Best Cabin Camping near Whiterocks, UT

We backpacked into Grizzly Ridge Yurt for a one night stay late this last summer. What a fun and beautiful place to stay. The Yurt is situated in a clearing at about 9000 feet. It's surrounded by pine and aspen trees, and at night from the front porch you can see the lights of Vernal in the distance. There is a fire ring located just below the yurt, with plenty of fire wood provided. The yurt is well stocked with two double bunk beds, a propane cooking stove, plenty of pots and pans, and a wood burning stove which kept us TOASTY WARM all night! Remember your own bedding, plenty of water, and lighting (no electricity or water at the yurt). We thoroughly enjoyed reading stories from the guest book.

Last spring we snowshoed into the Colton Guard Station. What a fun experience! It's about a five mile snowshoe from Highway 40. There is a gate in the winter preventing you from going any further than the parking lot on Forest Road 020. There is a cabin and bunkhouse on the complex, both with wood burning stoves (wood provided). The cabin has a set of twin bunk beds, and a futon that folds out. The bunk house has several twin beds with mattresses. There is an old outhouse that you can use in the winter (no running water to the guard station that time of year). We had so much fun playing games by the warmth of the wood burning stove and sledding down the surrounding hills. Our four legged friend enjoyed being able to accompany us on our adventure. Remember to bring your own bedding and water.

Moon Lake Campground is a clean and modern campground on the shores of a beautiful high mountain lake. The spots can be a little close together, but they are well developed. The bathrooms are modern for a national forest campground with running water, electricity, flushing toilets and ventilation fans. The camp host did an excellent job of daily cleaning and stocking of the campground. Just feet outside the campground is a private resort with rustic cabins and a lodge. The lodge store provides basic necessities in the event you forgot something, as well as an ice cream bar with sundaes and soda on tap. The lodge provides rentals of kayaks and small fishing boats. It even has a taco truck out front. All around, our family ranks Moon Lake near the top of our favorite camping spots.

This is a great lil campground although I feel like they tried to cram alot of campsites right on top of each other. All sites have picnic tables and firepits with a grill. Its kinda a dry vegetation in the park mostly sage brush and junipers, Some bigger shadier trees towards the lake but you better book those way in advance cause they fill up fast. They have small sites, tent sites, many large pull through sites, and even one small cabin. I did notice 3 bathroom facilities in spread throughout the park though and water spigots throughout. They have recently built a nature trail that runs from the side of the lake around to the front of it so thats a nice lil jont. They do also offer one group site that has a pavilion. This campground is not for anyone that doesnt like to be seen cause most likely you'll have a neighbor right next to you, above you, or below you.

I have been camping here for about 30 years and I'm only 30 years old. My family and our camp friends have been going here, year after year, for the great camp sites, fun hiking and most of all, the sublime waterskiing. To keep it fairly brief, the camp sites are mainly situated around a large, open, slightly uneven grass area which is great for tent camping and day activities (volleyball, frisbee, catch, BBQing.) Not much shade from the smaller trees but there are shaded picnic tables for each site. Around that are the RV sites with full hookups. The surrounding tent sites are in a more desert like, sandy area where I haven't spent much camp time. The bathrooms are usually clean and in good working order with running water, but nothing fancy (no showers.) The lake has a plethora of awesome acitivites including boating, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, cliff jumping, fishing and does provide some rentals. We usually try to go during the week as it does get quite busy/crowded on weekends.

Grizzly Ridge yurt can be accessed in Winter or Summer, by snowshoeing, snowmobiling, 4 wheel drive or hiking in. We decided to hike into the yurt. The hike itself is about 4.5 miles with a 1200 feet elevation gain, it is a good trail and easy to follow. The yurt itself has a nice outside deck, two double bunk beds, wood stove, cook stove and some pans and utensils. People leave cleaning supplies and overall the yurt was pretty clean. The view is outstanding. There is not running water, so make sure you bring plenty... or melt snow in the winter. There is an outhouse on site. There was an occasional 4 wheeler that would come by, but other then that it was complete solitude. They have a journal on site for people to log their experience. It is worth reading.

My family and I love camping and have been building our camping arsenal and experience. This campsite gave us a good time and also helped us realized what we needed to add to our “Need to Buy List: Camping Edition.”

First, the Pros of the visit.

1. Designated campsite with deck, fireplace and table! Deck was well built, practically brand new and the same with the fire pit. The fire pit is a smokeless one so the smoke would travel through a ventilation built into it.
2. Has service! We had full bars throughout the campsite. We were even able to watch the Rookie in our tent before bed!
3. Gas station is just 5 min down the road! Nice little gas station that’s prepared to help you with almost all your needs, including flushable toilets!
4. Strawberry reservoir is about 15 min from the campsite and there’s plenty to do there! I won’t go in to detail but we spent majority of our day there.

Now the Cons.

1. The campsite is in the middle of a sketchy RV graveyard! Abandoned buildings and RVs were scattered all over the vista. It was sorta creepy but if you like that kind of thing, go for it!
2. No shade in sight! No trees or anything to provide shade from 7:30-6ish (the sun goes behind the tent around 6). So bring a canopy or two because we forgot to bring one and were scorched! Also the tent heats up like a sauna with the sun beating on it, even with all the windows down and doors open. So if you’re planning on coming back for a relaxing afternoon nap, good luck with that!
3. The wind will take your tent if you’re not careful! The wind gusts would be so powerful at times it would almost carry out tent away from us. We had ours on the deck and it was an ample target for the biggest tent-napper out there: the wind. Without a way to put stakes because you’re on the deck, we were exposed. Thankfully they had cinder blocks under the deck we could use but man it was surely a pain in the butt! So come prepared!
4. Bring bug spray and sun screen! We got burnt so badly and there were ants and ant hills everywhere! I counted at least 5 different ant species crawling around the camp table.
5. Private property signs everywhere. We wanted to explore around our campsite but due to so many private property and no trespassing signs, we never got to explore around us because we thought we would get shot.

Overall, it was not a bad campsite! I think our experience wasn’t the best but that’s mainly due our unpreparedness and lack of experience. There’s many things to do in Fruitland area and also places where you can enjoy the peace and quiet! I hope our learning experience can benefit anyone interested in go to this campsite! Happy camping!