We were shut out at 1 pm. No problem! There is plenty of dispersed camping on Deer Flat and Bears Ears roads just outside the park. So silent at night!

If you want a site at the campground, be there around 8:30 am (in May). We got there at 9:30 am and snagged one of two remaining sites. A sign said there were 6 at 8:30 am. Get your water at the Visitors' Center. If you don't like pit toilets, you can walk a half mile to the Visitors' Center.

Woke up in the middle of the night to a perfectly framed Big Dipper in the window of our teardrop on site 7. (I think that was the number.)