Utah - Canyonlands and Arches - SE Area
 

Hi,

We have potentially 2+weeks in June (6/10 to 6/25) that we are considering setting up our camper (popup) in the Canyonland/Arches area of Utah - we love to do day hikes and touring... What recommendations would you have for locations (we could move our camper around maybe to a total of 3 different locales...) and am I safe to assume we would not get bored for that long of a timeframe there? Also, what is weather and crowds typically like then?

We are coming from Michigan - anything else in UT that should not be missed en-route to this area or near there?

Thanks!!

Moved from Europe to the US Forum and tagged for Utah

First, query this forum--there are so many posts and trip reports about this area. With 2 weeks, you could see all of the Utah National Parks. June will be warm but not terrible. You need to book campsites NOW if you want to stay in the parks. Check out the BLM website for campgrounds on BLM land. You can also find info there on "at large" camping where you can camp anywhere on public lands. (no water, no utilities, etc) You can click on my user name to find trip reports for all of the parks in Utah.

Thanks! My husband is retiring this year, so we will have plenty of time on future trips for the other Utah parks - we are good on that... We want to concentrate on the SE area of Utah and maybe some of SW Colorado would be a possibility. I will definitely review your other posts related to this topic... Read about Dead Horse Point State park camping - can only book it 4 months out so may look into that... It appears to be in a central area for both parks...

Jeen--2 weeks is just too long in that one area. You could spend 2-3 days (MAX) in Arches-if you hiked lots of trails. Then you could do 4 other short day hikes (or really half day hikes) in the area. Do a raft trip. Couple of days in Canyonlands. If you want to look at things within 2 hours of that area--then look into Mesa Verde and Canyons of the Ancients--that will give you another 3 days. You could head south to Blanding to look at their amazing museum. Bluff is 2 hours south of Moab. You could go to Hovenweep for a day--2 if you want to do some longer hiking trails. I could see a trip where you moved between Moab, Cortez/Mesa Verde, and Bluff. Dead Horse State Park is nice but it is a haul to get from there to anywhere else. I would stay in a BLM campground along the Colorado River or at a commercial campground in Moab. The one in Arches is beautiful. But if you want to keep the camper parked as long as possible while driving within a 1 hour radius, then you are better off in the town of Moab. I would definitely stay at the campground in Mesa Verde--its really lovely.

There is limited camping in Arches itself, and it is very popular. However, there are national forests around Moab. To visit the southern part of Canyonlands, I would suggest camping there. For campgrounds around Moab look at this web site: https://www.discovermoab.com/campgrounds/
This is where we stayed near Moab:

https://flic.kr/p/vbN3TN
This is where we stayed in Canyonlands, but get there early:

https://flic.kr/p/vnqAhx

If you wanted to go a little farther afield, There is a nice campground along the river in the south end of the town of Green River. There is also a campground (25 sites + 2 yurts) in Goblin Valley State Park.
My wife and I choose not to camp. We stayed at the Robbers Roost motel in Green River.

There is plenty of camping along Route 128 and other roads right outside of Moab, no need to go as far as Green River--that's would be a haul back and forth every day. I have camped in Canyonlands and really liked it. There was water there if I remember correctly. That campground is about an hour from Moab.

Good advice so far. We have taken lots of trips to the area and I do have some TRs under my old user name, if you put emalloy into the search box you can find them. I would suggest you add Mesa Verde to your trip.

Arches site 46 if you can get it. Shade, privacy and close to restrooms.

Camping
 

Around Moab, there are BLM and Forest Service sites (La Sal Mountains) .
As I recall, there is a large free camping area on the road to Island-In-The Sky
Suggest looking at book Titled Escalante Moab, Utah that lists all of these guys
Available on Amazon
Vaga