Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:46 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 2625 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Needles is a remote district located within the southern portion of Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. The Needles District is 1.25 hours driving time from Monticello, Utah, and 1.5 hours from Moab, Utah, and sits at an elevation of approximately 4,900 feet (1494 m). The Needles Campground offers limited services and is best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs. If you are looking for group campsites, visit the Needles District Group Campground page. You may book individual campsites in Loop B up to six months in advance mid-March through mid-November. Loop A is available first come, first served only. Please, also read “Facilities” below and the “Need to Know” tab for important information. Keep reading
Recreation
The Needles District's extensive trail system provides many opportunities for long day hikes and overnight backpacking trips. Foot trails and four-wheel-drive roads lead to such features as Confluence Overlook, Druid Arch, the Joint Trail and Chesler Park.
Facilities
The Needles is a remote district with limited services and no cell coverage. The Needles Campground and group sites are best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs. A seasonal campground host (spring and fall) is located in Loop A of the campground. Individual Campsites: Drinking water and flush toilets are available in the campground. Picnic tables and fire rings are provided at each site. There are no RV hook-ups. The campground does not have electricity, showers or a dump station. Maximum combined vehicle and trailer length is 28 feet (8.5 m) . If you are looking for group campsites , visit the Needles District Group Campground page.
Natural Features
The campground contains stands of Utah juniper and pinyon pine. Flowering prickly pear cacti, yucca and other desert wildflowers dot the landscape in the spring, adding to the vivid colors of the surrounding red rock desert. The Needles District forms the southeast corner of Canyonlands National Park and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate the area. The park is within an arid, high desert environment with hot summers and cold winters.
Nearby Attractions
Southeastern Utah offers breathtaking scenery, hiking, road and mountain biking opportunities, rafting and scenic driving routes. Arches and Mesa Verde National Parks, the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park, Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments and Dead Horse Point and Edge of the Cedars State Parks are all within three hours drive of the Needles Campground. Moab, Utah, (1.5 hours away) offers numerous restaurants, shops and museums. Charges & Cancellations
What the agency tells you
There is no electricity in the Needles Campground.
The Needles Campground and group sites are best suited to tents and small, self-contained campers and RVs: - Maximum combined length limit is 28 ft (8.5 m) in most sites. - There are no hookups. - There is no dump station.
There is no cell coverage in the Needles District.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Loop A of the Needles Campground is available first come, first served only. Our busy seasons are spring and fall. We recommend getting here early if you want an opportunity to secure a Loop A site during these times of year.
Universally Accessible Campsites: There are two accessible sites in Loop A. You may contact the Needles Visitor Center to inquire about accessible site reservations at (435) 259-4711. Reservations for these sites will be taken on a first come, first served basis no more than six months ahead of visit.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 26 · 4 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 80 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…Individual Campsites: Drinking water and flush toilets are available in the campground. Picnic tables and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…of the campground. Individual Campsites: Drinking water and flush toilets are available in the campground.…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Cell signal
- Little or none
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Evening Programs
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Ranger programs
- Stargazing
- Wilderness access
- Night sky · 30th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- None
- Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 39 km away
- Peak color
Full this Saturdayread 16:46 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 10 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:46 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:46 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
26 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 25 mapped sitesAll 26 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 25 of the 26 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Loop A | 001 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 234 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 002 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 195 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 003 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 160 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 004 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 160 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 005 ADA | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | yes | 253 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 |
| Loop A | 006 ADA | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | yes | 212 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 |
| Loop A | 007 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 212 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 008 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 263 ft | 5.1 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 011 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 88 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 012 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 88 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 013 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 97 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 014 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 97 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 015 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 77 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop A | 016 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 77 ft | 5.0 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 017 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 282 ft | 4.8 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 018 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 282 ft | 4.8 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 54 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 020 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 54 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 021 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 160 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 022 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 163 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 37 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 37 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 025 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 50 ft | 4.8 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 026 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 50 ft | 4.9 mi | $20 | |
| Loop B | 027 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 186 ft | 4.8 mi | $20 | |
| Scan and Pay - Card Late Payment | Scan and Pay - Card Late Payment | type not stated |
25 of 26 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Canyonlands National Park Needles District GROUP CampsitesCanyonlands National Park · 1.7 mi
The Needles CampgroundCanyonlands National Park · 2.7 miThe Needles District Group CampsitesCanyonlands National Park · 2.8 mi
Hamburger Rock CampgroundBears Ears National Monument · 5.2 mi
Indian Creek Falls Group SiteBears Ears National Monument · 5.3 mi
Creek Pasture Group SiteBears Ears National Monument · 6.9 miOn US Highway 191, drive 40 miles (60 km) south of Moab or 14 miles (22 km) north of Monticello, then take Utah Highway 211 roughly 35 miles (56 km) west. Highway 211 ends in the Needles, and is the only paved road leading in and out of the district.
Needles District Campground
From the entrance station follow the main park road until you see signs for the campground. Turn left into the campground and follow the signs into Loop B.
For reservations and directions to group campsites (groups of 11 or more), please visit the Canyonlands National Park Needles District Group Campsites page.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for La Sal, UT
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 17°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground is in Utah’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Mike Kennedy (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyMike KennedyU.S. Representative · Utah’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn R. CurtisU.S. Senator · Utah
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMike LeeU.S. Senator · Utah
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Dear Mike Kennedy, I’m a constituent in Utah’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 26 campsites the agency files at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 10 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground (Canyonlands National Park, Utah) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Dear John R. Curtis, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 26 campsites the agency files at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 10 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground (Canyonlands National Park, Utah) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Dear Mike Lee, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 26 campsites the agency files at Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 10 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Canyonlands National Park Needles District Campground (Canyonlands National Park, Utah) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…is a remote district with limited services and no cell coverage. The Needles Campground and group sites are best suited to…”