Zion national park in July... Campgrounds ?? - Page 2

**wbmiller3** · 03-29-2015, 09:08 PM

If you are looking for hookups, we stayed in a KOA in Hurricane and drove into Zion. Full disclosure: We were on a side trip from Vegas and didn't have the TM, and the KOA Kamping Kabin was cheaper than most motels in the area. As it turned out, it was the nicest hotel room we stayed in the whole trip! As far as camping there goes, it looked like a pretty nice KOA.

As others have said, Zion was super crowded and not with normal outdoor types (i.e. a lot of rude city slickers). But it is spectacular.

tentcamper · 03-30-2015, 08:44 AM

Zion that time of the year, you need to get the reservation in soon it books up fast, including the private CG's in the area.

**Lesherp** · 03-30-2015, 11:56 AM

Reservations in July for any park would be advisable but South Campground in Zion is first come first serve if you can’t get one. We stayed there the first time we went as Watchman Campground was booked. The earlier you can get there the better and we found Sunday and Monday had the most vacancies.

Our fall trip back east last year was wonderful in that we often had everything almost to ourselves until we started heading south out of Canada. Going peak season is not optimal for getting campsites and avoiding people but our experience is the visits are still memorable. Acadia was packed last fall when we were there but it was still one of our favorite stops on that trip.

This year we are going to the Canadian Rockies and because of the elevation we will be going during peak season. They open for reservations on 1 April and I have been working on our itinerary so I can get on first thing in the morning.

We are still trying to figure out how to do Yosemite and a few California parks in the off season. We are thinking very early next spring and maybe sliding over to Capital Reef afterwards.

dryadi · 03-30-2015, 08:33 PM

Thank you for your suggestions!
I was able to get one night at Watchman. I am going to keep trying for a second night or may check out the one at the Dixie National forest... Unfortunately we only have two nights before we move on to Yosemite!

**Lesherp** · 03-30-2015, 11:31 PM

If you got a night at Watchman all you have to do is walk over to South Campground in the morning and wait for someone to leave. You could even ask around the night before to see if anyone has plans to go.

Riwright · 03-31-2015, 01:54 AM

Watchman has power, summers are hot so having AC is nice.

We did a day trip over to Bryce. It worked out pretty well but it is a long day.