Looking for the best options for camping with dogs near Ibapah? Finding a place to camp in Utah with your dog is easier than ever. Each pet-friendly campsite offers quick access to one or more of Ibapah's most popular destinations.
With a panoramic mountain view and backing two of five casinos, the Wendover KOA has it all. Located just 10 miles from the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats, where customized cars set land-speed records, you'll find excellent fishing, birdwatching, hiking and even scuba diving in the area. Whether you're attracted to the casinos or the wild mustang herds that frequent the area, or you're looking for an oasis at day's end, this is a place to kick back and relax. The Wendover KOA (Mountain time zone) is open year-round, with a seasonal heated outdoor pool, mini golf, a grocery and souvenir shop, laundry and much more. Enjoy large pull thru sites. This campground is big rig and pet friendly. Pool: Memorial Weekend - Labor Day Weekend. Max pull thru: 80 ft.
Restrictions No overnight camping on the salt flats. No driving vehicles on salt flats when wet or flooded. https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/BLMUtahBonnevilleSaltFlats.pdf
Leave No Trace
Do not drive on the salt flats when they are wet or flooded from precipitation. You can easily damage the salt crust and/or become stuck in the underlying mud. Come prepared. Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Dispose of waste properly. Leave what you find. Minimize fire impacts. Respect wildlife. Be considerate of other visitors.
Boyd Station survives as one of the best preserved Express Stations in Utah. This preservation is probably due to the fact that Bid Boyd, station master, continued to occupy the site into the current century
Ranger
Although Dyrt has this listed as Nevada, it is in Utah (probably the BLM office is NV). Drive to the end of the road and there is a sign. Drive past the sign to drive right out onto the salt. We saw a lot of vehicles out there, including some trucks with campers. But we were worried about the salt being too soft for the weight of our van so we just parked at the side of the parking lot and hunkered down.
If you take the spur of the road to the left that goes up the side of the mountain, there are places to park at the top that are part of BLM but UDOT restricts access to gravel/sand. Great views on top of hill in all directions.
BEWARE: Although you'll see people driving out on the flats, it MAY be VERY VERY muddy, with slick mud even though it appears to 'look fine.' I would suggest walking on it a ways out to see. IF it's dry it MAY be fine.
Overall, nothin' fancy but if you're in the area, might as well check it out.
Scout
Make sure you bring plenty of water and are fueled up. The sign for the geodes is off to the right after you go over the pass!
Traveler
I had difficulties finding the park. There were no clear signs. Over all it was just the basic necessities. I would recommend they plant some trees, offer showers and laundry room. Some added stairs would be nice to get up the hill to the paved side walk to get to the casino. I traveled alone with my travel trailer and I can't say I felt super safe walking from the Casino to my RV at 12am but it was manageable. I did have fun at the Casino and they are building a new Noodle House wish it was open during my visit. But it was quiet for me. I would recommend if you are passing through.
Scout
It was incredibly windy and dusty but based on its location it's to be expected. People were nice. Bathrooms were clean. Showers were clean and private. No complaints.
Guide
Very well maintained roads out here, nobody around for miles, incredible history. So many roads to go explore old cabins, abandoned mines nearby. Just a great place to see & explore.
Guide
The place I was directed to was on the side of a mountain. Fun drive but no camp site
LegendI’ve loved visiting and driving across the Bonneville salt flats for decades. It’s a unique spot in the country (although not in the world, put Uyuni next on your list if you love endless stretches of white salt desert). The description is accurate that you cannot camp overnight on the salt flats, but it is surrounded by BLM lands and those are fair game. You can have essentially the same experience without damaging the unique and fragile environment at the actual site. The sunrises are phenomenal and more than worth the trip out here.
GuideYou cannot camp on the salt flats but you can camp on the BLM property right north of the flats. The road will Y branch to the left of going to the parking spot of the flats. Follow the road north and there will be two dirt roads that branch on the right of it. You can camp at any dirt pad.
GuideVery friendly and welcoming staff. Very close to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Nice playground. Bathrooms could have been updated. Over nice and quiet campground
TravelerOnly place in town U could find fresh potable water while in BLM land. Didn't dump, though available. Real nice lady had me pull into an open pull through spot. $5 filled me up. Easy in, easy out. Pay at office first.
RangerRight behind Nugget Casino south of big parking lot. Full hookups very clean. No tables, Level paved parking pads, only 15.
RangerJust a level parking concrete concrete pad pad back in only No tables just Water electric sewer hook UPS. Is a small horse Shoe shape location. Must check in with Nugget Casino hotel dest.
RangerWe arrived late at night and our host (Lucy) left us perfect info to find our site quickly in the dark. It was quite a surprise to wake up and see a pretty empty but lovely campground! Lucy was so kind to us and I wish we could have stayed longer! The Casinos are within walking distance but we did not feel unsafe. The campground is very large (but was empty in October) and we could tell it was very well taken care of! Cute store with a lot of nice souvenirs!
ScoutGreat overnight stop at the KOA. Right off of I-80 and in a casino town, but extremely quiet and cost effective.
ScoutNothing special, small showers. There is a large pool, clean campground.
ScoutNice staff on the desk, showers were clean, pool was open and cool. Site was clean and quiet. Easy access to Wendover
ScoutVery good campground. RV sites are roomy and lots of pull through sites. Bathrooms and showers were clean and lots of hot water. Definitely would recommend. Easy walk to casinos.
TravelerPretty basic but good for short term. It's just a small cup de sac of about 15 spots at most. All back ins except for like 2-3 pull thrus i think in middle! Don't even think there's a Host on site. Close to nugget and Montego casinos. No bathrooms or trees for shade.
GuideThis place was a bit or a boring ride for me, but the silence and openness did finally sink in. Very calming. We landed at the geode beds as the sun set. In the morning we woke and didn't quite realize what we were on. With no digging tools, as this was an unexpected stop, we mucked about using rocks to dig. We wound up finding some very impressive geodes! All in all a great fun adventure. BRING A SHOVEL! HAHA
TravelerGood utilities, nice facilities. Excellent access to salt flats and casinos. The park is gravel but there are a few grass patches. The dog park is gravel. Basketball and other recreation areas are good. Wifi was a nogo for everyone we met.
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!
LegendIs pretty typical for a KOA except for the location! This KOA has all the usual amenities: playground, showers, flush toilets, RV hookups, a pool, and wifi. Some convenievces can also be bought at the main registration cabin. In addition to the usual RV sites there are also camping cabins and "tent" sites (which I do not recommend). There are a couple of unique things about this KOA in that it has shuttles to the nearby casinos and is also a 5 minutes drive from the world famous Bonneville Salt Flats where numerous world speed records have been set.
ScoutPark was nicely taken care of. Nice pool. Shuttle was nice to the casinos.
TravelerFriends and I stayed here over memorial day weekend (Thursday-Sunday). It was a very nice place. BLM owned, and no one bothered us. We were able to get here fairly easily but here are two words of warning:
It's a nice, treeless area that my buddies and I had a good time at. We were able to shoot guns, and had a real good time. On the downside, there aren't any trees, and it's a lot of brush. Getting up into the actual Scott's Basin, you'll need to either take 4x4 recreational vehicles, or off-road vehicles (Jeeps, Land Rovers, etc.).
LegendWe stayed at the Bonneville KOA on a road trip from Southern California out to Colorado. Our original goal had been to drive from the SF Bay Area to SLC, UT (US Highway 80 is a very easy, straight shot drive from CA to UT, even for a 650 mile drive), but got a really late start and changed our target to the NV/UT boarder.
The Wendover KOA is definitely a KOA designed for motorhomes and trailers - it’s BARREN - so not a place I would usually want to tent camp. All of the spaces are dirt lots, including the tent sites - no grass, no bushes, no (well, very few) trees, no privacy, no nothing. Again, this is not the environment I would normally want to camp in, but it worked just fine for a short stop between long stretches of driving when covering miles on a road trip.er
This KOA campground would be great for RV users who want to visit the Casinos on the Nevada side of the NV/UT boarder, and for those spending time at the Bonneville Salt Flats for races or recreational fun.
The facilities were clean - clean bathrooms, clean showers. There were fire pits and picnic benches in the camp sites, and WiFi was available on the campus.
KOAs can be really great and convenient (if not full), considering we did not have a reservation ahead of time, and arrived fairly late, but were able to register through an iron ranger near the front office. If you need to find a place to camp in this area, and do NOT have a 4WD vehicle, I️ would suggest camping at the Wendover KOA instead of the nearby dispersed BLM sites located ON the salt flats. When researching where to stop for the night, we considered staying at the BLM campsites as they were FREE and camping out on the salt flats seemed like a cool idea. We decided against it because we didn’t know how my 2WD Honda CRV would fair on the salt, and because KOAs always have nice clean facilities to use.
We got into a conversation with our neighbors about the salt flats (we had never seen them before). They seemed to think we made the correct choice by camping at the KOA rather than the on salt flats… they regularly take off-roading vehicles out to the salt flats, and have seen a dozen or so 2WD vehicles get stuck out on the flats. Apparently the long, vast salt flats are deceptive, and not always as flat as they appear. Also, they said that it can be very difficult to see pooled water while driving out on the salt, so a lot of people get stuck in deep puddles after rain.
CAMPSITE SPECS
Fees: $26/night
Plumbed Toilets: Yes
Water: Yes
Showers: Yes (no coins needed)
Picnic Table: Yes
Firepit: Yes
Cooking Grate: Yes
Shade: NO
Cell Service: Yes + WiFi
Trash: Yes
Animal Bins/Food Lockers: NO
ScoutManagement at this KOA was excellent. Very nice and welcoming. The facilities were clean. The campground area is clean and well attended.
LegendThis 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!
Discover the perfect spots for pets-allowed camping near Ibapah, Utah, where you and your furry friends can enjoy the great outdoors together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Ibapah, UT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Ibapah, UT is Lower Basin Campground with a 3-star rating from 2 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Ibapah, UT?
TheDyrt.com has all 7 dog-friendly camping locations near Ibapah, UT, with real photos and reviews from campers.
