Big Water Gravel Area | Wild Camping

November 12th, 2023 by redundantpropane39

Super beautiful spot. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it past the water ditch so high clearance recommended, but we found a pull off before it. A few cars and ATVs driving past during the day. Definitely worth the walk to the mountain and boulder field. Lots of bushes that dropped spikes on the ground so beware of your dogs feet if you are planning on bringing one!

September 4th, 2023 by Don Potter

This is a very nice location. The road in was better than so paid campgrounds. It’s wide open land no restrooms of any kind. It’s very dark and quiet at night. Flying J is 5 miles up the road. Drive down Ethan Allen to Smokey mountain road and turn right. There’s a sign saying Glen Canyon recreation area. It’s less than a mile on the right.

July 7th, 2023 by nataliemerrill0225

Easy access to gravel pull out for 2WD low clearance vehicle in dry conditions. Stayed on the lower section, but there were some fire marks on the sand moving to the upper hill. Did not want to risk it. Was the only vehicle. 4 bars of Verizon.

May 30th, 2023 by ranger_nik

We went to a spot a bit south of this check in. There’s a few nice and secluded spots around, when driving down the gravel roads.
Had good reception with t-mobile.
Also a nice view

March 25th, 2023 by learntorv.com

Nice spread out area and good for any size rig. Watch out for the fire pits and fire pit mounds- there’s a ton of foreign materials in them.

March 11th, 2023 by infinite.explorers.wi

Nice spot to stay for a few days. Got 2" of rain overnight and the wash down below flooded and took out the road going across the wash. A few people are stranded on the other side but are camping on the road until the water goes down.

November 13th, 2022 by micahsilver1201

Tons of space to camp if you don't want to go all the way down Smoky Mountain Road. As described there is a dirt/gravel/clay lot here, as well as a few scattered spaces in viewing distance. The view is gorgeous, looks out over the river.

It could hold 50 campers but I was here for 4 days and only saw 1 person camp there the entire time. No one ever comes here at night but there is light traffic during the day going out to the river area.

Make sure you drive down Smoky Mountain Road which is paved, and then you have to turn right at the red "No littering" sign before the Road decends towards the stream.

The other option, which is what I did with my trailer, is to follow the parallel but more southern county Road shown on the map. This road is extremely rocky, so take it slowww, but I found it to be much easier than pulling my trailer up the hill.

October 20th, 2022 by olivia.sautter

Large gravel area with a couple established campfire rings. It's a large area just off NP-230 with spots for many rigs. We had no problem with our 40' fifth wheel. The sign at the entrance to NP-230 states to camping rules for the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. (pack out trash, self-contained, etc) There's an impressive view looking down over the valley below if you park on the east side. The dirt is a little soft on the rim so don't get too close or you could get stuck.

With Starlink, we received 130mbps down and 3.5mbps up. Verizon signal on the phone was 5 bars. AT&T signal was 5 bars with our cell antenna.

FYI about the spot just to the east (where the water crosses the road), there's construction currently going on down there and the grade make it near impossible to get into that spot. There's about a 6' sloped drop off. It would be impossible for our big rig. Maybe a small camper van?? We can almost see that spot from where we are, but there's a hill in the way which does make it secluded.

We were able to get water at the Paria Contact Station. Be sure to get there before 4:30pm though because they close they gate. We had to lug 35 gallons in containers and pump it into our rig because we got there at about 5:30pm.