thefreefive

The camping area is actually the dirt parking lot for the Arizona Wilcox Playa Wildlife area. The area is approximately 100ft square - there are no designated sites. The lot will be quite muddy after a rain.

Would not recommend tent camping here.

The lot is next to a somewhat busy 2-lane road. There is also an irrigation pump at one end of the parking lot which is noisy when it is running.

Overall this is as basic as it gets. The Wildlife area has a 2.4 mile trail around the playa - there is not much else to say.

This spot is ok for a quick overnight stop, but that's about it.

AT&T, Verizon, and TMobile all have good signal.

Peregrine Pines is the military campground for the US Air Force Academy. It's in a nice area with convenient access to the highway and Colorado Springs.

The staff was very helpful and check-in was quick and easy.

The campground itself is in a pine wooded area which provides nice shade but may cause issues for people with satellite TV dishes. The site spacing is decent but the roads are a bit curvey - big rigs will want to take care navigating to their site.

There is a main rail line that traverses just east of the campground. Several trains per day pass through this. Those sensitive to train noise will want to get a site as far west as possible but even then you will still hear it. The trains need to whistle frequently in this area to keep wildlife off the tracks.

This famcamp is the most expensive we've been too, but was still cheaper than other full-hookup options in the area.

WIFI is marginal - the campground simply has a Verizon Jetpack in a lock box at each bathhouse. Bring your own.

We had good service will all four cell carriers.

Needles Outpost is a smallish piece of private land adjacent to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Over the course of its long history, it's been the only private campground in this part of Utah, which is completely off the grid.

Reviews, from any source, of Needles Outpost prior to the Spring of 2017 should be discarded. The Outpost is under new ownership and management. Previously the State of Utah owned the land and lease the business - in early 2017 Utah put the land up for auction - it was purchased by a land conservationist and donated to the Nature Conservancy. The current proprietors of the Outpost have a long-term lease to maintain the outpost and campground.

The campground offers a few tepees, several tent sites, group sites and a variety of other sites that can fit various sizes of RV. This campground is off the grid - there is no electricity and no potable water, and no cell phone service*, so camping it primitive.

The roads in the campground are primarily dirt and could be problematic in wet weather. It's recommended that larger RV's scout ahead from the main outpost building before driving to the camp area.

There is a general store that includes a fuel station - this is the only place to get gas without driving to Moab or Monticello. The proprietors will occasionally cook meals.

There is a fully-functioning bathhouse with flush toilets and showers. Water is trucked in daily from the National park - showers are not free but are a nice benefit in an otherwise waterless area.

RV's and campers can get water in the National Park campground.

There are a couple miles of unmaintained trails on the property that lead to the top of the redrock behind the campground.

The Campground also an unofficial overflow for the National Park campground, which is frequently full.

Overall this is a good, if primitive, campground - mainly because of it's location. There are some BLM camping opportunities nearby as well the National Park.

*There is no cellular coverage in this area. The store has a cellular antenna and booster pointed at the Verizon tower near Monticello. This provides enough signal for voice calls and very limited data. The hosts also offer WiFi for a daily or weekly charge - the WiFi connects to their Hughesnet satellite system and only works near the main building. The WiFi will not reach the actual campsites, but those with WiFi boosters might be able to get some signal.

The only other WiFi in the area is at the National Park Visitor Center, but that Wifi is usually swamped with users. Overall, this area is a cellular and internet dark zone - enjoy being disconnected!

Overall, this is a great little city campground. It is in a quiet location on the edge of Pawnee City.

We felt the $12 a night fee for water and electricity (50amp) was a great value for a nice no-frills city park campground. We had no issue with our 40 foot motorhome, but some of the sites would not fit that size of rig.

There is no host or staff at the campground - payment is collected at City Hall just a few blocks away.

There is a fishing pond that is handicap accessible and stocked with fish (according to the city). We did not fish there but saw a few jumping in the morning.

There is a single bathroom with a toilet and sink and hot water. It's a modular bathroom and was clean enough to use. There are no other facilities at this location.

The notable downside is the lack of a dump station.

This is a good location with easy access to the main road (260) and close to Cottonwood and Sedona.

Note, there is major construction on 260 - expect some slow-downs and delays.

Of the three main areas we scouted, the first two have the best access for big rigs (we have a 40' motorhome). As with any BLM camping, it's always prudent to scout ahead. This location is also very popular, so you may want to leave a chair or something to mark the site you intend to occupy, particularly on or near a weekend during the busy season.

Really the main issue for us was the number of obviously semi-permanent residents who are either homeless or living out of a car. Trash was scattered all over near where they camped and there were a few dogs roaming free (a concern for us with three younger children). Like a lot of busy, well-trafficked BLM areas, this is a not a place that I would leave my stuff out and unlocked while exploring the local area.

Internet access was a mixed bag:

Verizon: This was an LTE area but speeds were extremely slow - less than 1Mbps most times and never above 3Mbps. Tower crowding seemed to be one issue, but even upload speeds were slower than I would expect.

AT&T: We had solid service with our hotspot and MIMO antenna - about 12Mbps in the evenings. Our phones didn't do as well - about 4Mbps and they sometimes dropped from LTE to 4G (HSPA).

T-Mobile: T-Mobile showed signs of tower congestion - download speeds were usually slow, about 2Mbps, while upload speeds were well over 8Mbps.

Unlike other Cabelas, this location - the Corporate Headquarters - has an actual full-service RV park.

The location is very convenient, just off the highway. The facility is well-maintained and clean.

Considering the location and amenities, we felt this price was a very good value for a short stay when compared to other options. It would be a good choice for a longer-term stay if one wanted to spend some time in Sidney.

Sites are first-come. Upon arrival, select an empty site and occupy it, then pay inside the Cabelas at a cashier. There is no staff at the actual campground, which is about 100 yards from the store.

There is some noise from the highway, but it is not too bad. It could be distracting when trying to sleep with the windows open.

This campground is fairly typical of KOA's but in better overall condition that others we've visited. The staff was friendly and efficient. Like many KOA's, this one has convenient access to an interstate but it was far enough away that noise wasn't a problem.

The main downside to this site was the expense. Our full-hookup site had a base price of $50 a night. We were charged another $3 for each of our three children, so $9 total. With tax, the total was $64 which isn't a good value in our opinion. We are not KOA members so this price was without any discounts.

We did make sure to get our money's worth however and the nice showers with endless hot water allowed us all to get cleaned up nicely and we were also able to take advantage of the full hookups.

A second downside was site spacing - there was only a 6 foot strip of grass separating us from the neighbors on both sides - barely enough room for a picnic table.

WIFI was available and was better than many other campgrounds, but still slower than our cell service. It's adequate for basic web searches and email and only marginal for any data-intensive tasks.

We would not stay here again because of the expense and the policy of charging extra for children.

Thunder Ridge is a small and quiet USFS campground on a ridge above Rampart Reservoir. This is a forested area, but forest fires over the last decade have left burn scars that are starting to regrow.

Overall, this is a nice, quiet, no-hookups campground to get away. There are views of Pikes Peak from parts of the campground, as well as the Rampart Range to the east and Rampart Reservoir to the north. A well-maintained trail leads down to the reservoir itself.

Access requires driving on dirt and often heavily washboard roads with a few tight turns to get to the campground, either from Woodland Park, or Manitou.

This campground and the roads to get to it are definitely not big rig friendly. The 30ft length limit is accurate, and only a few sites in this campground can reasonably fit a 30ft RV. Several sites are only big enough for a van and are typically used by car campers.

There are nice vault toilets and water stations scattered about the campground. There are no hookups or other amenities. A host on site sells firewood, and sites have a fire pit.

Cellular coverage is minimal on all three carriers, especially for uploads, even with high-gain antennas and modern cellular modems. Starlink here would be problematic due to the trees, although some sites have fewer trees than others. Do not expect to have good connectivity here.

A great campground in a very nice area.

Cell towers for AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are less than 2 miles from the campground - most sites get excellent cellular performance, but an intervening hill cuts down performance for sites on the east half of the campground.

As of November 2020, the bathrooms with running water are closed due to Covid, but the pit toilets are still open.

Some sites could be very challenging for larger RV - so check maps before booking.

This is a great little gem that is worth the 15-minute drive from I-70, especially for anyone who wants affordable 50-amp service in the middle of Missouri.

The road into the area off the highway is quite narrow and could be a bit scary for those not accustomed to driving wide vehicles on narrow roads.

The campground comprises three loops - a primitive loop primarily for tent camping, a basic electric loop with 30 amp service and a third loop with 50 amp service. There is only one site (besides the camp host site) with full hook-ups. All other sites are electrical only, though there are water pedestals scattered around as well as at the dump station.

There is a convenient and functional dump station near the campground entrance and a bathhouse that is clean and in good condition.

This is a heavily treed area, so the majority of sites have decent shade, especially in the afternoon. Site size and length vary and not all are suitable for big rigs. The pad length description for each site on the Missouri reservation site seems pretty accurate.

Cellular internet access is spotty, with weak coverage on AT&T and Verizon. Getting a decent signal will depend on your gear and site location. We got workable signal for basic tasks using an AT&T nighhawk mobile hotspot and netgear antenna. For voice calls, I had to walk up near the bathhouse, which is higher elevation.

There is free unsecured Wi-Fi at the park which doesn't adequately reach the sites near the bottom of the hill (38, 39, 40) - a Wi-Fi booster may help here. The speeds were about 9Mbps during the day, but were considerably slower bordering on usable in the evenings with the campground about 3/4 full.

This campground is part of the Arrow Rock Historic Site which was the original beginning of the Santa Fe trail. There is a fishing pond, a loop trail, a historic town with historic buildings, and a very nice and informative visitor center and museum.

Overall, this was a great break from the heat and drudgery of I-70.