Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Hanksville, UT

This BLM campground is head and shoulders above your typical boondock campsite, of which there are plenty in Utah. Better yet, it was empty when we arrived on a Sunday afternoon in mid July. It comes complete with 12 sites and a group area, picnic tables, fire rings and grill stands in every site, clean vault toilets, water standpipes and one heck of a view once you get out from under the luxuriant, shading scrub oaks. We heard about it from family members who are into rockhounding, and it does not disappoint. Definitely for the tent/small RV boondock crowd. There are no electric hookups or dump stations, but if you’re set up to go off the grid you might be able to fit a small RV or trailer in a couple of these sites. There is actually a spring nearby, so there’s a very small gurgling brook running through the campground. You’re a little higher up, so it’s a few degrees cooler than below, where you’re awed by the vast expanses of mesas and red-rock monuments you pass through to get here on SR 95 from Hanksville to the north or Blanding to the south. You’ll see the sign just past the 17-mile marker as you come south on the northern leg of 276. Fee is $10 per night. Half that if you have America the Beautiful senior pass.

Everything is new. They still building the office / common room. The private bathrooms and showers are great. Everything is spotless clean. Laundry room only has 2 washers & 2 dryers. Fine now as this RV park is pretty empty. It also has several A-frame little cabins. Maybe a little dusty as they are finishing up all the gravel work. Hookups are good. Pads are level. Every spot has a picnic table & fire pit. Dog park kind of small. All dirt. Lots of areas to walk dogs. Verizon has 3 bars. WiFi is great, but not many campers here.

A couple miles to town. Off the highway. Very quiet. Very dark at night so really nice for stargazing.

And the mountain views are beautiful on 2 sides!

We definitely will stay again if we in the area.

The goblin Valley Campground is located within goblin Valley State Park in Utah. This is pretty much in the middle of nowhere between Hanksville and Green River on a 12 miles off detour off Highway 24. The park itself provides access to a rare and bizarre landscape of rock formation some assembling goblins mushrooms and other spires which is pretty unique to the area. The campground is nestled on the edge of some of these rock for atto a in a really scenic location. Covered picnic tables fire rings we’re also provided and a paved driveway and tent pads were also provided. No water, electric hook-ups. However, despite a fairly steep price for a standard non-electric site ( $30) minimal facilities were offered. The bathrooms and showers were closed for the season (it was late December) ang there was only access to a pit toilet near the yurts a little walk away from the campsites. There were flushing toilets a couple of miles away at the visitor center and a at the major view point over the valley of goblins. no cell reception on either Verizon or AT&T.

Our group was approaching Goblin Valley State Park around 8 pm and stopped at a gas station in Hanksville, Utah. A worker at the station gave us the great advice to save a few dollars and enjoy a more desolate camping experience by utilizing the BLM land along UT-24. We took a 4x4 road (38.460945, 110.674291) and drove up for about 15 minutes to the top of a ridge line at dusk until we found a flat spot to pitch our tent and an existing fire ring. When we woke up we were astounded by the magnificent views. I would definitely recommend camping here if you are in the area and looking for a primitive spot to get away from civilization in the desert.