you guessed it, topaz! There is also aquamarine and obsidian near the Topaz Mountain area.

At the western end of the road is the Fish Springs bird preserve where numerous migratory birds take refuge from the desert heat. Dispersed camping can be found at both mineral collecting spots and on the many dirt roads. A 4wd high clearance vehicle isnt necessary but it opens up a lot more options!

This place is up pretty high with mine, town, and mountain views. The camping is free and dispersed and there are lots of RVs up there. There weren't many other tents probably because it was so windy. The location is where paragliders take off from which I'd imagine is pretty cool to watch but it definitely creates more noise. It's a great place if you're in the area and looking for a last minute free place to crash. Stake down your tent if you have one though. The road is fine all the way there and there are just a few bumps when you get up.

We arrived late evening, self pay registration was easy. The Stars were beautiful and the sand was soft and fun to walk in. We set up two tents and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Highly recommended!

I always love my time in the knolls. Great recreation area if you have atv’s or bikes. Tons of sand dunes, open space for trailers and tents, and breathtaking views of sunrise and sunset.

Picturesque with it's red rock, and the La Sal mountain range in the background, Ken's Lake is a gorgeous place to pitch a tent! It's about ten miles outside of Moab, but worth the drive! We enjoyed all of the hiking that was literally right there at the campground. A stream winds it's way through, and it's perfect for soaking your feet in on a hot summer day! Enjoy a hike to Faux Falls. Remember to take your own shade, and water.

This was a great stop for us on our way across I-80. Pulled over right at sunset and had the place to ourselves in the middle of July. Pit toilets only and no water. Not much shade but didn't matter to us since we got there at sunset and left early to continue our trip. Tent on the sand!

FREE! 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.

Let me start off by saying the other review for this CG is about 250 miles off target.  The Narrows CG the other person is talking about is located in Zion National Park near St. George/Springville in southern Utah.  There are no soaring sandstone walls here!  There are however amazing overhanging water sculpted limestone cliffs that contain some of the hardest climbing that the west desert of Utah has to offer!  There are a decent amount of routes on either side of the road with the majority of the routes being near the Upper Narrows CG. 

This CG is setup in much the same way as the Upper.  There are metal fire rings and picnic tables at each of the campsites with a vault toilet within a couple minutes walk from any of the sites.  There are only 3 sites and there are no water or trash facilities so bring all you need and then pack it all out!  The creek offers a nice respite from the heat in the summer and would probably be decent fishing as well.  I only saw a couple trout while wandering around but I'm sure there are more!

The flight park offers decent views for the proximity to the city. However, the only allowed camping is in the marked spots near the restrooms at the top of the hill. Camping is $15 a night to stay on a large gravel road. The camping is flat and works with a tent, but it is also very windy and hard to drive stakes in the ground. Past the marked camping spots there is signage for a 14 day limit, but according to a park ranger this is not a dispersed camping area.

It'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!

I wouldn't recommend staying here unless you have an RV.  With that being said it is a good spot to come fish for a day trip.  It offers beautiful views of the Oquirrh and Stansbury Mountains to the east and west respectively and the reservoir is stocked with trout almost 1 a month during the spring though fall.  The reservoir is also completely man made so you get the feeling that you're in a bowl within a bowl!

As for the campground itself there are the standard concrete fire rings, picnic tables, and vault toilets.  There are also a few gazebos around with the campsites radiating off of them like spokes of a tire.  Now the reason I said that I wouldn't camp here without an RV is because there are absolutely NO TREES anywhere!  So it can get super windy and uncomfortable in a tent if a storm blows through.

Stumbled upon this campground while fishing around at Grantsville Reservoir and decided to head up South Willow Canyon to review all these unreviewed campgrounds!  While the campground itself is officially closed for the season you could probably still camp here until the dirt road gets back enough that they close the gate towards the beginning of the canyon.  The main attraction for this and the Lower Narrows CG's is the extremely close proximity of amazing water carved bulletproof limestone climbing!  The Narrows climbing in South Willow Canyon is the premier HARD climbing spot for those in SLC that want to test their grit and push grades.  The routes here go up to 5.14a with very few routes under 5.11, although you can find moderates elsewhere in the canyon.  The 5.14a was but up by world renowned climber Chris Sharma and has been sent by other pros in the area like Jonathan Siegriest who claims it as "one of the top 5 5.14's in Utah."

Now enough about the absolutely amazing climbing and on to the actual campground!  This is one of 2 campgrounds that has very large group sites, so if you're coming here with a mob then this is one of the places to check out!  The group sites cost $50 and $90 and can hold 30 and 50 people respectively.  There are also 6 single sites @ $15 a night.  During the peak season May-Sept you can reserve the group sites on the recreation.gov website but at all other times they are first come first serve.  Like all the other campgrounds in the canyon you also need to bring your own water and trash bags.

Campground Review: I stayed one night at Ken’s Lake Campground South of Moab on a solo mountain biking/camping weekend. For some reason everyone decided to come to Moab that weekend so finding a campsite near water was quite difficult so I am glad that I was able to find one here. The campground is an easy 15-20 minute drive South of Moab off 191. The scenery is beautiful as you are sandwiched between two large cliffs and you can see the La Sals in the background. There are multiple loops to this campground so you may have a very different experience depending on where you stayed. I stayed at site 5 which is really open/exposed, very small, and no privacy between you and your neighbor (hence the lower rating). Plus I had some loud neighbors that stayed up quite late making the stay less than ideal. I am sure I would have enjoyed it more if I had a little more wind protection from the trees or privacy from my neighbors but overall the site worked for what I needed it to. It was really windy when I visited so keep that in mind—Moab gets some brutal winds that, once your tent is up, will put a fine layer of dust/sand over everything you own. Not a negative on the campground, but just a warning for those first time visitors. Other benefits of the campground—standard pit toilets and garbage service all for $15/night. Overall the scenery and proximity to Ken’s Lake to swim when it is hot make this a good option for camping in Moab.

Gear Review: Renogy Portable Outdoor Water Filter

As a ranger for the Dyrt, I get the opportunity to test out gear from our partners once in a while. I have had the privilege of testing out the Renogy Portable Outdoor Water Filter. General observations and opinion: this water filter is a great addition to my camping/outdoor arsenal.  It was easy to assemble and use right out of the box and has an amazing filtration system (i.e. protects against viruses, bacteria, and pathogens) and it is compact for a hand pump system. I may not use this as my long distance backpacking filtration system just because it is a little big and heavy for that usage but it will definitely go on my shorter backpacking hikes (where I am not counting ounces) as well as my car/general camping outings. If you want an easy to use filter the Renogy Portable Outdoor Water Filter is a great option for the price.

Pros: 1) fairly compact in size and comes with a carrying satchel to keep all the parts together. 2) The tubes were two different lengths you can tell them apart and both were more than long enough to get the job done. 3) it comes with a back flow syringe for cleaning which is nice. 4) There is a pre-filter that helps with large particles then a weight and a foam bobber you can move up and down the tube to keep the input end in a good spot in the water. 5) It had good suction and flow—it filled my water bottles quite quickly once it found a good section of water from which to suck.

Cons: 1) It is a pump filter (as opposed to a gravity feed) so you have to stay there the whole time to filter the water (i.e. can’t really multi-task when filtering water) 2) I had the pre-filter on the input end clog a few times so using it in deeper water makes it more effective. Shallower water runs the risk of lots of clogging and slow pumping.