We have camped at Bear Butte State Park several times and have started to notice that this campground possibly has permanent residents who somehow work the system to stay there. Several of the camping rigs are a patchwork of different colors of paint. One ancient patchwork looking van had a window air conditioner out the back end of it and a very loud truck pulled up, spent the night, and left again in the morning, like the van was their home. They ran the generator until just about midnight and because the campground is small, you could hear this one generator all the way around the loop. An ancient travel trailer was parked next to a small pickup that had a flatbed trailer attached, which they obviously could not haul both at the same time. Another patchwork looking truck with another ancient travel trailer has occupied the same prime spot next to the lake every single time we have camped there. The price of a night is cheap and I have never found it to be full so I suppose these folks are harmless, but the vibe is on the creepy side now. I will be on the search for another campsite to use when I need a campsite in the Black Hills while passing through.
As far as the facilities go, the pit toilet smelled pretty ripe. I've camped many places where the pit toilets smell freshly cleaned and this was not one of them. The floor was covered in what had to be several months' worth of dead flies and the TP was nearly out. There was a camp host on site and only half the sites had people camping in them, so I would think it should be fairly easy to keep a non-busy pit toilet in better shape than it was in.
My last complaint would be the bright light in the middle of the campground. No lights near the pit toilet but there is one that is on a fairly high pole right in the middle. This could be an amazing dark sky park if they would cut the bright light! If light is required, why not put it where it is useful near the pit toilet?
There is not a lot to see on the flat western plains of Kansas and you would not see this state park either if you didn’t know it was there. This lake is like a sunken oasis of trees and water. The area itself was great! There’s even a few histoical sites to visit and it is close to Monument Rocks, which is what bought us to Kansas.
The campground, however, is just ok. Perhaps it would’ve been better if they had rain to green up the grass, but it was mostly brown in June when we camped there. They have a large selection of sites and on a Monday night in June, we had many choices available for tent camping. It appeared that most who camp here have an rv and those spaces looked about full. Thankfully, those are two different areas of the campground because they were packed into a parking lot style campground. The tent area probably would’ve looked packed in too since the sites are small, but with only a handful of tents, we had some space.
One thing that did limit our choice of sites was a LARGE herd of geese that covered all of the lakeside sites as well as the next row in. I didn’t want to set up in bird poop in the dry grass so the sites with a decent view were out. We did luck out and find site 2 of the Flatland area which was up above the water line so the geese couldn’t swim up and walk in. Site 2 had a great view of the lake and was set apart from the other sites along with site 1. Site 1 would’ve been the better site but it was occupied by a tent that appeared to have been abandoned. Site 2 was not level by any means, in fact it sloped quite a bit compared to the rest of the sites. There was no tent pads, which would’ve helped a lot for this site. We just set up so our heads would be at the high end and it worked. It was too nice of a view to let a bumpy sloping site stop us!
The campground has a host and everyone was quiet for the night. We slept pretty well, other than the high humidity of Kansas.
The bathhouse left a lot to be desired. A good cleaning to remove dead bugs would’ve went a long way. A fresh coat of paint would make it inviting. It looked like nobody had checked on its’ condition for many years. We were hoping to use the showers, but they were no cleaner and had an odd design with no doors or shower curtains. The lighting was very dim as well, making it all look a little too creepy for a shower there. A fresh coat of paint, brighter lighting, some shower curtains, and a good scrub down would make this facility SO much better! We also checked the other batthouse on the opposite side of the lake and it was the same way…only creepier because there was one lone rv camped near it.
Overall, I would not camp here again unless I read some reviews indicating the the bathhouse has been improved. It’s not a dealbreaker to not have a shower, but if this campground had been fuller, the geese all over the sites may have been. If you have an rv and pay for full hookups, you might like this campground. If you are tent camping, keep looking.
This campground is very nice! The campsites all feature a picnic table with a shelter and the bath house is super clean and modern.
We camped in site 50 which was across the road from the bath house and it also had an amazing view!
I would highly recommend this site, especially if you want to visit Tent Rocks early the next morning. It’s about a 10 min drive from the campground.
We really enjoyed this campground. We did not need a reservation in June when we went. They had plenty of available sites to choose from. The site we chose was site 16 which is a primitive site. If you walked up the hill a bit you could see Winslow, AZ, which was really pretty at night. The park is still gery dark though so you could see the stars. I’m sure if we had been there during a new moon, we could’ve seen the milky way it was that dark.
Our site was very nice. The tent pad had been raked, which was something you don’t see every day. It alwo had a picnic table and fire ring. There are not a lot of trees at this campground which may deter some, but if you are just there for an overnight stay like we were, there was no need for trees. They have new ones planted by each site so someday there will be shade.
They have a shower house, but we did not use it because it looked like it could use a good cleaning. The restrooms were ok, but could’ve used a cleaning as well. It seemed odd to me that the tent pads were raked but the bathroom stalls weren’t clean. Still, it was better than a smelly outhouse so I can’t complain too much.
Coming from the humidity in the midwest, we really enjoyed the lack of moisture. It was plenty hot during the day, but cooled off nicely in June. Cool dry air is perfect for sleeping and we got a great night’s sleep. Be sure to go to bed early because the sun rises early and it gets hot fast in the morning.
This campground is in the Homolovi State Park which was very interesting to take a look at while we were there. The visitor center is stunning…be sure to check out the bathrooms there! They are pretty awesome for a state park visitor center! The ruins may not be national park quality, but they are close. We had the place to ourselves which was kinda neat. It was so peaceful I could’ve just sat on one of the benches at the top of a hill for hours taking it all in. If you want a relaxing and peaceful campground and state park to visit, I highly recommend this one!
One other point to note is that Winslow is only about 7 miles away and they have a Walmart for supplies, as well as a few fast food places. You can also visit Standin’ on a Corner Park and some Route 66 stops. Overall, we enjoyed our time in this wonderfull desert location and would go back to camp again!
We LOVED Little Mill! It’s the perfect campground. It has the smell of pine trees, a babbling brook, and it is just down the road from Timpanogos Cave National Monument. What more could a camper want?
We had a great tent site that was on the side near the mountain and across from us were campsites next to the road and the river. We did not hear any road noise at all, just the sound of wind in the trees and the water flowing. It was so peaceful!
This campground is located on the Big Sioux River near the ball diamonds. A train runs often nearby and the quarry does blasting. It’s not especially peaceful with all that going on! They do have a nice bike route along the river though.
This is a pretty little campground next to a river. Tent sites have a loop in the back and rv sites are along the road. This campground is never full so if you need a spot for a night, this would be a good one to check. Lots of green grass and a nice playground. Many people do some fishing here too.
We have camped at this campground twice now and both experiences were great! This is a tent only campground in the middle of Moab. I would say it maybe holds a dozen or so tents so you have plenty of space and few neighbors. It is super quiet for being in the city. I was surprised at how few cars you hear going by.
The facilities are clean, although a little dated with shower curtains on the small shower stalls and your stuff goes way over on a bench so you have to hope nobody else comes in while you get dressed. I prefer the kind where each shower gets a bench and a door. It feels a little more private that way. I can’t really complain about getting a shower though since many campgrounds in the area do not have them.
Price per night is $40 a night which is plenty steep for a tent site, but I really love that after a day of hiking, you can wander the streets of Moab and find cute souvenir shops and great food. We really love Moab so it’s worth a little extra to camp in the city. We felt completely safe here and would do it again!
We have camped at Goblin Valley State Park twice now and the fact that we went back a second time should be enough of a compliment to the park. We stayed in site 11 the first time and site 3 the second time. Both are amazing tent sites! I would also highly recommend site 12 or site 4 because those sites are tucked back off the road a bit and are right up close to the formations behind the sites. You really can’t go wrog with any of them though. The tent pads are perfect and both sites fit our 11x11 dome tent. We did not need the rainfly so we could see the stars out the top. This is a dark sky park so be sure to book you nights during a new moon so you can see the milky way galaxy.
I do think this park is a little high for a state park site at $30 a night for a tent site, but you do get free showers, clean facilities, and a very peaceful park so it is worth a little extra. I would go back again.
Bonus for this campground is the great little area of goblins. My kids loved wandering around among them. It’s a kooky looking area.
On the downside, it is a long way from anywhere so fill up and bring ample food and water along. If you want to get away from civilization, this is your place!
Some people swear Zion is their favorite, but with the number of people there as well as the number of campers in close proximity, it was not the one for me.
We are one or two night campers and then we move on to the next stop. I wished this stop hadn’t happened. When we arrived, the capsite across from us in the tent loop appeared to have made themselves at home for the week. All of their crap was spread out EVERYWHERE. They were having a loud party of Jenga playing…and a small child was screaming their head off with nobody seeming to care. The bugs were bad and it was HOT so we set up quickly and went into Springdale to see what we could see, hoping all would cool off by the time we came back. Springdale closes up early so there are no cute little shops to wander through at 9pm. We went back to the campground and the noisy campers were still up and playing games. I wondered if they would be up all night or if they were the type to leave their Christmas lights on all night. Yes, Christmas lights. This campground really has you packed in and it just wasn’t that great.
To top it off, we woke up at 4am to the wind attempting to fly away with us in our tent. The stakes had pulled out of the ground, which was not surprising because the ground was rock hard and I could not get them in very far.
I think if you were in an rv, this would be an ok campground, but the tent loop is too tightly packed. If the wind hadn’t been blowing, I think we’d have heard the neighbors snoring!
We did not use the restrooms because they were too far to walk to. Instead, we used one at the grocery store the night before and at the visitor center in the morning.
I doubt very much that we will ever return to Zion. It is too busy and too crowded. It’s gorgeous and was worth a look, but it’s not a great camping destinaton.
On the plus side, site D24 was on the outside row so at least we did not have more people behind us!
Kodachrome Basin site #12 was supposed to be one of the highlights of our camping road trip. Site #12 is tucked way in the back with your own private little circle and a gorgeous rock formation behind it. You could not get a more private and beautiful campsite. The picnic table and fire pit are tucked behind the trees in the middle of the circle and the tent site is HUGE! We could’ve easily fit another smaller tent next to our 11 foot dome tent. Everything about it looked awesome!
Looks can be deceiving though. The first morning we woke up to the sound of sand “raining” on the rainfly of the tent. Thankfully I had decided to use the rainfly! Not that it mattered much. By the time we left, it had rained enough sand into the tent that I could’ve filled at least a sandwhich baggie.
We camped two nights and upon returning to our tent on the second day, we found our tarp pulled out from under the tent, a broken tent pole section, and a rainfly clip on the ground. Several of the tent stakes had been pulled out. We asked the ranger about it the next day and he told us that every night between about 8-9pm the wind comes up and forms a 35mph cyclone around the curve of the basin wall. Site 12 is at the outside of the cyclone where the wind is highest. Not exactly ideal for a tent camper!
This campsite might be better for someone with a low tent. Our tent is 7ft tall in the middle and tends to catch the wind at lower speeds, much less 35 mph winds. It migh also work for an rv as long as you don’t open any awnings. The rest of the campground appeared to be unscathed so other sites might be a better option also. It really was a great location if it hadn’t been for the wind and sand.
One more item to note: this campground is close enough to Bryce Canyon for a commute there, but at the end of a day in Bryce, it feels like a long drive back. It is a fantastic campground if you are planning a drive on Scenic Highway 12, which is right down the road a bit.