devafour

This is a great free boon docking location. Dispersed camping at designated sites only.

Pros: Stunning Location, quiet, great views, minimal traffic during the time I camped, free 7 day limit, some sites open, most shady, none level so be prepared. No hookups, no water, no pit toilets. Just old fashioned boon docking fairly close to town where you can get any supplies you might need. Pack it in, pack it OUT! Road up in decent repair with some embedded rocks, minimal washboard, but a lot of run off divots. Almost any vehicle could make it up, but some sites require tight turns that would be difficult for bigger rigs. 2-3 bars LTE AT&T at top. Lots of hiking/mountain biking/horse trails to explore.

Cons: First night here I arrived a bit late and took the first empty site I found. Absolutely filthy. I packed out two garbage bags full of beer cans, plastic, styrofoam, filthy personal wipes, human waste, broken bottles, and just about everything imaginable. The higher up the road you go, the cleaner the sites. The next day, I moved to another site because the first one smelled like human waste even after cleaning it up. Ugh! Regular, but not heavy, traffic on weekends from mountain bikers, off road vehicles, and regular cars/trucks. Found a lot of discarded deer and elk parts along the road and in campsites, so be aware.

Frozen mix one night with high winds, but I had no trouble getting my 2 wheel drive camper van down the next day. I hiked with bear spray for safety since I have a dog in case we came upon javelina. Cougars are in the area as well, I’m sure.

I was beeping it and it was the weekend. Every single state park site around was full and I didn’t really want to venture too far off the highway because I was moving to beat the heat. This was a perfectly lovely overnight spot. Shared it with a couple semis and travel trailers. Quiet other than some late arrivals. Sunset was fantastic. It free and easy so who can fault it? Not me!

I called the listed number 3-4 times over the course of a week and never could get a hold of anyone. I left multiple messages and requested a call back regarding a site for 3-5 days. No response. I don’t know if the person who deals with this was maybe out of the office at that time or if they’re no longer allowing camping here. I didn’t want to chance showing up in person and getting the same response so I stayed at the casino just north of Santa Fe, which is run by very nice people. No hookups, but I have solar and don’t really need them. Also, it was free!

This is the second campground I’ve stayed at in this park. Lions Beach is a misnomer because you are not on the beach unless you want drive down and boondock. Be cautious if you do drive down because as I was walking my dog one afternoon, I stepped off the gravel and sunk into the sand a good 10 inches. Almost lost my shoe! The sites at this spot are right on top of each and all the campers are packed in like sardines. You have a spot for your camper, a Ramada with a picnic table underneath and then a neighbor. You can hear and see everything. I had barking dogs on both sides. There is a typical fire ring as well and a fresh water faucet. Across the road are flush toilets. There are NO showers at this spot, you have to drive to another campground to get to a shower. While walking my dog, I looked into the shower area there and no thanks! In very poor repair with broken tiles and mold. It’s a push button design so you’ll have use one arm to continuously push the button if you’re brave enough to use the facilities. The camping sites were clean and groomed. FYI: As I was heading to the toilet one evening with my dog in tow, we apparently spooked a good sized coyote right behind the building, so be aware they come right into the campground. People with small dogs and cats should not leave them tied out or unattended. Haven’t experienced the dump station, but I’m sure it’s fine. I have an annual pass, so after reservation fees, the site was $4/night.

Wyoming State Park that charges $25 to dry camp. If I had the energy, I wouldn’t have stayed, but I had been driving a while and just sucked it up.

State parks across the nation in general have become complete rip offs with all the charges and hidden fees. I avoid them if I can.

Now to the campground: No camp host to ask questions (like is the pump water potable? Absolutely zero signage if it’s safe to drink or not). Very few campers on a Monday night, dozens of sights available. On my walk around with my doggo, this is what I saw; garbage all over, plastic drink bottles thrown around, my fire pit was full of trash, along the water is a terrible stench of, yep you guessed it! Dead fish floating, reservoir water looked and smelled like a Petri dish, with scum all over. Bugs! A constant and unending whine of millions of bugs! Where ever you step, in grass or sand, a million more become airborne! I stuck my head in the nearest pit toilet, which looked clean but stunk to high heaven.

I saw absolutely no park employee or representative all afternoon or night.

I had the bad luck to be here overnight when it was so windy you couldn’t even see the lake. Beautiful spot in the morning after the wind died down and visibility improved. No services, dry camping only, pack it in, pack it out. Some of the “roads” are quite rutted and deep. The main road coming in is hard packed gravel, but the roads in between were sand and mud. On a wet day you’ll need a 4x4. I just pulled off the main road onto some grass so I would have enough traction to get out in the morning and I’m glad I did because it rained overnight. Some sites are marked with signs that say “Private Property” so I’m not sure what that’s about. You’ll have to travel for quite a few miles to get here for I-15, so keep that in mind.

If it’s free, I generally give 5 stars because I didn’t pay money for any services. But this is also a nice clean spot to stop right off the road. Traffic noise dies down overnight. I was here alone, except for a dude fishing off his kayak in the pond. Later a family in a 5th Wheel pulled up and we had a quiet night. Some fire rings, some churned up soil here and there but very easy to get level.

I stayed for 2 nights as I went through Santa Fe. Super nice employees, told me I could stay for free for up to three nights, but if I needed more time to come see him. Food is great although at the time I was there the only thing open was their grab and go section, which was good and also cheap! Quiet lot, a bit of a slope but was able to easily level using a couple leveling blocks. Lot well lit and I felt completely safe. Would definitely stay again. Just a fifth wheel and a couple vans/truck campers when I was there. The only complaint is one of the van people didn’t leash their dog, but that’s nothing against the facility or the free parking they allow.

I stayed here for several days in December ‘23 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very quiet, only saw a couple other campers, lots of hiking along cow trails, no services so pack it in/pack it out. Heard coyotes one night, didn’t see any pronghorn, but they’re around. Saw cows and that’s about it. Empire Ranch is fun to explore and their website gives in depth history so it’s worth looking at. There is a “camp host” at the Empire Ranch site, but I didn’t see anyone from the area making rounds, checking anything, etc. There’s a few pit toilets scattered around, mostly clean. The roads are variable: from well groomed gravel, to rocky and dirty pothole filled two track. I have a truck camper on a dually and ended up getting a rock lodged between my drivers side wheels. Couldn’t dislodge it and after going round and round with roadside assistance, I unlocked my bike and rode a couple miles to find a camper or two. A super nice guy helped my out and was able to dislodge it without having to go through airing it down and back up. Safe to say he saved my bacon. Thankfully, there are still some good people around. Great spot to get away, just bring what you’re going to need because there’s nothing close by.

I just overnighted here as I was passing through. Nice area far removed from any heavily trafficked roads. I stayed at a site right by the bathrooms and didn’t drive all the way back, but seems Ike it’s no problem as there was quite a large 5th Wheel back there. The road in is a bit washboard but not bad, looks like it has been fairly recently graded. No need for high clearance or 4WD but be aware if rain is in the forecast it could get ugly. It’s open range so be prepared for wandering cows and their leavings. The spot I was in had been recently raked so I’m assuming rangers or other staff are here regularly. I would camp here again.