Please help with zion canyoneering questions

[Kuya]

Lots of dry canyons near Moab and in Arches NP :) Just have to be careful of the snow.

[Brian in SLC]

Undeveloped camping is everywhere and that is even less expensive...

[kalaimer]

Undeveloped camping is everywhere and that is even less expensive...

How do I go finding it? At least next time I come over? I found it quite confusing and I didn't want to find myself camping where I'm not supposed to.

[2065toyota]

I think you are worrying about it too much. When it gets closer, post up and invite and there were will be plenty of people to go with you. There are plenty of canyons for you to do on your visit

[dlofting]

Dragonfly is a nice canyon in Arches, but you may run into a bit of water in the potholes....nowhere near enough to worry about hypothermia though. There's also some nice hiking in Arches right near the campsite if you're staying at Devils Garden.

[Mojave Silence]

How do I go finding it? At least next time I come over? I found it quite confusing and I didn't want to find myself camping where I'm not supposed to.

Tons of BLM land in S. Utah, and on both sides of Zion where you can camp for free and get away from those noisey Zion campgrounds. Stop by the BLM office in St George, it is a map lovers paradise:
http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/st__george.html

[erial]

So in Arches I believe you would be staying in the Devils Garden campground which is a slow albeit scenic 18 miles from the park entrance. After 4 days you may get sick of that road. If you were planning on visiting the Squaw Flat/Needles district, you could camp not far from the park entrance. There is a private campground called Needles Outpost. I've never camped there. There has been forum chatter that a crazy lady runs the place. That may no longer be the case. I camp about three miles from the park entrance. There is a good dirt road turnoff to the north (Lockhart Basin Rd). Just a few hundred yards down that road on the left is a perfectly pleasant roadside place to camp. Maybe a half mile further is a small BLM campground, Hamburger Rock.

In the Zion area the following link offers up some camping options:

http://zion100.wordpress.com/2012/02...mping-options/

I don't believe Arches or Zion parks has showers. Bryce does. You may want to pack one of those solar heated shower bags.


Finally, if you're flying in/out of Vegas you may want to consider doing Anniversary Narrows.

[dweaver2130]

If you google search for "Moab showers" you can find a list of about ten places that offer showers to campers for around $5.

The needles outpost lady is out there, unfortunately I would have to advise not to count on anything from that place based on mine and other's experiences.

There are a lot of places on the blm to camp by arches and needles. The wife and I decided to go for the $35/night hotel in Moab instead of the $20/night arches campground.

[kalaimer]

I camp about three miles from the park entrance. There is a good dirt road turnoff to the north (Lockhart Basin Rd). Just a few hundred yards down that road on the left is a perfectly pleasant roadside place to camp.

Is that a free primitive campground?

Maybe a half mile further is a small BLM campground, Hamburger Rock.

Is that one bookable or first come first serve?

I don't believe Arches or Zion parks has showers. Bryce does. You may want to pack one of those solar heated shower bags.

I've had good luck with a 6L MSR dromedary so far. Just enough to "shower" two people with a drizzle.

Finally, if you're flying in/out of Vegas you may want to consider doing Anniversary Narrows.

Will look into it.

The reason I booked arches for four nights is because canyonlands didn't have a bookable campground, so if worst came to worst I'd be exploring canyonlands out of arches. I know it seems backwards, but I just wanted to get it over with and have places to stay. The whole thing was quite spontaneous - book tickets first, then start planning the trip and looking at parks and possible things to do.

My booked schedule so far looks like this:
fly into vegas - first night there is a hotel
then three nights at grand canyon
two nights for petrified forest/canyon de chelly
four nights at arches (explore canyonlands from there)
two nights at bruce canyon
two nights at zion
vegas - fly out

I know it's probably not optimal, but I was sick of looking at everything online and wanted to get it over with cause I had work deadlines coming up and would not be able to look at it seriously again for a while. Having to find, research and book each private campground is a pain and the owners of those often seem certifiably insane.

But I have a feeling I'll be coming back for more, so next time... :)

[erial]

[QUOTE=kalaimer;525686]Is that a free primitive campground? Free, just a carcamp friendly spot along the road. Probably more like it if you were to travel further north on the dirt road.


Is that one bookable or first come first serve? First come, first serve. Fee $6. There's a second BLM campground further north along the road.

[kalaimer]

Oh well. What the heck. Next time I'll camp around for free.

This trip I'll help out the economy on my meager budget :)

[dlofting]

You're going to have a great time in all those places you're planning to visit...and yes, you will be back for more. We go to Utah every year. Have fun!!