SOUTH CAMPGROUND, Zion NP, UT

SOUTH CAMPGROUND, Zion NP, UT

RUN BY: Nat'l Park Service

LOCATION: Springdale, UT

UTILITIES: NONE

COST: $20 (Senior Pass is accepted for 50% discount)

OUR RATING (1-5): I - 4

NOTES: The first-come and the reservation only campgrounds are next to each other and right by the south gate and visitor's center. We stayed in the South Campground (first-come) the first two weeks of March. The place seemed filled with college kids on spring break. No matter what, the line to get a site is extremely long by 8 am and it is often filled before noon. The roads through the campground have a lot of big ruts and are very narrow. I wasn't comfortable driving Sinni through the campground. In fact, I wasn't particularly comfortable driving the truck, without Sinni, through the campground. There are no showers but there are plenty of bathrooms and they are well kept. They have flush toilets and sinks with cold water. Drinking water is available at each bathroom as well as at the dump station. The campground is just above the Virgin River. It was running fast when we were there so we could hear it at our campsite. The campground is very convenient to all park amenities and services - shuttle, visitor's center, museum, bike trail - as well as within walking distance of the village. The bike trail goes along the edge of the campground between the campground and river. You can ride your bike all the way to the farthest point that road goes up the canyon. There you can lock up your bike and continue up the river on foot until you have to walk in the river to continue. The "Riverwalk" trail is well worth the effort. The best thing about the campground, besides being beside the river and proximity to park amenities and services, is that it is located at the entrance to a magnificent canyon that gets more and more narrow as you go north. All around you are absolutely beautiful mountains. At sunset and sunrise the sun and mountains cooperate to put on the most marvelous light show.

Environment: high desert with small trees.

Amenities: There are plenty of bathrooms with drinking water.

Discounts:  Senior Pass is accepted for 50% off camping. 

Dump & Water: There is a dump station and drinking water at the entrance to the campground. It is a bit tight but we're maximum legal width and we fit okay.

Phone Service: Verizon had a good signal most of the time.

Location: Zion NP is in the southwest corner of Utah about 150 miles from LasVagas and about 25 miles from I-15 at Hurricane, UT (Exit 16 - Rt 9)

Proximity to shopping: Springdale is a love village and has many, if not most, of the things you'd want. For more serious shopping, Hurricane is only a bit over 20 miles and has everything.

Camping Population: During our stay there were mostly tent campers with a few trailers and no really big rigs. Those all seemed to go to the reservation only campground.

Sites: There are some really good sites, and then there are some that are almost impossible to level. Lots of small sites, but we saw mostly tents.

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RATING KEY: category - score

Categories: I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

II - boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but

one might choose to stay for more than a night.

III - over-night areas

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service