Top 10+ Campgrounds near Manti-La Sal National Forest

It's a good graded gravel road going south, but as you get further in there are some dry-creek crossings that can need high-clearance. If they're real sandy or  muddy than plan on 4WD. But plenty of space before those obstacles.

Soft silty/sandy soil... low shoes will fill up quick.

The roads go further in but I haven't explored them yet. A mile from the highway, you can barely hear it or see it. In late April, we had one neighbor a half-mile away, and saw nobody come by our camp in two days.

The scenery is gorgeous, sites are comfy and widely spaced. $15 or half-off for Golden Age. Restrooms and tables. Zilch for cell service, bring your Starlink.

Access from I-70 is about 20 miles of graded dirt road with occasional washboard. From the other direction (UT-10), most of the road is much better, and there's the Wedge Overlook along the way (5-mile side trip).

If you prefer a bit more privacy, there are single campsites way up Buckhorn Road to the north.

Great little area with a dozen dispersed sites. Close to the river if you have an off-road vehicle

Great spot for camping with a group. Quite a few spots accessible by car. A couple fireplaces here and there too. A fair amount of fallen pine and juniper wood there to use for building fires. Just remember to drown out your fires with water (there’s a sign).

I do not recommend tent camping here solo though. This wasn’t my first time tent camping solo either. As I was laying in my sleeping bag inside my tent around 11pm, some creature started stalking me around midnight. I could hear it moving and breathing outside my tent. I managed to scare it off by hitting my car’s “panic button” on the keys. I then packed up immediately and left.

Stayed here first week of April. Road to get to the spot was a little tough but it was a good spot for an overnight stop. It’s right off the highway so be prepared for hearing cars all night, but it wasn’t too bad.

Night time was really cool with some good stargazing, and there really weren’t any cars on the dirt road, so that was also a plus.

Nothing really special here, but definitely serves its purpose.

Sheep Creek is a decent spot right off the highway if you're traveling through and need to catch some Zzz's. It's close to a few trails, although only 1 of the two gates going towards Strawberry were open, so I can't speak to how the trails are. We stayed 3 nights, and it was quiet enough. It is just an open field but there are plenty of spots for plenty of people. Each night people were pulling in late at night for some shut eye but it didn't bother us as we didn't notice other than the lights. It's good views and free so can't complain much.

The first and hopefully the only time I do this. Was driving from SW Washington to Moab. Needed an overnight and left late after baseball games. Reserved a spot at Mountain Home RV. GPS guided me right in to Mountain View RV. After hours. They had a user friendly board with details on available sites. I snagged one of those for the night. Filled up on water, dumped tanks, was in after 10am and out at dawn. Super easy in and out. Great nearby amenities. Sure there’s road noise but we like it. It means we’re on the road ;)

Quiet campground in spring! Beautiful views.

Great for hunt camp or family camping. Easy access to fishing and off-road excursions, hiking and photography.

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.

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).

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).

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.

We needed a place for the night after leaving the crazy busy area of Moab and this was the perfect spot. We will absolutely return again but with the ATVs.

There were several people camping and riding their ATVs and SXSs but when the sun went down it was quiet and so dark. The night sky is beautiful.

Pack it in and out but a perfect place for us. It had rained the day we arrived and it was not muddy and no problem getting in and out.

The road getting in has a bit of wash board so just take it slow.

It was essentially a bunch of RVs and cars parked in a field, so minimal privacy, but feels very safe! Cows come out at night and wander about, so look out for cow patties!