Best Tent Camping near Sterling, UT

Utah state recreation area, OHV recreation area along with beach side camping. Year round access. Campground is RV only (I think) beach tent camping along the whole lake, vault toilets around the lake, Occasionally there are trees but mostly not, can get dusty if people are driving thier off road toys. Only 1 vehicle per reservation extra car can be paid for. Nice beautiful, relaxing.

Beautiful spot to stop on our route. The day we arrived was very windy. The view is serene and it’s very quiet. There are showers and bathrooms. Most campsites have water and electric and there are tent sites with great views of the lake. They have a couple cabins and on site kayak rentals.

We planned to tent camp here, but our friends rented the cabin next to our site and couldn’t make it last minute. So we got the cabin! Great spot. Lake is cool and an easy walk down from the sites. Shade is at a premium, so we were very happy to get the cabin because it was crazy hot. Clean bathrooms with nice showers for rinsing off after splashing in the lake all day.

Awesome campground at about 8,600’ elevation, has a couple small creeks running through, water and toilets on site as well. Each site has a metal fire ring (crucial for a campfire during burn bans), picnic table, grill, some sites had an extra fire ring and bench seats. It’s nestled on the mountainside surrounded by aspen forests and farm land. Plenty of wildlife in the area, watch for deer and cattle in the road. We had temps dip down into the teens overnight with a dusting of snow in late September, be sure to pack layers. Overall a perfect spot for tent camping, small campers max, no RV parking or hookups. Not too far from Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Highly recommend staying here and going to Grand Staircase for a hike in the slot canyons.

We just finished another stay at the Mackinaw Campground and it was the best one yet, even though our vehicle broke down on the last day of our stay. 

Thanks to the amazing camp host, Karen, we were able to contact local mechanics and get it quickly towed and fixed. She was so helpful, understanding, and flexible with assisting us. We couldn't have done it without her. 

The campsites have great picnic tables and firepits.  There are multiple small tent sites at each campsite and room for our longer travel trailer as well.

This is dry camping, but the bathrooms are clean and have flushing toilets. There are many drinking water stations around the camp.  

The park service has recently improved a dump station as the south end of the lake. It is a great place to fill your fresh water tank before pulling into camp and to empty black and grey tanks on the way home.

The lake shore trail is just across the street making it an easy walk to the marina.

Aspen trees cover the campground making it a great place to hang hammocks and relax.

We will be back again and again!

I camped here during Labor Day week on a Friday night. We were a walk up  reservation. The campsites themselves are small and some of the tent sites have the tent pad staggered down or up the hill from the main camp area. They all had a nice large picnic table and a FirePit with grate plus a separate BBQ. It was clean and well maintained. We were site 12 or something and had a great view of the lake in the mornings and a rough open sky for star gazing. Most of the other campers were respectful and quiet at night and in the morning. The bathrooms were easy to access and very basic. To access showers you need to go over to a different campground nearby or pay to use some at the holiday park nearby. Lots of water spigots everywhere for filling your containers. There was a tiny babbling brook next to my site which was nice to listen to at night. There was a trailhead to go up the mountain right in the campground or you could walk down to the lake and hike along the lakeside trail. Cattle seem to have free roaming access to the north of the holiday park but I didn’t smell them at all that day. It does get cold there at night since it’s at high elevation. I stumbled upon this campground by chance when our plans changed due to fires so I’d like to go back and spend some more time there on a properly planned vacation.

We stayed here twice this summer and really liked it both times. All the tenting campsites are on the Millsite Reservoir but if you go higher than site number 17 you are a bit further from the water. The campground is open, so not totally private, but it was so quiet it didn't really matter. We went for a couple of hikes in the Ferron Canyon which you can walk to, and they have paddle boarding on the reservoir which we didn't have time to do. They don't have typical fire rings on the ground - they are up off the ground. See photo.

Awesome first camp of the year. Booked as soon as the state parks opened back up. Place really gave that “middle of nowhere feel”, lake and surrounding area were beautiful. Campsites were simple and bathrooms were nice. Only issue we had was we accidentally booked a site without electric. Could’ve been more clear on website, but also likely a rookie mistake being our first camp in Utah

Traveling east along US-50 "The Loneliest Road in America," we were seeking somewhere to camp after leaving Great Basin National Park. We stumbled upon Oak Creek Recreation Area quite by accident, but such a rewarding accident it turned out to be. It must be the best kept secret in western Utah for camping.

Oak Creek campground is located four miles east of Oak City, Utah. It is nestled in a canyon in the Fishlake National Forest. We arrived at the campground late afternoon June 5, 2023 and had our choice of ANY campsite - we were the only occupants. We selected site 19, a back-in site at the end of the loop that runs through the campground. The site is less than 100 feet or so from Oak Creek which runs parallel to the campground. The site is level and easily accommodated our 18-foot travel trailer. Using our Senior America the Beautiful pass, the cost per night was $8.00 and worth every penny. In addition to this campsite, there is additional camping further up Oak Creek Canyon Road for tents, RVs, and trailers - access is via a well-maintained dirt road beyond the campground we stayed in.

Highly recommend this campground for peace and quiet!

This campground is really nice. A lot of trees, tent pads and showers. Bathrooms are really clean.

Easy to drive to & set up a tent. No shade but it got chilly at night & in the early morning.

There is a fire pit. Access is easy on and off from a gravel road.. Campers, RVs, and people with tents can easily use this site. No facilities.

We tried to stay here but it was closed. Looks like a great spot for tent campers, unsure if an rv could get up the roads.

This was a great site to stop and pitch my rooftop tent. Not too far up the canyon, and it was very quiet. It is RIGHT next to a mountain bike trail, so expect some early-morning bikers to be coming down.

Overall, it was a great place to camp.