Canyonlands: Needles district camping

Anyone have any suggestions of places they've liked? We'll be down there about 3-4 days. We plan on doing the Druid Arch hike, driving over to the confluence (if we can) and hopefully driving down Horse Canyon (again, if we can).

We were looking at the Squaw Flat campground in the park, but it's first-come, first served. We will be going down there on a Thursday morning, but if it's full, any suggestions for outside the camp? I noticed there is an "Indian Creek" campground on some BLM land, so I'm assuming this is free. I also see a "needles outpost" private campground outside the camp. We also considered doing the Peekaboo campground down Horse Canyon, but again, only if it's passable by vehicle.

Normally we'd hike most of this stuff, but my wife is going to be close to 6 months pregnant by then, so we want to take it a little easy after doing the druid arch hike.

So, any suggestions besides what I've listed, or any favorites of all these places?

This won't be until May sometime, so I'll be sure to post a TR then. :rockon:

The Joint is nice. You get right up there close to the needles, and there are nice narrows. Definately do the confluence, that one is awesome. If you're a jeeper, you can hit elephant hill. I want to go back to the Needles........

depends on what kind of car you have. if you have some type of 4wd there are plenty of options.

a few miles before you get to the entrance of the needles district there is a road that goes south. it heads up to davis and lavender canyon. some nice campsites up that way. if you go all the way up to the park boundary in davis canyon and come back to the first side canyon there is a nice campsite just up it. go through the gate on a easy short (or long) dayhike and stay close to the west (or right, LUC) and you will find several ancient sites. the 5 faces panel being the most famous.

you can also camp near the park boundary at in lavender canyon. a nice one is on the right just before the park boundary. lavender is a beautiful canyon with a few sites in it too.

another option that few know about is north of the park hq. take the road out towards the colorado river overlook. theres a nice set of pictographs above the parking area at the lower jump. continue north and watch for a major side track to the right. this will put you onto blm land. several nice campsites here. the turn is maybe 7 miles north of park hq.

if your vehicle is capable of making it to peek-a-boo springs then you will have no problem with getting to any of these places. whille you are up horse climb up all the way into paul bunyans potty. it's not hard and will be worth your while.

if you want to have some fun go into the back country office and ask them about these sites. they will give you the ol deer in the headlights look. it's priceless. log cabin ruin, white wash ruin, 9 faces, 5 faces, bighorn ruin, picto-pecto, flying rug site. these are all cat 2 sites.

if you want more just pm me.

Thanks guys