Temple Townsite Campground

Needing a place to crash between Capital Reef NP and Colorado NM, I headed in towards Goblin Valley State Park. Four miles in from Rt.24, I found a BLM info kiosk at the turnoff for the Park, and saw that there were campgrounds nearby. Since I didn't want to travel the 8 miles to the SP and discover they were full, I continued straight down Temple Mountain Rd. .4 miles to this site. It is a typical BLM campground, really just a gravel parking lot with fire rings/grills and a couple of vault toilets, but it was exactly what I needed. Quiet and peaceful, one other couple showed up for the night, and left before 9 the next morning. Beautiful limestone hills and expansive horizons. I didn't realize there are petroglyphs just a half mile down the road, and another campground with ramadas and tables. My bad. No useable cell signal. There are also many small pull-offs on the roads that people used as overnight stops.

Large dirt parking lot with fire rings and pit toilets. Off the paved road. Was quiet when we were there. Great location for hiking the Temple Mountain trails. Area was very clean as were the pot toilets. No ATT service but some Verizon service.

We stopped here for an overnight between Escalante and Denver to check out Goblin Valley State Park, where we have reservations next month. We like to see if we'll fit when we have the chance. The ranger was nice and let us drive through Goblin Valley without charging us. This BLM campground is just a wide-open lot, which they call the "People Pasture" on the BLM website. There is room for a lot of rigs, and the night we stayed, a Friday, there was a group of 3 or 4 down at the east end and a few along the south fence. We parked at the west end and had it to ourselves. Any size rig will fit with plenty of room to turn around (we're 68' connected and haul with a Freightliner HDT). There are two pit toilets, and they are very clean. The paved road ends after the petroglyphs about 1/2 mile further, and then the dirt road continues. We drove down a ways to check it out in the truck, but turned around when we decided there was no way we were taking our 45' toy hauler down it. There were several dispersed sites along the dirt road, and we could see the West Temple campground in the distance - it looked like there were a few rigs there. None were big enough for us, but if you're small...
There was quite a bit of traffic on the road all evening, trailers going by even after dark, and driving pretty fast. The same was true in the morning before we left. All-in-all a wonderful place to spend a night or a few - there are several hikes in the area that look worthwhile, we're hoping to check them out when we return.
AT&T data -113dBm, T-Mobile data no service, Verizon phone roaming at -99dBm.

Improved parking area off a paved road, hard to believe it's free. Paved all the way to the camping area, although the pavement abruptly ends (with an "impassable when wet" sign) not too far down the road. Graded gravel, fire pits, wide open space, nice facilities. Hopefully it can remain free - disappointing to see trash around the fire pits (tampons, really people?!).

Fantastic open and level campsite with around 14 spots - 2 seem to be more for tents with covered picnic areas and the rest are for vans/RVs and all have nice solid picnic tables and solid fire rings. Two toilet facilities on site. No showers or trash cans. We have a 40’ fifth wheel and had zero problem getting in. Spots are nice and wide as well! Awesome spot! $15/night