gavinmanes

Lovely views and nice dirt roads to explore a little. The Shakespeare Arch trail is fun even though it has fallen (there's a slickrock scramble, fun for kids especially). No cell coverage in the campground but there is wifi at the visitor center - we work on the road so got familiar with that parking lot. Showers in the hookup campsite are AMAZING. Seriously nice, rain showerheads, nice tile, huge. Quite a surprise. We used this as a jumping off point to Bryce Canyon, it's 30-45 min away; if you're going, go early. That place was crazy in late October. Dirt roads to the campground were fine, not great but not terrible.

The positives: this is a quiet, small, not very busy campground with incredible beach access. You can even primitive camp on the beach for only the entrance fee. Not many did, it was very windy, but the sand is very hard packed. Enough that we biked out onto the beach and it was great. Great shelling here, whelks and sea moon snails and thousands and thousands of tiny little shells. It's shallow for a long way so the bird watching is great too on the tidal flat. Easy access a mile down the road to marsh kayaking trails. Free wifi at the visitor center and we slightly picked it up from the furthest campsite. Didn't work as well at night.

The negatives: as others have mentioned, the mosquitoes are FIERCE. Bring bug spray and cortisone. Stand in windy places. Don't expect to be outside for any length of time if you're not on the beach. Even with a fire it still wasn't pleasant. The long boardwalk was destroyed in the last hurricane. No cell signal at the beach.

Final notes: you have to want to get here, it's 30 minutes out of Port Arthur.

Stanley Idaho is a real hidden gem. I don't think it will be hidden much longer. We loved Redfish Lake and went to the beach almost every day. There's trail riding, easy paddleboarding, a shallow warm and sandy shore. Crowded on the weekends. Note that the Interagency Pass (America the Beautiful) does not apply to parking fees here. There are about 5 campgrounds actually on the lake but they were all full.

So we went dispersed. This is the only campground along the road that has a breath of signal. We had to put the antenna on the roof of the popped camper to get anything. But there is very strong signal in Stanley iteself, about 10 minutes away. The river was right off our campsite as was the road - noise was pretty significant.

The road - it's an absolute mess. We had to go 3ish miles an hour to get the camper down it. Do NOT attempt this in anything bigger than a popup or teardrop. You must have a high clearance vehicle (we have a Subaru and it just *barely* made it). That was the biggest drawback, and that it got busy enough people were setting up camp in places that clearly weren't sites. There's a dump station and a dumpster across the street at the Ranger Station, $5 each time on the honor system.

Stanley is awesome. This campsite was a great way to access all the awesome things there. The site itself wasn't fantastic but it served its purpose.

I like this campground (this was our second visit) because it's not super busy especially compared to some other National Parks/Monuments. The campground is pretty bare bones, there are flush toilets and water spigots but no dump station or showers. There are some spots that would accommodate even the biggest rigs.

There's a trail that goes from this campground to the group campground and boat launch and I recommend it, pretty hike. It also hooks into the Desert Voices trail which is fantastic (do it early; no shade). The Quarry is fun but running the river in a kayak or paddleboard is also a great way to see the place from a different perspective. There's a takeout called Placer Point about three miles down that's a nice leisurely hourlong paddle and is very chill. Be sure to get a "Play Permit" from the Visitor Center before floating the river. It's free but you need one for each day you're going to paddle. If you want a more guided approach, Adrift Adventures is a rafting outfitter at the junction of the place where you turn to get into the Monument and they were great.

The trails here are not very busy and you get to walk through so many years of geologic history in relative quiet.

Chipmunks are VERY aggressive, hide your trash and food.

Watch the road going down into the canyon it's pretty hairpin in places. We landed during a night with an impending thunderstorm so the winds were fierce.

The CCC trail was fun and we did a little mountain biking on the Lighthouse Trail too. Quite a bit of easy mountain biking which was a surprise. And peeked into the Amphitheater. Good for a few days and nicer than the campground we've been to in Amarillo for sure.

Expected this to be just a ho-hum stopover but really wish we had more time. Lovely canyon, easy access to the Colorado River for wading (but careful, and it's chilly). Lots of activity down at the boat launch a mile down the road. Spots here are very tight and first come first serve. Note that several of the sites essentially share an awning and picnic tables - some are labeled "group" and some aren't, we took one that had a gentleman tent camping on the other side. He was friendly so it was fine but privacy isn't really a thing here. Coverage was surprisingly good.

Digging for diamonds is fun but the kids got tired after a few hours, there are some kinda cool rocks to be found too. There is a separate admission fee for digging. There are folks who come do this all the time and have buckets and screens and mudboots.

Campground was ok. Arkansas generally does a nice job with their state parks; this isn't the nicest one but it's totally serviceable. Signal is spotty.

Note that a large number of Arkansas counties are dry and even if it is a wet one, you can't buy alcohol on Sundays.

This is a lovely spot, beautiful tall pine trees. There is NO AT&T or T-Mobile, requires a 15 minute drive at least in either direction. Noise carries in this campground so using generators isn't ideal. It gets quite chilly at night even in October (elevation) so be prepared for that. It's a mix of FCFS and reservation sites, quite full most likely due to everything else in NM being closed. Better for small rigs.

The best thing about this campground is the proximity to the hiking trails (Stewart Falls and Mt. Timpanogos) - just across the street. This is a VERY busy trailhead so it's nice to not have to fret with parking. That said, it's a very busy trailhead and there are lots of folks in and out and traffic. There's a camp up the road and their morning call to breakfast or whatever was very audible both days. We were also there during Pioneer Day weekend which is a big holiday in Utah apparently.

Otherwise this a small campground, sites are OK, forested and fairly level. Not big rig friendly and it was mostly tent campers. The drive up there is windy but really lovely, you drive right through Sundance. No hookups. No campfires when we were there (not surprising as the air was thick with forest fire smoke). Road noise was audible but not awful.

About an hour from downtown Salt Lake but all amenities are closer than that.

All of the below re: windy roads and unlevel spots. But, it's quite secluded and there are several hiking trails. Views are very nice. Weather can be changeable so keep an eye. It's 45 minutes to White Sands National Park and that is a stunning place, highly recommend. Water at the gate is very convenient.