Cathedral Valley primitive camping

Nick

Nick

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Joined
Aug 9, 2007
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I think I might be heading down to Capitol Reef this weekend. Probably doing the Cathedral Valley loop. What are primitive camping opportunities like out there? Do you have to be outside park boundaries? And are there a decent amount of spots to be found>? Anyone have any sweet spots to share with me? (private messages are welcome) And any must-see/must-do kind of things along the way?

Thanks!
 
I've always just stayed at the small campground. There's usually no one or very few people there and it's free.
 
The campground has great views close by and is not likely to be busy at any time of the year. That said, I skipped it. While I'm sure it would have run afoul of park regs, I just slept in the back of my car at Temple of the Moon. I arrived late and left early to avoid drawing attention.

I'd assume there are places to pull out along the Caineville road outside of the park but I've not searched myself.
 
I have to admit, I've never made it up into Cathedral Valley. My non-reg camping experience in CR is along the Notom Road. Might be worth the drive?
 
There have been a couple of people at the Cathedral Valley campground over the last few times I've been there (4 times this year). Most of the time there is nobody there though. It doesn't really have many advantages over camping outside the park a little further up the road other than the proximity to sunset views of the Cathedrals from the edge of the campground. There is a pit toilet in a building which might be nice if the weather is bad :cool:

You are not supposed to camp anywhere else in the park other than the 3 campgrounds.

At this time of year I can't think of any particularly nice accessible out of park camps in the area, once the Forest Service gate up to Thousand Lake Mountain is open there are tons of nice places up there, Round Lake is a particularly nice location.
 
Thanks, guys.

Hey @Bob Palin - when do they usually open that gate?

slc_dan said:
I have to admit, I've never made it up into Cathedral Valley. My non-reg camping experience in CR is along the Notom Road. Might be worth the drive?
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Planning on camping down there as well. I'll shoot you an email.
 
There's no set date, they let the road dry out. It should be anytime now except that they got a bunch of snow yesterday judging by the Hogan Pass camera.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
 
Nick said:
I think I might be heading down to Capitol Reef this weekend.
Thanks!
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Are you just staying in the northern part of the park?

I think I might be headed that way this weekend too -- but farther south (probably more like the eastern Escalante drainages.) Actually, I'm not likely to get there until Monday though.
 
Well it looks like I won't be going after all with the weather moving in. Anyone else going to brave the storm and head south this weekend?
 
Nick said:
Well it looks like I won't be going after all with the weather moving in. Anyone else going to brave the storm and head south this weekend?
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The weather doesn't look too bad near GV/LWHC, so I'm thinking about heading down for a potentially gnarly hike up the San Rafael Reef tomorrow. If it's sunny when I wake up in the morning, I'll probably be heading south, anyway. :)

upload_2014-5-9_12-56-32.png
 
I braved the weather two weekends ago, with a similar forecast, and it was GREAT! Rained most of the night friday, early Saturday, and off and on as well. Sunday cleared up. Weather just made it better. What hikes were you planning in CR? Cassidy Arch, Hickman Bridge, and most of the Northern stuff is great in weather. My wife is riding a bike race this weekend, or I would try and talk you into it more, so I could go with ;)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nategeesaman/7693195008/in/set-72157631356166514

Main Street Entrance by slc_dan, on Flickr
 
Nick said:
Well it looks like I won't be going after all with the weather moving in. Anyone else going to brave the storm and head south this weekend?
Click to expand...

Well... technically I'm headed NORTH. :)

I don't plan on hiking until late Monday though, so I hope to miss most of the bad weather. Actually I hope the rain is just enough to fill some potholes, but not muddy the roads too much. I'm still debating where I am going exactly as I hope to devise a long loop in the Escalante area. It's a case of "what I know I like" vs "where I haven't been".
 
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