Needing a good Memorial Day weekend trip!

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone! So my family is looking for a good camping trip for memorial day weekend. They have tried Moab and Zions, but all campgrounds are completely booked! My parents have a 5th wheel (both of them are 55 years old), my sister and brother have a 4 year old and a 7 year old. Anything will help. Any good ideas? A place with easier hiking trails would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[uintahiker]

Have you looked at either Capitol Reef or the San Rafael Swell (Goblin Valley State Park)?

Not sure on what your criteria other than public campground and easy hiking is, but either location I'm sure you would not go away disappointed.

 

[Stephanie]

Any campground that you would recommend?

 

[WasatchWill]

My guess is that all reservations for both Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef (Fruita) would all be booked for that weekend as well. However, there are other possibilities near Capitol Reef. There are a number of other campgrounds up on Boulder Mountain such as Single Tree and Pleasant Creek that may still have some open sites.

Memorial Day weekend is one of the most popular weekends for camping here in Utah, so just about all campgrounds, especially those near popular parks, state and national, will all be booked by now, leaving only the "first come first serve" sites and primitive off road sites available. And even all the primitive sites will get filled in a hurry that weekend.

I've learned that when I want to take my family camping over a peak weekend, which are generally around holidays, is that I must make reservations months in advance, or take an extra day of work off to try and secure a "first come first serve" site before others move in.

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[Nick]

Any actual campgrounds are probably reserved all over the place at this point. Your best bet would be to shoot for primitive camping. There is a lot of that in The San Rafael Swell. Look up info on the Goblin Valley area. Tons of spots around there. It will be busy though!

EDIT: @WasatchWill beat me to it. What he said!

 

[pixie1339]

Dinosaur National Monument. I've been there a couple times on holiday weekends, and had my choice of campsites. It always shocks me that more people don't go there. There's a lot more to it than just the dinosaur quarry. There are several easy and scenic trails that anyone in your group should be able to do. There's also great rock art in the area.