Steinaker State Park Campground

We rented the group site for Mothers Day weekend, very clean and nice, close to town...had a blast on paddle boards and kayaks

CLOSE TO TOWN

Steinaker State Park and Campground is located about five miles north of Vernal, UT.  The campground is beautiful, and the campsites vary between desert vegetation, large shady cottonwoods, and sandy beaches.  There is also one cabin available to rent.  Hike the Eagle Crest trail located at the large group site for beautiful views of the lake, and Vernal beyond. Make Steinaker your basecamp for the many mountain biking trails just up the highway, hiking (check out Moonshine Arch), fishing, and more.  

Steinaker State Park, UT 

This is a really nice campground. Paved road goes all the way around the park. Some sites are close but others are set alone for privacy. Short hilly walk to the lake depending on which site your in. There is one cabin that they rent out that looks to be in great condition. Fishing is so so but the water is warm enough to swim in during summer months. There is also a geocache hidden by the fish cleaning station, if you ask the rangers they can give you the coordinates. 

Nice area

This is a great recreation area close to the town of Vernal, about 5 miles out. There is a lake for fishing, swimming and water sports. There is a nice beach with pavilions and picnic sites. The campground has full hook up spots, Electrical, a cabin you can rent and tent sites. There is a great group site that gives you access to the water and has a covered pavilion. There are many walking trails and atv trails accessible from this campground. 

Close to town

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.

Always Busy

Quiet spots, beautiful view, nice hiking, great for kids.

Beautiful view

This state park is close to Red Fleet state park, the lake and water at Red Fleet park is much nicer, but the campground here is more spaced out with better setups.  The lake is not very scenic my opinion.

Nice relaxed Campground

Wow. What a beautiful site right next to a marina area. Very clean and good smelling bathrooms. We got a Sandy site and could sleep on the sand. Tables and grill and pit at every site.

Great Family Friendly and Clean

Access to the park was easy as was check in. The camp hosts were super nice and very accommodating during our three night’s stay. We proceeded backwards through the campground as instructed to pull through site 8, which is FHUs and 50 AMP. We had to maneuver our 39’ fifth wheel so the utilities side bedroom slide wouldn’t go into a tree. The utilities are placed in the middle of the pad so that was nice. However, water pressure was only about 25 to 30 psi so we filled our freshwater tank and used the pump. We got spotty service on Verizon between 1 and 2 bars. In the mornings we were able to get our Verizon MiFi to work well. We really liked being on the upper campground level with more space between the sites and the covered patio with the picnic table. Sites 1- 8 that lead to the upper level are FHUs. Beware that site 8 is a 1/4 moon turn with a large tree then two poles out the front of the site that people have complained about hitting. We could have backed out of the site but decided to go carefully forward and we missed the poles(obvious from scrapes that some people did not), but we did scrape the branches of the trees. Pull through site 7 is probably the easiest FHU to get into. The rest of the sites are a mix of different services, i.e. water and electric or no hookups at all. They also have a couple of yurts and a cabin. The main draw here seemed to be OHVs but there were also a few people with boats. Checkout Moonshine Arch. It took us twice to find the Moonshine Arch, which is just down the road from Steinaker SP. Google maps nor Waze will get you to the trailhead. It's best to ask for directions from the camp host manning the Steinaker SP gate entrance. The first time we were not prepared and missed the turn to the left after you get on the gravel road(there's no sign). When we got to the parking area, we had no idea which way to go and ended up wondering around. There was a couple with a brochure(which you can get at the park office) but it was basically worthless. Since it was hot and we had our dogs, we bailed but did have a nice hike. The second day we were better prepared and found a blogger who had posted instructions. Basically its a.8/less than a mile moderate hike as follows: 1) go through the green gate to an old, rough jeep trail and follow it around to the right to another green gate, 2) before that green gate follow the trail to the left until you come to an intersection where you'll go right and continue until you get to the flat rocks that go up a hill, 3) climb the flat rock hill staying towards the left until you see a BLM info sign, 4) at the sign follow the trail to the left(at this point you can follow the footprints in the sand) and keep going until you get to the arch, which has a sign that you are there, and of course the arch is hard to miss at this point. Some info says you can see the arch after you climb the flat rock hill. You can see trees around the arch once you know where it is but not the arch itself. Also, if you are into dinosaurs, this is your area starting with Vernal’s museum plus state and national sights as well.

Great Base to Explore the Area

This used to be a fairly decent swimming / fishing hole closer to vernal city than nearby reservoir red fleet. Now the water level is so low I wouldn’t recommend it. Just go on ahead a bit further to visit red fleet instead. 

So low 

Stayed in space 7 in our 40ft Silver Eagle bus.   This space is full sun so if you need ro charge solar this is great.  50amp and 30 Amp hookups.  Will stay again

Epic

This state park is great. They have trash, water and vault toilets. The sites are a bit closer than I typically like however it still has some privacy. They have various types of sites to choose from depending on what you need. I’ll definitely be back.

Cute and Quiet

Wow! We spent 3 nights at Dippy Cabin and what a fantastic place! Amazing views, private drive, mini fridge,  and microwave. Full size bunk beds, porch, and grill. Absolutely fantastic.  

Dippy Cabin

No camping in Flaming Gorge w 2-3 feet of snow still....so headed toward Vernal and remembered we had scoped this place out on a previous raft trip. Campsite 12 is beautiful and...we were the only ones here on a Friday!