Sand Island Campground

Sand Island is located about 2 miles west of Bluff, Utah. It serves as the launch point for San Juan river trips to Mexican Hat & Clay Hills. In the spring, the launch ramp can get busy.

There are 23 camp sites in two loops. Loop A, to the left as you approach the area, is best for tents and very small rigs. The turn-around at the end of the A loop drive is very small, and may be obstructed by camper vehicles. Sites are $10 with 50% off for National Land Access passes. There are several vented outhouses, and some water sources, but no electric or dump.

I ended up in Site 10 in the B loop in mid April. I was looking for a site that wouldn’t shade my solar panel. I arrived about 9:30 a.m. local time and every other site was full although later in the day many of them had cleared out. The campground runs nearly full each night in the spring with people planning to launch in the morning.

In addition to the launch ramp and camping, Sand Island is known for a large petroglyph panel with hundreds of individual images. The panel is now fenced off, but still visible, thanks to people who found defacing the petroglyphs an irresistible activity.

The Highway 191 bridge over the San Juan river may have a deck of steel grating. The traffic across it seems unusually noisy. On the other hand, there isn’t much traffic, especially at night, and it certainly didn't keep me from sleeping!
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I sometimes had two bars of AT&T Edge, but more often didn’t have anything.

Needed a spot to stay for the night. All the spaces were taken so I went to the general parking area and parked there (near the cliff). Was quiet even though the place was full. Easy to get in and get out. Weekends are full of locals with boats so you have to be there before Friday afternoon.
Convenient. Paid using my senior pass so half price.

We camped here on a Tuesday night in September. We took a chance on our way to the Grand Canyon and drove to Sand Island after dinner in Durango hoping there would still be an open site. It was around 9:30pm by the time we arrived. We drove into campground B and found at least three sites available. Yay! We were in campsite #22 and were quickly lulled to sleep by the sounds of the river. We checked out the petroglyphs in the morning before heading on. The vault toilets were clean and sufficient. The temps got down to low 50s at night. Some construction noise in the morning. But overall incredibly peaceful and perfect for our last-minute suv camping spot! AT&T service barely worked... be prepared in case it doesn’t work at all.

A very pleasant surprise! BLM campground, cost is now $15.00 a night, $7.50 with senor pass discount. We have a 38’ 5th wheel, and found multiple sites we could fit it, and picked #20, since we were traveling with another couple, and there were two next to each other, and both along river. And I was able to get my direct tv antenna dialed in with little problems. And upon going into Bluff, Ut. We found a great visitor center, and the historical Fort Bluff, a must stop if in this area. Since this campground is very near the junction of US191 and US163, there is some road noise, but not very bad.

We stayed here 3 nights, utilizing the senior pass for 7.50 per night. Our first pass thru showed no open sites, but a group who was just using a site as a day use, left. We squeezed our 30 ft. 5th wheel in. We had to park the truck askew, also squeezed in. Another reviewer said there were several long sites. We didn't have those choices. Maybe their site was flatter, more usable space.
We were overlooking the San Juan river but no access without going to the boat launch.

The campground is clean and quiet. It's a good jumping off point for several sights in the area. We could see the highway and bridge but noise was minimal.
Cell service with Verizon was 3G, 3 bars. Not the best but we aren't trying to work remotely so it was fine. One TV program I like, I tried to watch on my phone and it kept cutting out so I gave up. I don't have any kind of booster.
Twin rocks cafe seemed to be the only game in town. And while a bit pricey, the breakfast we had the first morning kept us coming back every day.
I would definitely stay here again.

This is a small BLM campground that fills up every night. We were lucky to snag the last spot at about 4:00pm and watched people circling for several hours. There are some great petroglyphs just a short walk (5 minutes) from Loop B so be sure to check them out. There's a boat launch and group campsite between Loops A and B. Loop A has a very tight turnaround so is definitely not for bigger rigs. Note the price of $7.50 is with the senior pass - regular price is $15/night. Only dry camping is available. This campground is about 10 minutes from Bluff and 30 minutes from Blanding. It's very quiet at night but is right off the highway for easy in and out access.

The mosquitos and bugs will eat you alive...

Pulled in on Sun afternoon, and were only campers in B loop. Left a chair and our entry rug at site while we drove to boat launch area to go for a dip in the San Jaun river. When we got back to the site 2 hrs later our chair and rug were gone. Dont leave anything at your site if you leave even for a little while. I need my faith restored!

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and weren’t sure if we would get a spot, but there weren’t many people there. We did find a few spots that would work for our 40 foot fifth wheel. Very clean, quiet campground. Sites are a good distance apart and the bathrooms are clean.

I read a review from another camper In August of 2020 that mentioned They had major bug problems. This must have been during the rainy season. My husband and I didn’t have that problem at all when we stayed there in September 2020. The weather was warm enough during the day and the nights were cool. The one thing I would say is that I would wear close end shoes when walking around. My husband and I both got bit by big black ants. They were not aggressive like fire ants and maybe only one got me but it hurt all the same. They have there home in the ground so it is not easy to find it. We really enjoyed seeing the petroglyphs on the shale wall, there at the campground also. On the first day by the self check-in station I checked the hydrant and there was no water coming out. On day two I saw a gentleman filling his jugs and he said it was working fine. I guess you can count on water being here but for my way of thinking I would fill my tank before arriving to be sure. We found the campground to be very peaceful and quiet.