Camp ObserverCanyonlands National Park
Directions
Canyonlands National Park is cut into three land districts by the Green and Colorado rivers. Island in the Sky, in the north of the park, is about 40 minutes from Moab, UT via UT 313. The Needles district is in the southeast corner of Canyonlands, about 90 minutes from Moab or an hour from Monticello, UT via UT 211. The Maze district, in the west of the park, is the most remote and challenging; its ranger station is down 46 miles of dirt road from UT 24. All roads in The Maze require high-clearance 4WD.
Reviews
Campsites at Canyonlands National Park's Needles District remain well-regarded for their quality and location. Guests continue to appreciate the spacious, clean, and quiet sites with access to excellent hiking trails. Camp hosts and rangers are friendly and helpful, contributing to a positive experience. Some issues with shade, bathroom facilities, and competition for sites persist, alongside the remote setting with limited amenities.
Well-maintained and clean sites and bathrooms
Quiet and peaceful atmosphere with good privacy
Spacious campsites with some shade options
Helpful and friendly camp hosts and rangers
Excellent access to hiking trails and scenic views
Limited shade at many campsites
Bathrooms often lack lighting and can have odors
Competitive reservations due to limited site availability
Some sites are close to roads or other campers causing noise
Remote location with limited nearby services and amenities
Timothy D
Reviewed 13 days ago
great
Catherine A
Reviewed 17 days ago
Campsites are nicely spread apart. The tent sites are convenient and well maintained. The toilet block on B Loop is exceptionally clean and provides a handy outdoor sink area at which we could wash our dinner dishes. There are many hiking opportunities directly from the campgrounds.
Arlene L
Reviewed 18 days ago
What a great site! The bathroom was extremely clean. Make sure to bring your headlight in the evening as the bathrooms have no lights.
Sophie W
Reviewed 20 days ago
Overall, this campground is great! Would have appreciated signs in the loops themselves to designate which sites/pit vs. flush toilet (they have flush toilets!!!) locations and distances/etc were but it's not necessary. We heard coyotes at night and they were pretty close, so definitely make sure your food and belongings are in secure areas (also saw a raven pick up some food that was left out overnight by a neighboring camper, don't be these people). Bonus for the campground's location is the short distance to the Elephant Hill road - you're bound to get a spot at this trailhead if you camp here and start your day early. Otherwise, I love that you can hike from the campground into Elephant Hill if you want a much longer hike. Bonus for our site location, partnered with spot 20: there are several raised tent spots here so you could totally have multiple people with separate tents use these sites together, and these sites feel private with the rock walls behind them - couldn't hear the group on the other side at all.
Nathan B
Loop:Not in campground. Located on unpaved access road near Cave Spring Trailhead.
Site:
Reviewed a month ago
Nice spot
Brent M
Reviewed a month ago
Quite, spacious campsite. Friendly and helpful hosts.
Keep your options open
Watch for a matching campsite across monitored campgrounds in Canyonlands National Park.
Popularity: Very quiet
Busiest in November, when about 18% of guest capacity is reserved. Based on 5 years of reservations.
Campgrounds
Canyonlands National Park has 213 campgrounds, 30 campsites in total.
213 of 213 campgrounds match
