Gold Bar Group Sites
Reviewed Apr. 6, 2019

Not remote but surrounded by scenery

This campground was an interesting little campground. When we looked at the listing to find it, it said there were four sites available and we were taking 10 people total. 7 high school students and 3 adults. We knew based off of the BLM site that we were allowed to have 10 people and two vehicles, we had just one big vehicle. No where on the BLM site does it say there is a tent limit, at least that we found. We did get hollered at by the camp host (another campground away) that we had too many tents. So, although the BLM site does not restrict tents, they say you can only have four. She also told us to use the group site at $25 plus $5 a head but that price is so far off that it's laughable.

Anyway, there are 9 sites in the main campground, priced at $20 a site. There are 4 group sites, they range from $130 a night to $250 a night. They can accommodate anywhere from 30 to 90 people per site and 10 vehicles per site. There are no hookups or electric at any of the sites. There are toilets at each of the campgrounds (individual and group). Our group said they were pretty smelly, I went up to the bathrooms that are at the bottom of Corona Arch and those were very clean, lacked a smell and had hand sanitizer in them. The doors were finicky and our students claimed they didn't lock so apparently they are too complicated for high school students.

We stayed in the individual (ten person capacity sties). The sites were clean, spacious and depending on the site you were in, shaded in spots. Some are right out by the highway and those are less desirable. We had a picnic table and a large fire pit.

This was a field trip for our high school kids so we were happy that there were things to do very close. Corona Arch is just across the street. It's about a mile and a half in, so 3 miles round trip. The beginning is really the roughest part. After the tracks, it flattens out a bit and it's mostly just flat rock. This hike allowed us to do a little geocaching, although we only found one of the two on the trail. The arch is magnificent! It's absolutely huge. There are a couple spots of the hike where you need to escape your comfort zone if you aren't fond of heights. There is a steel rope that you climb with foot holes and also a short ladder, maybe 6 feet tall. The rest is pretty smooth sailing. The kids enjoyed the echo at the arch.

Another spot, just about half a mile from the campground is another hike. It's a bit strange at first, you go through what looks like a drainage tunnel of sorts. You get through and I think we were supposed to take a trail up but we missed it and went the flat route towards our geocache. Saw some really nice water holes, not sure if you can swim in them but they seem pretty deep. The official trail is supposed to be 4 miles round trip, but we did not find that trail.

Of course the campground is right on the Colorado River and there are boat ramps at the group sites. The river seemed a bit low in these spots but we did not get in.

After preparing our food we were able to play some frisbee in the roadway for the campground. There wasn't a lot of vehicles that came through so they rarely had to move out of the way. They did a little ultimate as well. If they had had a football or baseball and glove, they could have enjoyed that too. The space was there. The terrain was a little rough but that didn't stop them. They had a blast.

The road in from Moab had petroglyphs and lots of climbers. Temps were about 70 during the day and cold at night, supposed to be 50 ish but it seemed cold. Day temps were almost too hot for the hiking but still tolerable.

Over all the campground was enjoyable and I would take a group back again.

Site5
Month of VisitApril
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019
  • Review photo of Gold Bar Group Sites by Melissa K., April 6, 2019