Looking for tent camping near Ephraim? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. You're sure to find the perfect tent campsite for your Utah camping adventure.
Picnic Site and Campground. Facilities include tables, fire rings, water, restrooms, dirt road access. There is no garbage pickup, please pack out all trash.
Camp Maple Dell offers fresh, engaging and adventurous day camp programs for Cub Scouts, Webelos Scouts, and Primary youth.
Camp Maple Dell is nestled in Payson Canyon, along the historic Mt Nebo Loop. Established in 1945, Maple Dell has a strong history of serving Scout units.
$26 - $40 / night
Upper Six Mile Ponds Campground is just ten miles from Sterling, Utah at an elevation of 8,400 feet. A mixed forest of spruce, pinyon, juniper, fir, and aspen covers the area, offering partial shade. Summer wildflowers and wildlife are abundant. Canoeing and fishing for trout are popular at the ponds. Many people enjoy the solitude and primitive experience of camping away from developed campgrounds and other campers. "Dispersed camping" is the term used for camping anywhere in the National Forest outside of a designated campground, and is generally allowed anywhere unless posted otherwise. Many people drive out on Forest Service roads into the woods and find spots that meet the needs for their camp. Dispersed camping may mean no toilet facilities or treated water are located nearby. Typically, dispersed camping is not allowed near developed recreation areas such as campgrounds, picnic areas or trailheads. Some dispersed sites are provided with fire rings and in those cases please use them as they are designating that area as the spot to safely have a campfire. Finally some dispersed sites have a designated footprint for use. If you see a site with any type of barriers or fencing please respect these areas by not pulling motor vehicles or OHV’s. They are there to preserve the surrounding forest making it enjoyable for all.
The Sanpete South Recreation Area is located on the west side of the Wasatch Plateau, south of Ephraim Canyon to the Forest boundary. It extends from the Skyline Drive on the east to the west Forest boundary. The closest access is from US 89 and nearby communities are Ephraim, Manti and Mayfield. This area features camping, scenic drives, hiking, motorized trails, snowmobiling, fishing and hunting. The Great Basin Environmental Education Center is located in this area.
A geologic curiosity - rare in Utah - the "Woodpile" is a cluster of lava logs formed about 30 million years ago during the Eocene Period. The "logs" were formed when a lava flow cooled into orderly columnar joints having 3 to 6 sides. The columns measure about a foot in diameter and up to 15 feet in length. This formation was on the rim of the caldera that collapsed due to a void left when lava flowed out from under the caldera. Basin and range faulting caused the formation to tilt onto its side. Erosion has exposed the formation we now see.
Guide
No room in RV site for tent so moved to grassy tent site. Most sites appear to be occupied by long term rentals. Host was very friendly and helpful in accommodating my needs.
Ranger
Smallish beautiful campground. Site 9 but sites 4, 5, 12 good too. 1 is private but away from toilets. Nice view down the valley to Electric Lake. Decent distance to Scofield. Relatively quiet but sites are fairly close together.
Food aside: Ate Knorr rice with chicken, spiced it up, and Hatch tortillas for dinner. Also Sprouts Hatch M&C with Wal Mart chicken packet and Old El Paso ranch sauce, both good.
Ranger
Stayed 6/1-4 in space 9. Very shady campground and campsite. Creek runs thru but not by this site. Only 1 vault toilet for the family campground, so walked over to Group site toilets which were cleaner. One trail out of camp to Rock Canyon but it was fairly steep and rocky so didn't do much of it. Did walk up and down paved road into camp and then on dirt roads off main road that had a few FCFS dry camp pull out areas along the creek. Campsites well spaced many with good views of valley or the red rock cliffs. No ATVs allowed in campground. Spaces 15 and 20 were also good, 10 is double size but same price with large drive and nice views to red cliffs. Camp host unobtrusive.
Would be great during fall colors. Saw some bear scat on trail closer to I-70
Ranger
Dirt road in, off the hwy, was a bit rutted, but we made it okay in van. Took our chances on a FCFS spot, #8 which looked fairly level but was not. There were 2 bathrooms we saw and the site was mostly equidistant from both, and a bit of distance away. Beautiful canyon with walls rising up both sides but were just passing thru so didn't get to see much and didn't stay but basically overnight. Seems like some interesting pull out boon-docking sites on way in but bathroom in day use parking was locked in the am when we left.
Ranger
Stayed in 33B first night and 23C second night. C loop seems a little more sparse and spaced out. Outer loop seems better. Bathrooms very clean and well stocked. Sites mostly level. Pine and aspen, some spots more shaded than others. Easy walk to lake and there is a nice paved trail around it. Spotty cell service at road, none in campground.
Food aside: Freeze-dried Pad thai with chicken, supplemented chicken (packet from Wal Mart) and it was very good with a bit of heat. Also added garlic powder (always).
Ranger
Stayed in site 8, which has a shallow and uneven driveway. We used several leveling blocks which helped. Site 6 is ideal in terms of proximity to toilets and relatively level site with trees and a water tap just adjacent. There are 9 total sites, 5 are group sites so tend to be LOTS of people around. Group sites are large and are only$20/night and site 9 is roomy, relatively private and has vault toilets adjacent. Walking trails in/around campground.
Lots of families. Safe. Rather enjoyed a sing-along one night with LOTS of kids.
2nd stay (June): Stayed again for 2 nights, this time in spot 6 which is roomier than 8 and one of only a few single family campsites. Renovation installed a new picnic table and fire pit but removed the tent pad. Water tap still adjacent.
Big family gatherings due to large family spots, across were 6 RVs in one spot and trucks parked everywhere including on the grass. Fairly quiet and respectful but dogs were allowed to run loose and while seemingly friendly, they were not supervised for pooping. This also means bathrooms were under serious strain esp re: available toilet paper.
Nearby: On Hwy 31, appear to be a variety of dispersed camping spots, most are not well marked. Some appear to have names, but not sure if they are reservable. Most are for "groups" but are typically only $20/night, some smaller group sites are only$10/night. Seem to be largely FCFS. Several have vault toilets adjacent.
Visited nearby Huntington Lake State Park, which is relatively modest in terms of facilities, basically a lake and a campground (no shade). The sites adjacent to the lake look nice (~sites 1-5) and have partial hookups but the trees are sparse. There is a trail around the lake, but it appears mainly to be a gravel road with some benches here/there.
Food aside (freeze dried packs with our own add-ons): Had Peak beef pasta marinara with italian and garlic seasoning. FQ (fart quotient) is low. Had garlic mashed and Hatch green chile mac (from Sprouts). Added pepper jerky to the mashed before water and the cheese (Mexican blend) and one packet of fajita chicken (Wal Mart, about $1.25) and some Kinder's smoked garlic into the mac when it was ready. Also crumbled some 4 cheese Triscuits on top.
Had Mountain House freeze-dried scrambled eggs in wheat tortillas with cheese, bacon (in at finish), and pepper jerky (in with water). Two servings would have made~4 burritos. Also recommend cutting back on the water to ~2/3-3/4c. Added pepper, garlic powder to eggs.
Had Mountain House pad thai with chicken for dinner. Didn't add sriracha seasoning but put our own smoked garlic, Wal Mart applewood smoked chicken packet and the supplied lime, peanut butter, and nuts (supplemented the nuts with our own).
Traveler
We rented a van in SLC and needed a quick spot to spend the night on the way to Arches/canyon lands. This was easy to find at dusk with a clear road. LOTS of trash around. You could hear the highway a little bit but the noise wasn’t too bad. We only saw one other person who drove in and then left. There is a nice big gas station/truck stop about a mile away open 24 hours so we went there to use the bathroom and get gas. Not sure why this post calls it Canyon Road. It’s off of Consumers Road then Dump road. We did have service with T-Mobile and Verizon.
Traveler
Just needed to find a place for the night and this was perfect! No one around, huge site, beautiful views and free! Cows meander around the campsite..didn't bother us. If you go past where the directions take you, there are 3 or 4 spots that are also nice. Road is easy to travel.
ScoutThere is one campsite with a sign that says 3 day public camping. It is a huge dirt lot with a few shade trees and creek. About 1/4 mile after this location are 5 more Creekside campsites on the left side of the road ( if coming from Goshen ) they are unmarked. All campsites in this area are on BLM or state land. Please do not overstay your welcome. They have discussed blocking them off due to people staying for way to long and leaving trash.
LegendForested campsites in a narrow canyon. Busy on weekends. Got the last first served sit at 3pm Friday. Sites next to the main road. Traffic peering into the campsite. Young fit crowd. Weak cell reception.
Scout
Oak Creek is my go-to campground, whether I'm with family or solo. It's nestled in Boulder Mountain and can be easy to overlook if you're not paying attention. Experience Unblocked Games 76 right now!
GuideStumbled upon this small campground. 6 sites around a grassy area. Oak, maple and cottonwoods and a creek. 4 group sites and 13 more sites up canyon past group sites, some along the creek. Water, pit and flush toilets, no garbage. There was a trailer in site #1 but didn’t see anyone. Beautiful full moon rise over canyon! Quiet and peaceful but a surprising amount of traffic on the gravel road up the canyon past campground. There are more camping spots up the road. Plantation Flat is a primitive campground in a pine forest. It was full of OHV campers. Looked like they were there for awhile.
Scout
This is pu lic forest land. You may camp up to 14 days. It's peaceful, beautiful and so much cooler I. The higher elevations. It's dispersed and free. FCFS
Guide
Made a reservation for our RV. Nice, wide spots, all on grass. A firepit and a grill. Clean spots.
Very very crowded with a large group of campers, using the carpark and picknickarea the whole day and night. Too noisy. We didn't use the toilets because of the group of people next to it. The road is near, quity noisy also at night. And a train is passing every few hours, using its horn before the bend, 24/7....
Very nice host, who dropped by to check whether we were ok after arrival.
River is brownish, not meant to swim in.
Overall: good enough for one night while travelling from A to B. I guess the weekdays ( non-holiday) might be better.
ScoutArrived 3Jul24 at dusk. There is standing water marsh with a frac tank, possibly for water for the quarry above. Got out of the car to give dog a break and within one minute was scrambling back in. Drove up hill to the quarry and got out with dog....still very bad mosquitos but some breeze. Hid in the car while dog was out on a long rope for a while, covered with mosquitos. After 10 minutes I had killed most that were in the car and the ones waiting at the doors and windows were gone. I cracked the door and began pulling dog rope to get slack in and then had dog climb over me into back seat.
We drove east one Dyrt to Miller Canyon and it was AWESOME. I remember maybe 3 mosquitos there.
There are only two things I can compare this savagery to (and I am in my late 50s):
Alaska (Last Chance Rd dispersed is WORSE--However, note that when I was in AK I wasn't asking for trouble--I was indoors during mosquito hours--I am sure AK has mosquitos as bad as Last Chance if you go looking)
Canada Boundary Waters Boy Scout Canoe Base (about the same at dusk--only fools wouldn't have camp totally ready to be inside tents before mosquito hours. Mornings were fine.
Traveler
Perfect place to stop for the night. Road is fine. A few ruts. Super quiet.
ScoutWe pulled in after sunset to stop before going all the way north to SLC. The road was pretty doable in our truck, but it think it would be easy in a sedan too. There was a roundabout at the coordinates and another van was there, but there looked to be 3-4 more small spots for tents or vans. Not sure how many could accommodate a bigger rig. Lots of bugs, none biting. About a 7-10 min drive to the freeway. No freeway noise though. Some broken glass and trash, but nothing unexpected.
TravelerNice picnic area.
Guide
This spot was a little hard to locate because it’s on trust land and the spots look like junk piles. Yuck! There was so much ammo casings on the ground it looked like a war zone. Obviously the locals use it as a shooting range and do not clean up after themselves. We went on down dump road a little bit and found a spot tucked in the canyon and out of site of the road for a little wind break and privacy. I added that location because it was not as bad. Still to much trash laying around though. I don’t understand why people can not take care of these free resources so they are not taken away.
Scout
This campground met our expectations. Although some of the sites were pretty close to each other, it wasn't terrible. The sites were clean and well maintained. Lots of cottonwood tree litter but that's not the camp hosts fault. Vault toilets were clean and stocked. Wish there was some sanitizer at the bathrooms but other than that, well maintained. The water was not working at the camp the weekend we were there but we received an email from Recreation.gov the day we were supposed to arrive notifying us that it was off due to an issue so we were able to bring in water before hand. Verizon/Xfinity mobile had no service but ATT does. Overall an enjoyable trip.
GuideThis is trust land so you will see where a lot of people come back here to target practice. Sadly they do not clean up any of their trash. The area is nice, large and very private.
ScoutLarge, open, flat area with easy access. Trailhead for mountain biking and dirt bike trails.
Traveler
This is the place if you like being "off the grid". 18 miles of unpaved (and, for us, muddy) road to get to the campground. It's a 90-minute trek each way from the closest gas/food/retail, so be prepared. It's also a fairly aggressive grade up and down. Brakes and transmissions will need a chance to recover the climb/descent.
Altitude is also a major factor. This is over 10,000 of elevation. Our lungs definitely felt it. While Salt Lake City was hitting 100 degrees, we were sleeping with three blankets at night as temps were in the low 40s/upper 30s.
This campground is definitely not level. Outside of the group sites, most of the spots are sloped, and ours might have been the worst. We needed leveling blocks to lift our pop-up about 8 inches on the dedicated "pad" and there was no flat spot to set up any canopy or EZ Up. Our site did have plenty of shade with direct sun from about 8 am to noon.
We did have a couple of issues that will deter us from coming back. First was the constant flow of ATVs/OHVs/vehicles coming into the campground to use the toilets and unused sites for lunch/dinner. Since there was no camp host on site, this felt a little abusive. There are several open sites along the road to the campground and more as you continue up Skyline Drive. I think everyone using them knows that this is basically a truck stop for them.
The second issue we had was the moths. Having a pop-up, we understand that critters happen. But we must have had over 100 moths that found shelter under our flaps, in the roofline, and inside our camper. It added 45 minutes to our breakdown and pack up.
Those issues, coupled with the long and rough road, make this place a one-and-done campground for us.
Traveler
Beautiful scenery and just right outside of town. Very easy to access for most. I did see an RV camping but it had to be a bit more difficult for them. There are several established places to camp with beautiful views. Very private. Great for mountain biking
Guide
Stopped for the night on the way to Colorado. Very easy check-in via the Web. There are a ton of very well developed sites. There was one other camper we saw that came in a little later than us.
We would stay here again.
We did have a minor issue that the 50a service breaker wouldn't reset even with nothing plugged in. But we simply used the 30a which was plenty for us with the relatively cool weather. We let them know the next day and they said it would be checked.
TravelerThis wasn't where we planned to camp but got too tired to drive any further. We are in a Toyota Camry and just hammocking. This spot worked out nicely. There was someone in the actual place of the coordinates. But we found a spot near by.
ScoutWe camped here May, 2024. This is away from the noise of I-70; however, a train runs quite close to the campground, thus the 4 star review instead of 5. It doesn't come by that often. There is lots of green grass, as well as a lot of trees. It seemed to be well taken care of. The campground was full when we were there, but was very quiet at night.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Ephraim, UT is Willow Creek Road - Dispersed Site with a 5-star rating from 3 reviews.
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