High Desert suggestions for summer camping

S

SkyP

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South Carolina
My 14 yr old grandson and I are heading out from SC in about a month- first stop is Cape Canaveral to watch a Saturn V rocket launch.
Then we'll be heading west- he wants to go to "deserts"......really?? in the middle of summer?? :LOL:

We hit Death Valley a few years ago when it was 128F- not fun IMO. Glad we did but don't want to do it again. That was on an almost 10,000 mi month long trip where we hit 11 National Parks.



Will be in a 4wd Crew Cab 6.5 bed F150 with a 2.5" front lift and full skid plates, toting an ATC Panther.

Would prefer to do all dispersed camping- we'll see. Last year was pretty crowded even with covid.
I expect it to be worse this year.

Any suggestions on high desert areas that wouldn't be so blame hot?
 
Great Basin National Park in Nevada. I have camped both in the park and east of the park in Utah. Great Basin is pretty awesome and pretty isolated.

Also, the La Sal Mountains near Moab puts you in cooler camping while being near Arches National Park and Canyonlands. I have camped up by Geyser Pass and also on the western Loop Road below in the scrub forest with great views of multiple ridge lines to the west.

There is always the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Dispersed camping outside the park in the National Forest. It is 8,000 feet and less visited than the south rim.
 
Thanks- Great Basin- good suggestion- have not been there yet.

I've been to Geyser Pass on a dual sport motorcycle a few years ago- didn't even think about that.
Was attending a dual sport event at 3 Step Hideaway near LaSal UT- BTW a great place to stay and great food.

North Rim- hmmmm... leaving USFS DeMotte Campground early one morning in 2016 with my grandson we hit a mule deer doing $3K damage to my Transit van.

We were lucky we weren't injured- dang deer who darted out apparently tried to jump OVER the van when he realized we were gonna hit him.
His head smashed the windshield directly in front of my face! Could have been very bad if I'd been going faster. Also took off my driver's side mirror, smashing the hood, door and left front fender.

Try driving a panel van with no left side windows and now without an outside mirror 100 mi to the nearest auto parts store to cobble on a generic mirror...closest place with a windshield in stock was Phoenix- fun times- not!
Ironic thing was the night before we had attended a campfire program about condors and it was pointed out that road kill was their major food source. We did our part for the condor buffet- yay.. :oops:

Thanks for the Great Basin suggestion- off to research that!
 
You may get a good desert fix at the new White Sands National Park in New Mexico. From there you could drive up to the Very Large Array for a dose of cool air and high tech space exploration interest -- and there is quite a bit of public land and dispersed camping in that general area. From there you may wish to head over to the https://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/chiricahua/national_monument.html in Arizona. You and your son may enjoy going to the https://www.desertmuseum.org/ in Tucson. It packs a lot of desert into a one day walk about. From there you may have had enough heat and head up onto the much cooler Mogollon Rim to meteor crater and the Petrified forest National Park. Just north of Flagstaff is the Wupatki National Monument for a good look at some ancient Puebloan ruins (if you PM me, I will share a couple of very nice underused boondocking sites near there.)

This is a start. I have many more places to recommend that you and a teenager may find fun and interesting.

Whatever you do, have fun.

Tony
 
Add to the list:

House Rock Road which connects 89A (Arizona) with 89 (Utah). Buckskin Gulch hike is into a nice slot canyon.

Cottonwood Wash road north of 89 in Utah up to Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Valley of the Gods and Comb Ridge. If Valley of Gods is crowded you could drive up the Mogi Dugway, take a left on Miley Point Road and camp up on the Mesa or drive out the Johns Canyon Road which puts you on a ledge between with the Mesa towering behind you. If you’re in the area, I recommend the Comb Ridge Cafe in Bluff.
 
ski3pin said:
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Click to expand...

OutToLunch said:
Add to the list:

House Rock Road which connects 89A (Arizona) with 89 (Utah). Buckskin Gulch hike is into a nice slot canyon.

Cottonwood Wash road north of 89 in Utah up to Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Valley of the Gods and Comb Ridge. If Valley of Gods is crowded you could drive up the Mogi Dugway, take a left on Miley Point Road and camp up on the Mesa or drive out the Johns Canyon Road which puts you on a ledge between with the Mesa towering behind you. If you’re in the area, I recommend the Comb Ridge Cafe in Bluff.
Click to expand...

Wandering Sagebrush said:
Hovenweep National Monument is another Ancient Pueblo Peoples site that is well worth the visit.
Click to expand...
These are all excellent suggestions!
 
Kodachrome Basin is a nice spot but it probably gets crowded
during the summer time.
Not sure about the temp we visited in October and it was very fall like.

Bryce Canyon is near by so Kodachrome might get more visitors.

It has nice sites and seems quiet. And it's a beautiful spot.
Frank
 
Many good suggestions here, with higher elevation as the common thread.

Consider exploring valley floors early in the day then heading uphill as the temperature rises. Some of the areas mentioned in earlier posts are around 10,000 feet and will be nice and cool for camping, even chilly at night.

Similar places not yet mentioned include Lava Point up above Zion NP, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and the Henry Mountains east of Capitol Reef NP.

It's still too early to tell, but extended forecasts say we may get more of a monsoon this summer than the past couple years. We could sure use the rainfall and it would definitely cool things down on the desert. Just be careful of flash floods across roads and when choosing camp spots. Also, from my experience, you can believe it when the Benchmark atlas marks a road as Impassable When Wet.

Be safe and have a great trip!
 
We just got back from 4 days in Kodachrome SP in Utah. It was busy and few sites empty but it was very dark and quiet at night and generally pleasant camping with my wife and her 90 year old Mother. We hiked only a couple of the shorter flatter trails due to Mother-in-Law's abilities but found it very nice.

People turned off their lights about 10:00pm and many stars were visible. Even a sliver moon lit the place up nicely.

Weather was great. Nights in the lower 40's, days in the mid 80's. Clear until late afternoon when the cumulus clouds showed up.

Paul
 
Wow I'm impressed with the knowledge and info here!
Will save me a lot of time figuring some of this out.
In hindsight we've missed some opportunities by being close to something and just didn't know.

Case in point- in 2018 we stopped at an overlook in the Death Valley area, used the restroom and went on.

A year or so later looking at my saved InReach tracks I realized we were at that Star Wars canyon the high speed jet runs occur in...if I'd known at the time we certainly would have tried to be there when they were flying.
 
Casa Escarlata Robles Too said:
Kodachrome Basin is a nice spot but it probably gets crowded
during the summer time.
Not sure about the temp we visited in October and it was very fall like.

Bryce Canyon is near by so Kodachrome might get more visitors.

It has nice sites and seems quiet. And it's a beautiful spot.
Frank
Click to expand...

PaulT said:
We just got back from 4 days in Kodachrome SP in Utah. It was busy and few sites empty but it was very dark and quiet at night and generally pleasant camping with my wife and her 90 year old Mother. We hiked only a couple of the shorter flatter trails due to Mother-in-Law's abilities but found it very nice.

People turned off their lights about 10:00pm and many stars were visible. Even a sliver moon lit the place up nicely.

Weather was great. Nights in the lower 40's, days in the mid 80's. Clear until late afternoon when the cumulus clouds showed up.

Paul
Click to expand...
Just booked 3 nights camping in Kodachrome...got the ONLY site available. Check in June30
 
SkyP said:
Just booked 3 nights camping in Kodachrome...got the ONLY site available. Check in June30
Click to expand...
Showers at Basin campground are the raindrop showerhead type with a handheld wand also and no timer on shower in a large shower stall. Unexpected luxury for a state park.

Very nice laundromat at park if you need it.
Enjoy your trip.

Paul
 
I can't recommend Cedar Mesa, Bears Ears and Beef Basin enough. More native ruins and hikes than one lifetime can fully explore. Dispersed camping everywhere, very few people and great scenery.
I try to spend two weeks a year there, wish it was 22.
Lot's of not so great roads to make a person feel like he has earned some solitude.
 
Not far from Great Basin NP is Basin and Range National Monument.

2 basins, 3 ranges over 1600 sqmi and we met only 2 people (grading road) on 3 days in early May. Has elevation so nights get down into the 60's at night in August. Awesome scenery and today's taggers have nothing on yesterdays petroglyphers. The locations are marked and easy to reach, but with so few visitors they have not been vandalized. The log books at 2 sites showed about 2 parties a week most of the year.

You can get an overview map (which shows the locations of the petroglyphs) online but you really want to have Gaia or similar offline maps or print out detailed maps. The Benchmark map was also good. The roads are generally good - most suitable for 2WD.
 
Great suggestions which aids some of my trip planning too. During the first week of August I'm planning to go across Nevada, on highway US-50, from Calif to Great Basin NP and eventually Colorado. I'm trying to avoid uncomfortable temps in the evening. Anybody aware of any high-elevation dispersed camping along 50, or should I just plan to drive straight across to GB? I've traveled on I-80 in NV several times but this will be my first time on the US-50 route. I can see the elevation ups and downs on maps but I'm not seeing good places to overnight along that stretch.
 
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