backinthehills

Got here around midnight, went to the north side like other reviewers said to do. A few semis in the south part. No one else was in the north section when we got there; a couple semis were there in the morning. Was pretty quiet all night -some traffic and one train. Didn’t see any snakes. Didn’t let my dogs into the grass beyond the edge. Restrooms were good. Men’s were a little messy but women’s seemed really clean.

We got to the campground after dark (7pm) and had a bit of a hard time figuring out where to park. I’d called ahead and the woman was super friendly, told me to pay by dropbox and pick any site if we came in after 4pm, which we did. I didn’t have the right change so paid $30 instead of $25 but a man stopped by in the morning with a $5 bill, which was awesome.

Bathrooms were clean and showers were warm, but locked from 7pm-7am, which was a little sad since we’d been looking forward to showers that night.

Not too many people camping there in Feb, which was really nice. Power, water and sewer hookup was $25. Highway noise steady all night but not obnoxious. Pretty setting by a lake -saw two great blue herons when out walking the dogs in the morning.

Kind of hard to find the campground -Apple Maps took us into a residential area. Should’ve kept driving along the road until we saw the rock sign that says Lake El Reno Camping West. Would’ve been easier to navigate in the daylight but we figured it out in the end.

Beautiful treed park with a huge beach. Most Campsites are surrounded by trees and are pretty private. Some pull-through sites. Mid-June during the week there were hardly any people and the beach was almost empty. My dogs were able to go off-leash and play in the water which was so fun. The water is shallow a long way out and very clear, a few spots with weeds but lots without. My kids loved playing in the water.
Showers aren’t great -the spray sort of stings, but at least there are showers and each has a separate locking stall with a toilet.
There is a little store with a restaurant and ice cream. Staff was super friendly.
Overall, an awesome park to bring kids and dogs too. I’m not sure if it’s crowded and busy during high season but it was so nice when we went.

Absolutely gorgeous camping spot. We got there about 5pm and a lot of the sites were taken; we saw about 4 other campers. Found a beautiful spot close to another camper right on the creek. No cell coverage, no facilities, really nice to get away and feel adventurous in the woods and mountains. Could hear highway traffic but not too loud. ATVs were driven around, but stopped about 9:30pm. Started again and around 7am. Road in is 3km and the gravel is very big, not great for cars but we went really slow in our Acadia and made it through just fine. Would be great to have a truck to get to some of the sites by the creek. Would definitely stay again. Our solar panel wouldn’t charge with all the tree cover, however

Super clean and awesome facilities. Bathrooms looked SO clean. Showers were hot and no one was using them so we had the place to ourselves. We got in after dark, about 9:30 and were easily able to find a spot to park and paid in the morning. The highway traffic was a bit loud and people were driving in the campground periodically at all hours of the night, but we had good sleeps anyway. Not a picturesque place, and no privacy between spots, but the surrounding mountains are gorgeous and it was a perfect spot to stay on our way through.

We loved this campground so much! It was so peaceful being up in the woods on the mountain. We went out of season, so no water, but the vault toilets were open and were pretty clean. No showers, obviously, but we went in to Monticello (10mins away) and paid for showers at the Old West RV Park.

The best site is site #1; we switched there from #3 (which was also nice) and stayed two more nights because it was just so nice. Site #1 is tucked in the corner and goes way back: lots of space and kind of hidden from the road. The oaks and aspens were all changing colour -just beautiful!

Every evening, a small herd of deer came and fed in the meadow in the centre of the campground. There was a bear box to store food in but we just kept our food in our car. There is a barbed wire fence and cattle gate bordering the campground.

So nice and quiet in the nights. Only a couple other campers, even on the weekend. Some people came for day trips and picnics on the Saturday and then left.

Service with AT&T was spotty -showed service but didn’t always work.

if you are a local with an ATV, you should totally go and join your buddies here. If you are looking for a place to camp away from it all, this is not the place. It is definitely away from everything except people. A skinny little mountain road takes you there; very pretty road, but gravel and not awesome for little pop-up camper tires. We drove through the campground looking for an empty campsite, while all the campers stared at us. The sites were all full so we ate our picnic supper on the side of the road while ATVs whizzed by and stared at us. After that, we turned back and headed back to Nephi in the dark to stay on the edge of a parking lot style RV park. Disappointing all around.

Got there at 8:30pm and it was dark so we didn’t see the sign guiding us to the campground section but instead pulled into the public park section and only saw barricades into what we figured was the campground. Thought it was closed off for flooding or something. Had nowhere else to go so we slept by the playground in our camper and left early. I’m the morning we saw the sign to the campground 🤦‍♀️. Would’ve loved to have stayed there. Highway was LOUD all night, with semis braking. The sound would’ve been just as bad in the actual campground.

We got here after dark in the fog and it was easy to find. Camping in February in ND -chilly, muddy, foggy, 34F. We had our furnace going so we were warm enough, even with our hybrid trailer beds out. There was one other campervan there that we didn’t even notice until the next morning. No one around -paid our $10 into the box at the entrance. Vault toilets were nothing special but nice to have since our camper is still winterized and has no water on our way south. Really convenient place to stop for the night.

This is a beautiful campground. Most sites have a little tucked away spot that is semi-private, if you can park so that your camper lines up with the road and covers the entrance to your campsite. Site 15 was perfect for our tent trailer. Right against the edge of the campground, with some scrubby trees and a little dry water run before the canyon walls.

It was raining off and on during our visit and we didn’t want to explore the area too much and get stranded by impassable roads so we hiked a few of the trails right in the park and they were absolutely incredible. The Panorama Trail with the Cool Cave loop was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. Angels Palace Trail was up high with paths onto little ridges that terrified me but delighted my family (I just stayed back a way).

Showers were amazing. Roomy with a spot to put dry clothes. The shower head was high up, a big square with lots of hot water, really nice for tall people.

Potable and non-potable water to fill tanks. Dishwashing station near the restrooms. Dry and easy to chop firewood for $10 a bundle.

Laundromat was nice and clean. Visitors centre had a few essentials -ice, water, wifi. Had a little gift shop too.

Loved our stay here.