FREE Legal Boondocking in Moab, UT

2oldman wrote:

4runnerguy wrote:
.. Unfortunately, Willow Springs Road is well known and absolutely packed much of the time. It is on state lands and I understand the state is looking at trying to control the overuse out there.

I stayed there in November. I remember thinking "why is there all this traffic"?

Turns out the WSR is a back road into Arches park, where, if you have a vehicle suited to take that road, you can go into the park free.

We ride our mountain bikes on a loop that starts at the visitors center, heads up through the Bar M trails and comes out on 142 before entering the park. We continue on into the park, coming to the main road at the Balanced Rock parking lot. From our experience, there's about 10 cars heading out of the park for every car headed in. Don't know that many people are going in that way to avoid the fee.

Probably most of the traffic that you saw on the Willow Springs Road is for the Klonzo mountain bike trail head around three miles in from the highway. Can be 20+ cars parked there at any one time, with some coming and going much of the day.

boogie_4wheel wrote:
Nice and flat but was clay, so beware of you are in there during rain.

We've seen quite deep ruts on that road from people driving on it when wet. I imagine without 4x4, it's easy to get stuck there.