Best Dispersed Camping near Summit, UT

Dispersed camping in the beautiful Ponderosa pines of Dixie National Forest. The Forest Service road is easy to navigate. There are many dirt roads branching off of it with sites to choose from. Chose a site relatively close to the forest service road. If you're sensitive to dust may want to choose a site further off the access road as there is lots of dust kicked up every time someone drove in or out on the gravel. Convenient location to Bryce (about 15 minutes). Cell service for Verizon.

When the rigs pulling in and out stopped, the only sounds were the braying of cows (the herd wandered into the site) and the wind blowing.

Views! Peaceful! Free!

This dispersed camping area is to the west of the more well known Tom Best Road Dispersed area. Still on Dixie NF but access road is native dirt one lane and no gravel or graded...so if very wet or rain could be sketchy access ( hence 3 stars). Sites are along the road upland side in flat spots and alcoves for about first mile or so. There are TT spots and also good overlander sites up higher. I would recon first before pulling a TT up there to make sure you can get a turnaround. No designated sites, no trash, tables, water or toilets. 14d limit. However cell signal is good if a clear line to Wilson peak antennas. Posted map screenshot shows my recon of campsites...trailer icon are sits with trailers, tent icon is more suited to overlander type setups with high clearance vehicles or smaller rigs.

We stayed here for a week while waiting for a package to arrive in Cedar City. The gap is a beautiful place and the petroglyphs would be as well were it not for the vandalism on them. On some camping apps people are saying just camp anywhere out here. I wanted to clarify that. While there are lots of places to camp please don't make new campsites or drive off roads and in the desert/grass. We stayed in a lovely spot on Jackrabbit Road, but had to drive over a mile to find what I consider an established site. All along the road there is damage from people driving and camping wherever they want. This is tragic and violates leave no trace. So does the many bullet shell casings, broken glass, dog turds, old gun targets, shotgun shells, etc, out here. This is how public lands get closed. It's a nice place and we saw respectful campers, OHV'rs, and bicyclists. Just use existing campsites and roads.

When our original dispersed camping spot didn’t work out we drove down the road and found this little gem, right outside the entrance to Bruce Canyon National Park. There are a bunch of designated USFS camping spots. They’re level-ish, fire rings, and pretty easy to get to. We have a 1992 (renovated!) motorhome and we got to spot 17 no problem. We could have gone to 17-19, but then the road got to rough for our old girl. Lots of quads and sideXsides riding on the dirt road, kicking up dust till about 8:30PM but was not a big deal. Solid free camping right near the park!

October 15, 2020

We wanted to be close to Bryce Canyon but not in all of the hub and chaos of people. This location is about a 10 minute drive away from Bryce.  This is the perfect location to get away from it all.  When you first arrive, you will see plenty of spots for RV's and travel trailers.  We traveled 1.8 miles and took a left turn on a small dirt road and found 5 or 6 campsites that were level and far away from each other. (We were the only one down this road).  

The site was level with a lot of space to spread out.  There was a firepit but no other facilities, so come prepared with everything you need. Due to fire restrictions, we didn't have a fire, and enjoyed seeing the Milky Way and shooting stars!  There is a pit toilet across the highway before you turn into the BLM land.  

We thought we would only stay for one night, but ended up there 2 nights since it was so beautiful!

Ill start off by saying that you should probably have an AWD or 4WD high clearance vehicle for the upper campsites.  There are campsites lower on but are right next to the road.  Getting there you'll want to follow Dalton Wash Rd all the way to the plateau, staying left the whole way unless its private property.

There are no bathrooms or amenities here so either come prepared or take care of business before heading up or inbetween excursions.  The good thing from that is you'll be pretty secluded! (Cant speak for the peak months as we visited in May)  The upper campsites are ~45 minutes from Zion with the lower sites being only 30 minutes away!  Summer may not be the best time to visit as the sites are kind of exposed and theres not a ton of shade

I stayed in dispersed camping spot #5 arriving on August 31st, 2020. There are 11 or 12 designated spots here. There is a sign on the right side once you enter the Forest Service Road that maps all the hiking trails and dispersed camping sites available in the Leeds Creek dispersed camping area. No 4x4 is necessary to get to spots 1- 5. I didn't go all the way up the mountain and see the other spots. The entrance to spot 5 is a horseshoe shape big enough and convenient for an RV. However, for tent campers, you will want to go beyond the bushes for wind coverage and privacy. The space opens up with trails, amazing views, you can here the creek burbling below the canyon. Spectacular stargazing at night and pretty quiet aside from some road traffic. NOTE: tent campers; park your vehicle with visibility in the horseshoe drive in to avoid unbeknownst camp crashers. The coverage is good enough for tent campers that someone could easily believe the campsite was not taken. Also, bees like your trashbag. So, keep it in your vehicle rather than hanging it. Lastly, sadly there was A LOT of litter when I visited. I did my best to clean some of it up while I was there. Please remember to pack in/pack out and leave no trace!!