Has anyone boondocked by the Grand Canyon or Moab? - Montana Owners Club

jrgwdenner · 04-05-2007, 06:23 AM

We have the Grand Canyon and Moab, Ut on our itinerary and hope to bookdock in these areas. Any information? Thanks in advance.

russd · 04-05-2007, 06:34 PM

there are some nice places just before tusyan(sp) coming up from willaims. lots of forest land there. just be sure to stay on the main forest roads if your rig is big.

rames14 · 04-06-2007, 02:07 AM

Our boondocking has been in Colorado, but I can tell you that from my brother-in-law we learned that any national forest land where you can get off the road is open for free camping. So, you shouldn't have any trouble finding federal land to camp on there.

simonsrf · 04-06-2007, 07:35 AM

Judy,

For starters, we are at Goosenecks SP near Mexican Hat, UT. We've been boondocking here for 10 days, and have resources to stay a few more days. Will PM you with the Google Earth Placemark.

The state park has some tables, but there are lots of people who come daily to look over the edge at the river. We moved down the road a ways and can see the beautiful San Juan River almost 1000 feet below out our back window and the side windows. Did I mention that it is free?...and has a pit toilet if you wanted. There is plenty of space for Greta to run without the leash....and without disturbing others.

Six miles away is Muley Point, just beautiful, but not a place to drive the Monty (SR 260), nice for a day trip. Also, nearby is the 17-mile road "Valley of the Gods". We drove that yesterday, and there are several places there that we could dry camp....maybe next time.

In 10 days, we have had 4 vehicles drive by our site....just a wonderful place.....make sure you are fully stocked with groceries etc if you are planning to stay here. Mexican Hat, UT and Bluff, UT do not have grocery stores...they do have gas and fuel. Our freezer is getting empty...

One real nice place to BD is on the Colorado River near Moab, on SR 128. There are several established river spots (free) on BLM land. We have maps that show the BLM land. BLM land is fair game for free camping unless posted. We found that BENCHMARK maps for each state are invaluable tools, even better than the internet for showing BLM land, and primitive roads. We have several of these books for various states, including Utah. Benchmark maps can be found at some Wal-Marts. Amazon also has the great maps. Do NOT buy the DeLorme, they are junk in comparison...we've tried both.

Hope this is of some help. There are so many nice spots to BD, I could go on and on.....and bore the entire forum. Utah has been our favorite place for camping for many years, it is so luxurious to have a fifth-wheel instead of a tent.

PM me if you want more information, we can be a whole lot more specific.

Hi Glen!

Robbie (and Alice)

jrgwdenner · 04-06-2007, 05:13 PM

Thanks for thinking of Greta, Robbie! She definitely appreciates it!

And thanks for the great information. We do hope to be in the Moab area for a couple of weeks, boondocking with a break at an RV park, if necessary, to empty our tanks and freshen things up. We're really looking forward to it.

I answered your email and look forward to seeing your Google Earth information. Do you have any cell phone connection? We're wondering about our aircard connection.

Montana Sky · 04-06-2007, 09:44 PM

Judy,
I have nothing to add, but sure wish I was joining you and Glen for your time at the Grand Canyon... Have a wonderful time!

jrgwdenner · 04-07-2007, 05:51 AM

We wish you could join us, too, Dave. I think there's room enough for everybody! We really enjoyed boondocking at Quartzite but we had our internet connection. Don't know what we junkies will do without it up there. Guess we'll be doing a lot of hiking and playing with Greta.

sreigle · 04-07-2007, 08:29 AM

Judy, we have no boondocking experience in the area but if you decide to go with an rv park, I'd recommend Portal RV Park in Moab and, at Bryce Canyon, the rv park right by the gate. We didn't stay at the latter one but it's nice and very close to Bryce. We stayed at the Cannonville KOA. The wifi was very iffy (which you don't care about) and nobody but nobody had a cell signal (and that you do care about).

simonsrf · 04-07-2007, 08:32 AM

Judy,

You know we use the Hughesnet antenna, so can't help you out on whether the aircard would work or not, but from my past experiences in southern Utah, the coverage is not good. Looking at my cell phone (Verizon) I have 3 bars, but we have had several dropped calls. We are about 60 miles from a city that might have a tower.

Here is a RV-Camping site that we just found today. Some people we met here in Goosenecks SP in Utah, setup this site. They gave us a card and we looked at it today for the first time. From our experiences, this is as good a site as we have EVER seen. Hope others on the MOC will find the benefit of this site. http://www.rv-camping.org/

We've been dry camping here for 12 days, and we will be moving when we either run out of water, gas, the freezer becomes empty or when we can't stand the scenery anymore.

simonsrf · 04-07-2007, 09:04 AM

For those of you who do not know about Boondocking, here is a picture to wet your appetitie. This is Goosenecks SP in southern Utah. Please note the temperature gauge...81 degrees!

http://i16.tinypic.com/2uixm5d.jpg

What a life!

jrgwdenner · 04-07-2007, 01:25 PM

Sorry to see how you're suffering, Robbie and Alice! We should be there in a week. What a view! Now I'm getting the hitch itch again! I was afraid you were going to tell me that you had HughesNet. Well, we'll live. We may need to look into an RV park in Moab just for the internet connection. Robbie, I see you've moved your table to the back window. Don't you just love it there, especially with THAT view? Do you turn it sideways when you close the slides? Maybe they don't interfere.

Steve, thanks for your suggestions. I think we're going to skip Bryce on this trip as we want to spend some time with Glen's niece in Colorado on the way home. Don't you and Vicki want to rush out to Moab so you can be our tour guides?

jrgwdenner · 04-07-2007, 02:08 PM

Just got our reservation at Portal RV in Moab. The dry camping is more restricted around Moab according to the BLM site so we'll just have connections for that week.....including WiFi. Just how long can a person go without WiFi? Thanks for the recommendation, Steve. We'd already been looking at that park but it's always nice to get another person's opinion. Winter rates are in effect until May 1. Can't wait!

sreigle · 04-07-2007, 04:39 PM

Wow, what a view, Robbie and Alice! As you know, there are views like that all over that part of the state.... but not right outside our window! Fantastic view.

HamRad · 04-07-2007, 11:09 PM

Robby,
Wow! What a view. Some folks would have trouble with that particular view. Afraid the rig might roll off into the river! We stopped briefly on our way thru this part of the world. I sure would like to spend some more time over that direction. You folks seem to have found the magic combination! Congratulations and keep enjoying it. If we didn't have so many things already lined up in the next couple of months we'd be hooking up the rig and headed your way. But it will have to wait till some other time.

Dennis and Mary Kay

gojodo · 04-08-2007, 01:24 AM

Robbie and Alice, what fantastic pictures, I hope you have big big chocks in place! We will also be out in Utah early this summer and hope to boondock a bit. Do you think it will be much harder to find spots in the summer? Also, Judy if we see another Montana we will blink lights and if possible share a few boondock sites.

sreigle · 04-08-2007, 04:44 AM

Judy, when will you be in Moab? Too bad you were not there this past week. Today is the last day of the annual Jeep Safari. We were only onlookers but it was quite an experience. We really want to get back out there sometime.

jrgwdenner · 04-08-2007, 04:45 AM

John and Dorothy, there is a lot of empty space in Utah so I'm sure you'll be able to find a spot. I did read that 2 million people go to Moab, Utah during the summer, which is why they've restricted the dry camping spots. The dry camping is still available but you can only stay in certain areas. I'm sure it's their way to control damage to the environment.

simonsrf · 04-08-2007, 12:17 PM

HOTR, Sorry about the size of the picture, maybe someone can show me the easy way to make it 640 x 480 to post.

Steve and Vicki, yes, the view is better in person, but if you think that view is wild, you should see the one where I was up on the roof adjusting the solar panels!!!YOW! Are you or were you in Moab recently / now?

Judy and Glen, you didn't say how long you were going to be in the RV Park in Moab, but a good bet is to go explore from there. I strongly recommend that you go see Deadhorse Point and the campground. We have stayed there several times, but not in the RV...back in the old tent campin' days....The road to Deadhorse is also the entrance to the North end of the Canyonlands....an absolute "MUST SEE" just like Arches NP.

HamRad....wish you were here, might be coming through your way about the second or so week in May...would love to show you some pictures. Would be more than happy to be a tourguide for you here sometime.

GOJODO, yes, we do have the DELUXE ratchet type chocks with plenty of rocks behind the tires.....gives a new meaning to "Honey, just back it up a little bit more"

In an earlier post, I mentioned this guy that I met a couple of days ago who has started this wonderful website...it is freeeeee, and you don't have to signup for anything. Around the campfire, I was very impressed with the reasons for the website and the way he put the whole thing together...give it a try and make sure you bookmark it, 'cause it is only going to get better in the future. He has made it a true labor of love.

Here's the link!

http://www.rv-camping.org

jrgwdenner · 04-08-2007, 06:47 PM

Robbie, we have a reservation for one week at Portal RV but hope to find a place to dry camp after that week so we can stay longer. Right now we have five days at Mexican Hat and two weeks at Moab if we find a place to park.

Steve, I can't imagine all those Jeeps in the area. I'm sure it was fun to watch, but I'm a little bit glad that they all went home. It sounds like the city would have been packed.

Dennis, maybe we need to have a rally at Mexican Hat in April instead of Quartzite.

adelmoll · 04-09-2007, 03:09 AM

One more thing you do not want to miss in Moab is the ride across LaSalle Mountain. It is incredible. It has been quite some time since we were in Moab but I will never forget that ride. I can't remember which direction we were going but try to go where you will be on the inside. We went the opposite and it was pretty scary at times. You just had to trust that there was a road around the corner because you sure couldn't see it.

Helen

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