Top 10+ Tent Campgrounds near Fishlake National Forest

Wow! Talk about about incredible... first of all there is not a camp host so make sure to reserve ahead of time or cross your fingers and hope it’s not a busy weekend. However they have so many different dispersed camping all around so not to fret you will find a place. The bathroom is spotless!!! It’s a vault toilet, nothing special but it’s clean. The US forestry service comes through quite frequently and maintains the camp site and the bathrooms. You have a fire ring with attached grill, table and an additional table where we put our Coleman stove. Nice flat areas for tents and gorgeous trees surrounding. The lake is amazing and we caught trout all weekend. Power bait is the secret!!!! Take a walk and explore the gorgeous meadows and behind the damn a fast running stream where you most likely will bump into some cows and there babies. Fishlake National Forest is stunning and lebaron campgrounds is gorgeous. It’s a small camp ground about 13 sites. And you will always see cows which is neat for the kiddos. It’s a must to come here!!!

Checked in at 8:30pm on a Monday during a cross country drive.  Host was gracious and suggested spot 12.  There  was plenty of availability even late eve (weekday).  All were good, quiet spots.  Spot 12 was across from wheelchair path to creek (Beaver River).  There was a nice bench where path met creek, great for sitting and enjoying morning coffee/fishing/relaxing.  Spots had faucet, picnic table and level tent pad filled with pea gravel-bring good footprint/tarp.  It was quiet, and the creek noise was pleasant.  The road was very close, and you could hear the traffic, but it wasn't a bother (about 2-3cars/hour).  One very nice thing about this campground is the gravel covering all the picnic/firepit and frequented areas.  This completely eliminated the dust that typically gets on everything while camping.  There was shade from trees, but this was is a pretty tight canyon, so there are very few hours of direct sunlight anyway.  Host delivered wood.  Long trails leave right from campground.  No showers, clean vault toilets.

Castle Rock campground in Fishlake National forest is one of two campgrounds that serve Utah's Fremont Indian State Park, with both administration and reservations handled through the Utah State Park system. When I visited it was both very clean and very well maintained. Despite being close to the interstate, it is far enough up a side canyon that you do not hear the traffic on the road. It feels like being much further from civilization.

There are 44 camp sites available, many alongside the creek that flows through the campground. About 2/3 are reservable, the rest are available daily as FCFS. Two have teepees for those lacking a tent. Several are double sites for larger groups, and there are a variety of pull through vs in/out options.

There is available potable water at several locations around the campground, and two restroom facilities - a full flush unit near the center of the grounds, and a double pit at the south end of the loop.

Every site has a fire pit, an elevated grill, and a picnic table.

There is an access road from the campground to the Paiute ATV trail. For hikers, the south end of the campground is the north origin of the Joe Lott Trail that heads into the Fishlake National Forest. The facilities of Fremont Indian State Park are about 1/2 mile away, on the opposite side of I-70, and include a small museum of Fremont life, and a variety of improved and unimproved trails leading to many rock art sites.

We got really lucky and were able to book a tent site day-of in the National Park... There are a ton of campsites here, plenty for RVs and tents alike. The site we got was a walk-in (there were 4-6 of these available). The walk-in sites have assigned parking spots and you have to walk a very short distance to get to your spot. All of them had a table and flat spot to pitch your tent, and the spots were far enough apart that you still felt like you had privacy. The bathrooms were super clean (I didn't see any showers). It was such a beautiful place to camp – the sunset over the cliffs above us was spectacular, and there was a group of deer that wandered through the sites during the evening. I would absolutely stay here again!

We spent a single night in one of the tent sites, which are immediately behind the office/owner's residence. Sites have a parking space, fire ring with grill attachment, a picnic table and a gravel tent pad. They are small, and not separated from one another, so if you're looking for any level of privacy you won't find it here. On the other hand, if you like sharing space with other campers you may enjoy it. You also may experience those staying in the RV section walking through your site in order to get to the restrooms/showers.

The campground has both firewood and ice available for purchase. The remainder of the campground store is currently closed due to Covid regulations.

If you have any concerns about Covid (this is being written in September 2020), SC is not a site I would recommend. While the owners have placed signs suggesting social distancing guidelines, including masks while in the restrooms/shower area, compliance among the campers in a nearly full campground was minimal. One unmasked female camper was loudly discussing all the airports she had passed through on her way to the area, including Chicago and Denver. 

Even little details were missed, like the soap in the restrooms being organic and not antibacterial.

Sand Creek is located on Hwy 24, and the road noise didn't quiet down until around 11 PM. Probably not a good choice any time for a light sleeper.

If you have a self-contained RV and are just looking for a place to park for the night, Sand Creek is likely to fit your needs. For a tent camper, its main recommendation is the ability to reserve a site in advance, as most of the other campgrounds in the area are first come, first serve.