Dispersed Camping on BLM Land

[Broncanous]

Over Labor Day I wanted to go down to southern Utah again but this time I just wanted to explore and camp in a new spot each night. This is the kind of camping I really prefer. Dispersed camping on BLM land gets you into the most scenic sites and away from the crowds. On the first night we just picked a random road up Spanish Fork canyon near the town of Helper.

The second night found us going off road a bit towards the San Rafael Swell. We spied a couple canyons from the highway cutting through the Swell in the distance and took a chance on a 4x4 trail heading off in that direction. This turned out to be a fantastic decision. We crossed about 6 miles of open desert with no shade anywhere, but the road ended at the mouth of a canyon where the wash had widened the opening and blanketed the area with soft beach sand under cottonwoods. There were a couple fire pits already built. We explored the mouth of the canyon a little bit and saw where old ranch hands had carved their names & dates in the cliff faces dating back to the early 1900s.

The next day we continued on to Hanksville and then up to Capitol Reef. On our final night we found a spot along the banks of the Fremont river next to this neat old tree. I was a little worried about branches coming down but it looked quite healthy. This spot was on a road leading to Cathedral Valley, so I marked it on my GPS along with the spot near San Rafael Swell. I noticed on our way home that taking my Eagle off road had pulled all the screws out of the floor on one side, and broke a rivet on one hinge, so I have some repairs to do now. I don't know if I'll take the Eagle back to that second spot, but I'll definitely be back there with a tent.

[Pony Power]

My kind of camping. Looks like a perfect trip.