Are Reservations Needed in Utah in March?

WanderAnn

Hello,
We are so excited to be planning an extended trip to the Southwest in March/April. We have a tentative route planned, but we want to be flexible. Will we be able to find sites on the fly or will we have to make reservations well ahead of time? We like to stay in State and National parks. Any advice is appreciated. 

manyman297

I live in Utah and I think you'd be ok on the fly in March if you're flexible. Many of us natives haven't even gone camping by that time of year as it can still snow and temps can definitely be below freezing (northern part of the state). Tons of BLM options too but I bet you could easily find spots at public campgrounds.

Sharon_is_SAM

@WanderAnn   We traveled to Utah in March - April 2018.  Be careful of Jeep week in Moab which next year runs April 9-17.  Moab and surrounding camping sites are packed!  We had reservations for everywhere but a brief stay at a BLM site.  It really depends on how much risk you want to take.  We prefer to not have to use our valuable vacation time to search for a place to sleep.  We stayed at a mix of State Parks and Private campgrounds.  Everything was full at the time.  I have to imagine it has only gotten worse in very popular areas. 

PS. I highly recommend Dead Horse Point State Park just outside of Moab. 

CharlieRN

We spend several weeks skiing in the Wasatch/Uintas in late winter and have traveled down to Moab in mid-March for the annual Skinny Tire bicycle tour. While we don't have our T@B out there in the winter, and so I can't speak to camping specifically, I can tell you that the Moab area is very busy then and hotel reservations are tough. I think it may be prudent to try to line things up beforehand, but of course if you can be flexible, you may be OK since there are many options for camping.

RMo

Slightly off topic but if you visit Bears Ears National Monument, I highly recommend Blue Mountain RV and Trading as a place to stay in Blanding.  The staff can recommend fantastic places to visit in the Monument, and the place is clean with good views.  Blanding also has a great small museum to introduce you to the Puebloan culture of the area.

pthomas745

The people in the Blanding Visitor's Center are very nice, too.

WanderAnn

Thanks everyone. I think we’ll have some reservations and some winging it.