Searching for a dispersed camping spot near Santa Clara? Dispersed camping gets you off the grid so you can disconnect from the hecticness of everyday life. You're sure to find the perfect dispersed campsite for your Utah camping adventure.
Unlike the other trail systems in St. George Field Office area, the Hurricane Cliffs Trail System wasn't developed because of its awesome slick rock or incredible views, and it isn't inside a protected area such as a Reserve or Area of Critical Environmental Concern. This trail system developed because it's an area that is just plain fun to mountain bike.While not the legendary riding of the Gooseberry Mesa National Recreation Trail (under whose shadow this trail system sits), the Hurricane Cliffs Trail System has its own rewards. From smooth, rolling terrain to rough, rocky slabs, there are over 36 miles of great riding single-track in the system.Be sure to check each trail you plan to visit as there are user group restrictions. For example, the Canal Trail is only open to hikers, and equestrians are restricted to existing roads and the Chinatown Wash.
Camping in Hurricane Cliffs Recreation Area is allowed in designated campsites only.
Camping in Hurricane Cliffs Recreation Area is allowed in designated campsites only.
Scout
This is a great site to wake up to if you can get to it. Lady and I drove in after dark. While you don’t need 4x4 during dry months, it will help with the drive. It’s steep, loose dirt until you start hitting rocks.
Stay in the trees to protect from the wind, but there is plenty of space regardless and each site has its own fire pit. Looks like people make their own too.
Legend
The spot was nice and close to Zion. Some single spot and a large flat gravel pad that multiple vans/cars/tents can fit on close to the main road into Springdale. Fills up early in the day during peak season, so have backup plans.
I stayed in the large gravel pad area 3 nights and had a great view and a lovely flat spot to park on. 2 or 3 other vans or tents were also there each night.
Guide
So close to Zion this is a great free camping spot. The access road is a bit bumpy as the pavement is potholed but no trouble in our Class C. Lots of spots to choose from and some great views to be had. Highly recommend
Scout
Awesome location! Beautiful views! Multiple sites
Scout
There’s a cluster of spots for both tents and trailers to post up. The river is beautiful but appears they prefer no access to it. The fence line is down so people go anyways. This place fills up on weekend so if you get there early in day you can pick a prime space. Fire pits are all over and used. We grabbed a spot right next to the bridge and water under the falls colored tree. Stars at night are stunning. It’s quiet but you do hear the occasion car passing by from the nearby road, yet the white noise from the river softens it. October gets around 50 at night so come prepared if you’re tenting. About 20 mins outside of Zion main entrance. The mountains surrounding are beautiful.
Scout
First of all, these GPS coordinates take you to a place called Kolob Gate Gardens, which you can also find on the Dyrt. Kolob gate gardens is private property, but on the outside of Kolob Gate Gardens, it is BLM land. The people squatting there who identify themselves as “hosts” want you to think it’s all private property and pay between $31 and $50 a night for their place, which is a complete dump. There there are several dogs on the loose who will come running at you. Mind you, we are staying on the BLM portion of this property. But you can’t tell other than that no one is staying on the private property - the outside edges of the property, where it is BLM, are full of campers and tents. Steve, the person who runs the Kolob gate gardens part, is nice enough but the place is run down. In addition, there is a guy who has been squatting on the BLM property ( by his own admission) who wanted us to leave because he thought we took too much of his space. We are parked prob at least 300-400 yards from him. I thought the coordinates given here would take us to Kolob dispersed site # 2 as advertised on this app but it is not clear. Do not pay no matter what they try to tell you unless you are on one of their numbered ugly sites. Their site says they offer toilets but they are portapotties that haven’t been emptied in years prob- and they tried to make a shower by diverting water from the creek near by. The shower is not functional now. Either way, this place is no good, whether you are on BLM land or not
Scout
Ich habe hier 2 Nächte verbracht. Ich bin alleine unterwegs und ich habe mich noch nie so sicher an einem Ort gefühlt wie hier. Und man hat hier super Internet! (iPhone 13 t-Mobile
Scout
Drive out a few miles past red cliffs reserve till you pass the “your public lands sign” and find pull offs with fire rings. Gorgeous views and we saw no other people but lots of trash/broken glass/shotgun shells. Had to keep our dog on a short leash but worked well for a quick dinner and place to crash for a night
Guide
Relatively easy access from N Kolob Terrace Road. Arrived around 6pm and there were numerous sites taken up by longer term residents and fellow campers.
Most of the sites have ample space and a stone fire pit. 2-4 bars of T-Mobile 5G.
Guide
Beautiful views as well! The road is very bumpy and campsites are close enough to hear neighbors but not bad at all for free camping
GuideLong drive from the main hwy with some steep and bumpy roads. A 4x4 will have no trouble regardless of the conditions. Saw a Nissan Altima go the same route, but would’ve gotten stuck if it was rainy.
Lots of shrubs to hide behind with plenty of fire circles. Drive around until you find an empty spot. Decently quiet. You’ll hear people around when it gets busy.
TravelerLocation is great for one night. Very close to the entrance of Zion park.
Road was a bit rutted but can be handled by any medium clearance vehicle.
Good cell coverage with Verizon.
Guide
Many spots available. Trees for some shade and a small creek. Stayed on a Wednesday and there was BMX racing at night till 10pm could hear them from our spot but it wasn’t a bother to us.
GuideThis is a great spot for easy access to Zion’s west entrance. It isn’t the quietest spot, lots of people pulling in to find spots late into the night, and you can see and hear your neighbors, but that didn’t bother us much personally. Everything is sandy, so be prepared to shake out your bedding before bed. The roads were not rough, just sandy and bumpy. Many spots to choose from, just look for campsite markers or fire pits. You can hear bomb testing from Nevada which was cool to us, but just a heads up.
GuideWe drove the ~7 miles on dirt roads to get to the listed coordinates and the vibes were horrible the whole way. We eventually got .2 miles from the listed location and there was a gate that was closed and locked. even if it wasn’t blocked off, i wouldn’t recommend it😅
Guide
We stayed here for 1 night recently. The site itself was fine, though there was a bunch of trash all over. Enough room for our 39ft rig and toad. The road getting back to it was so twisty and tight that we scratched up the side of our rig. On the way out, we laid our outdoor rug on the bushes to keep from scratching again, so it is possible to get back here, but be prepared to work around that obstacle.
Also, there is a sign at the entrance warning that the area is used for "rodeo livestock" grazing, and to be cautious around them and not to approach them. We never saw or heard them, but it's something to be aware of.
ScoutBunch of options, showed up late in my ford fusion. One side of the road has multiple separate lots hidden a bit and across the road is a large lot where I ended up pulling off into, hidden slightly by brush
TravelerWe camped for two nights (Thurs and Fri) in early October. Attached are some photos from our site as well as a map of the camping area. There are 40ish camp sites along unpaved roads. The main road is unpaved but navigable by most any car. The secondary roads that lead to the individual campsites are a bit more treacherous. Would recommend AWD or at least not a super low car as it will likely bottom out. We did it slowly without issue in our Subaru. The camp sites are big enough for multiple cars or an RV. There are fire pits at each. About 100 yards or so between camp sites. We left our tent setup unattended Thursday day while hiking in Zion and had no issue.
The drive to the park is about 30-40 minutes, longer depending on how strong your car is. We were averaging about 10mph on the unpaved roads.
Overall a great place to stay! Beautiful stars, amazing land scape. Quiet and safe place to stay. Will definitely stay here again!
GuideIt was pretty easy to find even in the dark which is when we rolled in. Pretty popular spot so you are kinda close to other people but is only 25 mins to Zion and plenty of spots. There is a little river that is so nice to go to sleep to and it is very quiet.
Guide
It is easy to find and there are lots of marked camping spots. 14 day limit. What the other review said is true big ridges in the road making it a bumpy ride but if you take it slow and it’s dry you should be good. Probably wouldn’t take big rigs but there were lots of smaller and medium campers. The views are so beautiful! Surrounded by mountains The stars are amazing and it is nice and quiet.
Guide
There are several different camps all with fire pits. It’s bumpy but plenty of level ground to find once you get to the camp sites and the views are so incredible. Follow the coordinates on google maps and it will take you straight to the pull off road.
It’s about an hour from Zion and 45 minutes from the Coral Sand Dunes and 2hr from the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
Traveler
Lovely camp site just off the road with plenty of afternoon shade.
Scout
This is a nice quiet camping spot with limited space. The largest spot (at the end of the road) has enough space for a couple of tents and 1-2 vehicles and has a ton of shade. The road is a little rough, but I made it in a stock Subaru Outback. Overall a nice little spot.
GuideThere was a bunch of roads to take that lead to sites. We were tired, so took one of the first, a bit bumpy getting in and it was HOT on the top of a hill. Once the sun went down it quickly cooled off. People were close, but couldn’t see them at all. Close to the NP. Also saw some Mule Deer Bucks!
GuideUnless you want to stay RIGHT at the road in a big open lot then don’t try it. There is private property along the roadside, very bumpy road and virtually only two (?) sites that were small. We went to the look out, pretty, but then came right back out and tried our luck at Kolob Terrace road.
There was also someone staying in the lot in a tent, but it looked like he moved in for a bit, so not privacy…
Traveler
My husband and I were looking for a long term (14 day) spot to move to when the weather changed at our high-elevation spot, so we jumped on The Dyrt and found this one on Gubler Rd. Unfortunately we packed up a bit too late in the day and we ended up getting here right after dark. The road is fairly narrow (although it fits a Class A just fine) and slightly bumpy, and, because we've never been here before, I was worried that we might get stuck up the road and not be able to turn around. So as soon as we found a spot that looked like it would fit our 36' rig, we took it, even though it's not private (which we normally prefer).
About a third up the road, we found a (sort of) spot that fit our Class A, so we took it. It's at the beginning of the trailhead, right next to the cattle guard in the road, so I don't know that it's actually technically intended to be a camping spot, but like I said, it's the only one that fits our rig and it was nighttime when we got here, so we grabbed it.
So here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
• The road is well maintained, with some bumpiness, but no holes or deep potholes.
• There are quite a few spots that would be good for tents and a few that would be good for vans. We didn't go the entire length of the road, but we went most of it and the spot we took is the only one we've seen that would fit a Class A or larger Class C. There's a spot farther up the trail that would fit a standard Class C.
• It's a relatively secluded spot. There are houses farther up and down the road, but you can't hear or see them.
Cons:
• People ride by on their ATVs and motorbikes every couple of hours. Last night, a guy in a truck literally drove by our rig up and down the trail going about 45 mph twice in two hours, which made me really nervous, because the trail is only about 10 feet from our rig. And today, a guy drove by on his ATV and rode directly through our campsite, paused while sitting next to our rig, and craned his neck to try to see into our rig. It was weird and I almost ran out there to yell at him to get lost.
• No shade. There are a bunch of juniper trees and a lot of scrub brush, but nothing for shade.
• It gets HOT out here, because there's no shade. Even though the weather says it's only 93°, it feels hotter because the sun is beating down directly on you, so I wouldn't recommend staying here unless you have air conditioning or, if you're in a tent, a lot of water.
• It's EXTREMELY dusty here. When we came here, my husband was driving our rig and I was driving our toad behind him and he was kicking up so much dust, even going 5mph down the road, that I literally couldn't see the rig right in front of me.
• The spot we're at is literally right next to the road, so we notice every bit of traffic. There's usually someone going down there road every few hours, so if you're looking for a private spot and you have a Class A or larger Class C, keep looking.
• The road is pretty hard packed, but some spots are sandy and the whole place would probably be a mess in the rain.
• A LOT of regular traffic, with pickup trucks, atvs, etc. going by.
• People shoot out here and there are a ton of bullets and broken glass to show for it. 2 evenings ago, we were walking our dogs, when we came upon a pickup truck parked in a spot where no one had been earlier in the day. So we spoke loudly and announced that we didn't realize anyone was there and we were leaving. Literally 10 seconds later, a shotgun blast went off and my husband, our dogs and I all jumped. They were shooting just a few feet away from us. So if you have dogs, DO NOT let them run around off leash in this area.
I don't really feel comfortable here because I prefer really private and remote spots, but it seems safe. The light traffic probably wouldn't bother someone who doesn't mind camping around other people.
For our needs, this has been a good spot to rest for a couple of nights, but we'll be moving on tomorrow to find someplace that's more quiet and remote for long-term (14 days).
ScoutHad a campsite up the road another 30 minutes but our 4 year old was ready to be out of the car... pulled off into these sites and set up with a good mountain view
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dispersed campsite near Santa Clara, UT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dispersed campground near Santa Clara, UT is Kolob Terrace Road Dispersed with a 4-star rating from 36 reviews.
What is the best site to find dispersed camping near Santa Clara, UT?
TheDyrt.com has all 64 dispersed camping locations near Santa Clara, UT, with real photos and reviews from campers.
