Water Canyon Cliffside Cabin L and L

First off let me say this is not a review on either the cabin or the tents. Usually I am pretty easy when it comes to reviewing sites. I know that everyone has their on preferences on what they like and dislike about where we stay. The Water canyon Cliffside is basically a site that someone took a bulldozer and knocked down some trees and made a slight effort at leveling. I camp with a rooftop tent mounted on a Ford F-150 so I don't need much to make a site work, but I do need a somewhat level place to park and room to open the tent. The site I was assigned was so off level I would have had to put 8" of block under my tires and then open up with my ladder either on the heavy downhill slope or up against a hill with big rocks and cactus. My only option was to setup in the turnaround at the top of the road, if only they put that much work into their camp sites. I don't see how the smaller tent sites were much better, especially having to pay for the privilege! In summary, find a different place if you can, the tents looked nice, the bathroom was decent except that in the dark you potentially have the danger of stepping in a vicious grouping of cactus. I think if your going to run a campground, you should put a little more effort into making it useable.

Campground Review:

      If you're looking for a more secluded experience around Zion then this is a great spot that's pretty much guaranteed to be away from the crowds.  It lies on the south side of Canaan Mountain with great views of the canyon walls!  The dirt road going to the campground and the road in the campground can be rough after a rain (it rained while we were there) and therefore we wouldn't really recommend low clearance cars.  The road may be graded after spring, however, so check with the campground hosts before headed up!

      Upon arrival we unlocked the yellow gate and pulled in to find our parking spot, which are labelled by signs.  There is wood for sale right by the parking for site 3, 4 , and 5.  It was a little bit of a walk to our site from the parking lot but sites 4 and 5 had a shorter walk.  We also thought sites 4 and 5 had better views of the canyon walls as our site was in a grove of Junipers.  The hut and the bigger set up tents also had better views and metal fire rings along with a BBQ grill at the hut.

      Now for activities in the area! Zion NP is only an hours away and takes a scenic route west until meeting up with the junction headed towards Zion.  Rain unfortunately spoiled all of our canyoneering and sandstone climbing plans we had so we opted to try and hike Mountain of the Sun.  This is the famous peak that overlooks the lodge and gets first sunlight most days.  The closest most people get to the summit is the 200' outlook trail. There is, however, an old retired Park Service trail that ascends to the top!  It starts just on the east side of the Mt. Carmel Tunnel and ascends Pine Canyon before going up slick rock terraces.  We had to turn back at this saddle due to rain because while it was hard going up, sliding down 300' of wet, slimy sandstone wasn't in our plans for the day!

Score: 4/5*

Would give 5 stars for sites 4, 5, 6, both tents, and the hut

Product Review:

     As a ranger for the Dyrt we sometimes get to test products while we camp.  On this camping trip we got to test the GrubStick Deluxe Kit!  The first thing we thought when we got our kit was there's a ton of attachments!  We think the Deluxe Kit is the best option for testing the waters as it includes one of each of their unique roasting tools.  The attachments that intrigued us most was the Grubtube and Grubpocket.  They allowed us to make freshly roasted bread quick and easily!  We found that keeping the bread fairly thin got the best golden brown while baking it all the way through.  We tested both of these and and the prongs but not the cages.  While we didn't test the cages we expect them to perform just as well given they are very robust.  On top of all of these gadgets, the deluxe kit also comes with a carrying bag to store it all!

     The only thing we thought could be improved on the Grubstick was the telescoping portion of the handle itself.  I almost pulled 2 different sections apart from each other without much force and when there was a decent load on the end the whole rod would bend.  We just shortened the rod by one section and that seemed to work alright.  

    In closing we thought the grubstick was a fantastic ingenuitive piece of camping equipment. It's sure to expand the number and variety of camping meals you'll be able to prepare!  And if you're looking for a kit for the whole family there's the GrubStick Master Kit.

Score: 4/5