Cedar Mesa basecamp

[SEAlpine]

Hi--

My family and I are travelling from AK to the Cedar Mesa area next week. We only have four nights in the area and I'm hoping to make efficient use of our time while we are there. Our general plan:

Day 1- Drive Moab to Cedar Mesa. Mule Canyon day hike. (Camp Arch Canyon overlook)
Day 2- Road Canyon day hike. (Camp Muley Point).
Day 3- Bluff Art Festival (wife and daughter art workshop, son and myself Bluff Riverwalk w/ Jim Hook) (Camp Muley Point?)
Day 4- Moon House Ruins (Camp Natural Bridges?)
Day 5- Natural Bridges. Drive to Salt Lake City

I'm looking for advice on where to camp or tweaks to our itinerary that would minimize our driving/backtracking and keep it fun for the kiddos (aged 10 and 8). Any thoughts are very much appreciated!

 

[SKLund]

Take Sheiks Flat road (county road 250) . It's the second dirt road on the right after leaving the Kane Gulch Ranger station heading towards Muley Point. Follow that road and you will see a couple of decent camping spots in the trees with pretty good shade. If you go past a road heading to the left, you have gone too far. Bring a fire pan if burning and clean it all up. This camping area is a good central location for reaching Sheiks, Bullet, Mcloyd and Road Canyons.

 

[SKLund]

Also get to the ranger station early or get your Moonhouse permit before hand. Only 20 people are allowed in per day.

 

[regehr]

When my kids were your kids' ages we used this site as a base camp. I would rank it highly among camp sites I've used.

 

[gnwatts]

Good call on Mule Canyon. Great hike for kids, try to make it to the big pool about 3 miles up.