utah national parks

They've got a massive budget for signs; one of their favorites is NO CAMPING NO OVERNIGHT PARKING and another favorite is CAMP IN DESIGNATED SITES ONLY. These signs are everywhere there is enough room to park something.

That being said, this past December, I spent a night in the parking lot of Natural Bridges NM. The lot was empty and snow was coming down fast and heavy. I parked right in front of the no overnight signs. The park staff were working outside the next morning clearing snow, none of them said anything to me. The ranger inside the visitor's center said he saw me come in on camera last night and was glad I stopped in for a visit.

Road Phantom wrote:
I remember back in the 90's dry camping in the pullouts in the National parks in Utah. I never had a problem for quick overnights between sights like Bryce and Arches. Has anyone done this lately?

Between the two parks is not like pulling over in the parks. In most parks, you'll get rousted in the middle of the night and told to move on. Has been so for many, many years. But between the various parks there's lots of BLM land. Just make sure that when you pull over you're well off the paved part of the highway, or the local constable may be the one knocking at your door!

4runnerguy wrote:

Road Phantom wrote:
I remember back in the 90's dry camping in the pullouts in the National parks in Utah. I never had a problem for quick overnights between sights like Bryce and Arches. Has anyone done this lately?

Between the two parks is not like pulling over in the parks. In most parks, you'll get rousted in the middle of the night and told to move on. Has been so for many, many years. But between the various parks there's lots of BLM land. Just make sure that when you pull over you're well off the paved part of the highway, or the local constable may be the one knocking at your door!

Any tips on finding this mythical blm land you can just pull off into?

All the blm trails I drove in Utah had signs posted at the trail head to stay on the trail, no camping except in designated sites.

Contact the BLM or NF office in areas you want to camp in and they will help you.
At least they always help us.

GordonThree wrote:

Any tips on finding this mythical blm land you can just pull off into?

All the blm trails I drove in Utah had signs posted at the trail head to stay on the trail, no camping except in designated sites.

Depends on where you are in Utah. It's a big area with lots of possibilities on BLM land. I'm guessing you saw most of the no camping signs around the Moab/Arches/Canyonlands area? They've had to really restrict where one can boondock around there due to severe overuse.

If you have more specific areas in mind, you might get a better response here from those who have been there.

Dumb question here, but how do folks clear the 12-18" mud/rock shoulder that lines the trails, if I wanted to pull off in a spot?

I'd be worried about getting high centered on the shoulder, especially in a motorhome.

4runnerguy wrote:

GordonThree wrote:

Any tips on finding this mythical blm land you can just pull off into?

All the blm trails I drove in Utah had signs posted at the trail head to stay on the trail, no camping except in designated sites.

Depends on where you are in Utah. It's a big area with lots of possibilities on BLM land. I'm guessing you saw most of the no camping signs around the Moab/Arches/Canyonlands area? They've had to really restrict where one can boondock around there due to severe overuse.

If you have more specific areas in mind, you might get a better response here from those who have been there.

Yes, the majority of the signs I saw were around those areas, but also near, but outside Gooseneck, and along the way to Capitol Reef (I guess that'd be near where lake Powell used to be, Hite area.)

I'd imagine any area accessible by factory 2wd or 4wd vehicle has been overused by this point?

GordonThree wrote:

4runnerguy wrote:

GordonThree wrote:

Any tips on finding this mythical blm land you can just pull off into?

All the blm trails I drove in Utah had signs posted at the trail head to stay on the trail, no camping except in designated sites.

Depends on where you are in Utah. It's a big area with lots of possibilities on BLM land. I'm guessing you saw most of the no camping signs around the Moab/Arches/Canyonlands area? They've had to really restrict where one can boondock around there due to severe overuse.

If you have more specific areas in mind, you might get a better response here from those who have been there.

Yes, the majority of the signs I saw were around those areas, but also near, but outside Gooseneck, and along the way to Capitol Reef (I guess that'd be near where lake Powell used to be, Hite area.)

I'd imagine any area accessible by factory 2wd or 4wd vehicle has been overused by this point?

If you were around Hite, a lot of the land there is part of Glen Canyon NRA and subject to the same kinds of restrictions as any NP. I don't know where you were around Gooseneck SP, but there are Navajo Nation lands in that area. We've camped on BLM along UT 261 without issues, so I don't know where you were.

There are many hundreds (probably thousands) of boondocking locations on BLM lands in Utah. Of course the closer you are to popular areas like NP's, the more restrictions there are due to high usage. And we see ordinary passenger vehicles out there all the time.