places to dry camp with 44' motorcoach in southern utah

Out on the flat, down some county or F.S. road could work depending on your bravery and departure angle. You will know once you get there, but this is all do-able.
jefe
I'm reminded of an experience at Pismo Beach some 45 yrs. ago. While driving my Land Cruiser with big floatation tires down the beach we came upon a MoHo named, "Condor"; about 44 feet long class A whose rear axle was down to the sand. The rear end had a lot of distance to the departure angle and the bumper was sitting on the sand. I pulled around front and reeled out the winch about 75% attached it to the MoHo. I instructed the hapless driver to lower the pressure from 110 pounds to 40 pounds in all six tires (or was it 8? I can't recall if he had a tag axle). This took a while in the time before screw-on deflators. I then backed up in low range, 2WD against the wire rope to settle my rear axle to the frame. Then put the hubs back on and kept churning away leaving my entire rig frame on the sand. This would prove to be enough of a dead man to winch the rig (which outweighed my rig by 800%). Then the process. I told him to not spin the tires and not stop once he got going making a wide arc and go back from whence he came. I started the PTO winch up in low gear enough to get him dislodged from the sandy grave. I then shifted the winch to high gear to allow some momentum. All of a sudden, the guy lost all control and all hell broke loose with this tan, 20K pound monster flailing away in the sand. Luckily, the winch hook fell off and he made a wide, rooster tailed arc around my rig and vamoosed north on the sand at high speed never to be seen again. With no winch line connected, I simply backed out of my temporary anchor point and still had a great day. My Land Cruiser in 1969 with factory PTO winch:

jefe

Off Pavement wrote:

LenSatic wrote:
FWIW, I recently heard that Goosenecks is charging $10 a night. Can anyone confirm this?

LA

According to the Utah Goosenecks State Park website, camping is $10 per night with no reservations. There is a $2 day use fee as well.

well...poop...I mean, I get the whys and all, but it was such a cool spot..still is of course, but somehow, part of the magic is lost.


Gary Haupt

LenSatic wrote:
FWIW, I recently heard that Goosenecks is charging $10 a night. Can anyone confirm this?

LA

According to the Utah Goosenecks State Park website, camping is $10 per night with no reservations. There is a $2 day use fee as well.

Send your question to Dixie NF and the BLM in Saint George Utah.

It is hot at the lower elevations this time of year. If at low elevations I would go for a campground with electricity to run the AC. However if you can stay above 6000 ft it will be a lot cooler. We camp near Jacob lake north of the Grand Canyon in summer. I think they just release fire restrictions and no permit required to have a fire in the kaibab. If you want to camp in that area and you have a toad park the rv and go scout for a site that you feel comfortable with. There is a lot of boondocking in that area. Zion, monument valley and Moab will be hot and I would look for hookups in those areas. If you hold off until mid September the nights will be cooler in the lower elevations. Of course at that time of year you could be running heat or AC, all depends on what the weather does. If you have not been on lake Powell I strongly suggest you do a tour boat ride, it is beautiful back in the canyons, something you cannot see from the shore.

FWIW, I recently heard that Goosenecks is charging $10 a night. Can anyone confirm this?

LA

Lots of open camping in the forest around Brian Head/Panguitch Lake.
You will see tons of graded forest service roads to pull off on and camp.
The weather is perfect too!

f

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,

While you can not camp outside a campground in Grand Canyon National Park, you can camp for free in any of the Grand Canyon National Forest...

Fred.

Not that it matters much, but it's the Kaibab National Forest and the info presented is accurate.

As far as Utah, a great place few folks go to with a big rig but can is west of Monticello in the La Sal National Forest. Take CR101 west from the center of town to the top of the ridge. There is a large open area with room for any size rig at the crest of the hill on your right if go this way. CR101 connects with Utah state highway 211, the road to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Along this road is Newspaper rock, and there is a dry camping area across the road from it with room for any size rig too. There is a large asphalt parking area at Newspaper rock so you can walk across the road to find your spot. The last time we were there, there was a fee tube, but it was not in service.

Goosnecks is Awesome.

Near Mexican Hat is the BLM Sand Island campground. This campground has room for any size RV. Here is some info on it...

Camping Near Mexican Hat

Lot's of opportunities! Have fun!

Hi,

While you can not camp outside a campground in Grand Canyon National Park, you can camp for free in any of the Grand Canyon National Forest! Talk to any of the Rangers, they might have a favorite place to camp in. And they can give out a free fire permit, if you plan on using a BBQ outside. I don't think open fires will be OK this time of year.

I camped near a lake in the north rim area for a week - the end of September, and weather was perfect! I was able to light a campfire in a existing fire ring, the Rangers stopped by while I was out sightseeing and talked with my wife about fires and gave her a permit. It was road 212, and about 12 miles south of Jacob Lake turnoff on highway 67.

We did spend one night in the campground at North Rim. You must have reservations, so we got some while out sightseeing, and then went back to our meadow for a couple of days until they had a open spot. We also got dinner reservations at the lodge, and the overlook is wonderful. WE had 4 pm reservations, so we could pick any seat in the house! Some overnight guests can not get a reservation for dinner, and there is no other diners for miles around! They came by bus, and would need to eat donuts from the snack bar or something without a reservation!

Have a great time! Summer at the north rim (7,500') and Bryce (8,000 - 9,450') is much more comfortable than the south rim (6,500' elevation). They tend to get feet of snow in October or November, and close highway 67 for the winter. It normally opens in May. I really want to get back there and spend another summer there!

Have a great trip!

Fred.

If you plan to be anywhere near Saint George, do consider this:
https://www.tuacahn.org/online/
Open-Air Theater