Courthouse Rock Campground
1Heads up1 fire 46 mi away
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 15:35 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Attention: Campsites 1 - 4 and 7 - 10 are available first come, first serve only. Payments can be made by cash, check, or scan and pay throught the Recreation.gov mobile app. Equestrian Campsites 5 and 6 are available by reservation only. Reservations can be made the day of (based on availability), up to 6 months in advance from anywhere service is available. This is the only option, cash and check payments are NOT available for these campsites. Cell service is available at the campground. The Courthouse Rock Campground is located near Courthouse Rock approximately 16 miles north of Moab, Utah. Keep reading
The area served as a reliable campsite for Old Spanish Trail traders. It was a halfway point between two water sources, the Colorado River and Floy Wash. Other groups, including Native Americans and the Elk Mountain Mission of 1885, also traveled through and camped here. The campground is surrounded by an open landscape of blackbrush and sagebrush hills with large rock formations in the distance. It is comprised of 10 campsites that can accommodate large RVs and trailers. There is no vegetation or other shade. Be prepared October to March for lows below freezing and from June to August for highs from 95 to above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Campsites 5 and 6 are reservable for equestrian users. Horse corrals, trailer parking and riding options are available. The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Track site is a short walk from the campground with interpretive panels that describe the unique dinosaur tracks that can be seen. The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Bone Trail is also within close proximity to the campground. The trail showcases dinosaur bone still encased in rock. Numerous Off Highway Vehicle and mountain bike trails are also within close proximity.
Recreation
The town of Moab is a hub for recreation. Tour operators offer guided hikes, rentals and evening entertainment. The area abounds with trails, dirt roads and canyons waiting to be explored. There are numerous OHV and mountain bike trails in the immediate area as well as options for equestrian users and hikers.
Facilities
Each campsite has a gravel parking area for two vehicles (vehicle pulling a trailer = two vehicles), picnic table, fire ring, and close proximity to a vault toilet and trash receptacles. Horse corrals are available for equestrian users. There is no drinking water or electricity hook ups.
Natural Features
Paleontologists have found a treasure trove of dinosaur remains in the rock formations of the Moab area. The record of dinosaurs and other ancient animals in the Moab area is one of the best in the country. The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite is a short walk from the campground and the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Bone Trail is one mile from the campground. Courthouse Rock and the Monitor and Merrimac rock formations set the backdrop for the campground.
Nearby Attractions
Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments are nearby. Also in the area are the Manti-La Sal National Forest and the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, which provide interesting exploration opportunities and cooler temperatures during the summer months.
Charges & Cancellations
You may contact the BLM Moab Field Office for assistance with changes and cancellations at blm_ut_mb_mail@blm.gov or 435-259-2100. Changes You can make changes to a reservation through your online Recreation.gov user account any time prior to the arrival/first date of the reservation. There is a $10 change fee If you wish to change to dates entirely outside of the original reservation dates. There is no change fee if you wish to extend or shorten the original reservation dates as long as the changes include dates from the original reservation. There is no change fee if you wish to change to another site that is the same price, for the same dates, and in the same campground. You cannot make changes to your reservation after the arrival/first day through your Recreation.gov account. However, the BLM Moab Field Office may be able to assist you, 435-259-2100. For reservations with dates at the end of the available booking window (a.k.a. sliding window), you will not be able to make changes or cancellations until the site has been available to the general public for 18 days. Cancellations Please cancel your reservation if you do not plan to use it. This opens highly sought-after campsites for others to reserve. You can cancel your reservation online through your Recreation.gov user account or through the call center (the call center incurs an additional fee). You may also contact the BLM Moab Field Office for assistance. A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation. Late Cancellations A late cancellation occurs starting from midnight 1 calendar day before your scheduled check-in. Late cancellations will incur a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. Cancellations for a one night reservation will forfeit the entire amount but will not be charged a service fee. Early Departures If you spend at least one night and then leave prior to the scheduled departure check-out date, please contact the BLM Moab Field Office (435-259-2100) to open the remaining nights for others to use. You will not be able to cancel these nights through your Recreation.gov account. You will be eligible for a partial refund of the nights AFTER you depart that you did not use. If you depart after the facility check-out time (Noon), you will not be eligible for a refund for that night. No-Shows A No Show occurs if you do not arrive at your campsite or cancel your reservation by check-out time (Noon) on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time (Noon) on the day following the arrival date. No-shows are assessed a $20.00 Recreation.gov service fee and forfeit the first night’s use fee. Refunds You can submit a refund request through your Recreation.gov account within 7 days of the departure/end date of your reservation. Applicable fees, such as the Recreation.gov reservation fees, service/cancellation fees, lottery application fees, and change fees, are non-refundable. Refunds cannot be issued to any card other than the one used to pay. In the event of an emergency closure, all fees will be refunded. Attempts will be made to notify you using the contact information within your Recreation.gov customer profile. Interagency Pass Discounts The following are the only Interagency Passes that provide a discount on camping reservations: Senior Annual Pass Senior Lifetime Pass Access Pass Golden Age Pass Golden Access Pass Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount. The holder of the pass must occupy the site for which the discount is applied. The pass can only be used for one site during a time period.
What the agency tells you
If your plans change and you will not use your reservation - PLEASE CANCEL so others may use the site. Contact the Moab Field Office for assistance (435) 259-2100 or blm_ut_mb_srp@blm.gov.
Maximum group size: 10 people and 2 vehicles
Consider always leaving something at your campsite to show it is occupied.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Gusty winds are possible; ALWAYS secure your tents, camping gear, and trash.
Ravens, chipmunks and other wildlife frequent the sites; NEVER leave food or trash unattended.
Rain storms can cause flash flooding and gusty winds; stay aware of current weather.
Generator hours are from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Quiet hours are from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am
Amplified music is not allowed.
Wedding ceremonies and receptions require a Letter of Agreement from the Moab Field Office. Contact blm_ut_mb_srp@blm.gov for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10 · 2 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…fire ring, and close proximity to a vault toilet and trash receptacles. Horse corrals are available…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…are available for equestrian users. There is no drinking water or electricity hook ups. Natural Features…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Information Site
- Mountain biking
- Observation Site
- Off Highway Vehicle Trails
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Night sky · 105th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · BLM says
- Yes
Full this Saturdayread 15:35 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 4 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 2 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:35 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 16
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.
“Changes You can make changes to a reservation through your online Recreation.gov user account any time prior to the arrival/first date of the reservation. - There is a $10 change fee If you wish to change to dates entirely outside of the original reservation dates. - There is no change fee if you wish to extend or s…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:35 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
10 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 10 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 10 of the 10 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 10 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Courthouse Rock | 1 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 40 ft | 1,714 ft | 118 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 10 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 36 ft | 1,623 ft | 238 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 2 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 40 ft | 1,731 ft | 146 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 3 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 40 ft | 1,749 ft | 185 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 4 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 40 ft | 1,768 ft | 221 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 5 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 46 ft | 1,905 ft | 377 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 6 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 46 ft | 1,890 ft | 389 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 7 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 34 ft | 1,704 ft | 287 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 8 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 16 ft | 1,670 ft | 270 ft | $20 |
| Courthouse Rock | 9 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 16 ft | 1,657 ft | 258 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Lone Mesa Group SitesMoab Field Office · 7.0 mi
North Klondike CampgroundMoab Field Office · 7.3 mi
Devils Garden CampgroundArches National Park · 8.7 mi
Horsethief Group SitesMoab Field Office · 10 mi
Horsethief CampgroundMoab Field Office · 10 mi
Gold Bar Group SitesMoab Field Office · 11 miFrom Moab:
Take Highway 191 North out of Moab for approximately 16 miles. Turn left onto the graveled Mill Canyon Road for approximately one mile. Turn left at first “Y” in the road and then the next right into the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Moab, UT
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 68°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December 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
Courthouse Rock 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 Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah
Dear Mike Kennedy, I’m a constituent in Utah’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Courthouse Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Courthouse Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Courthouse Rock Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the Bureau of Land Management 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 Courthouse Rock Campground (Moab Field Office, 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 Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah
Dear John R. Curtis, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Courthouse Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Courthouse Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Courthouse Rock Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the Bureau of Land Management 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 Courthouse Rock Campground (Moab Field Office, 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 Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah
Dear Mike Lee, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Courthouse Rock Campground, Moab Field Office, Utah, and couldn’t. All 10 sites at Courthouse Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 4 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Courthouse Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Courthouse Rock Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the Bureau of Land Management 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 Courthouse Rock Campground (Moab Field Office, Utah) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…payments are NOT available for these campsites. Cell service is available at the campground. The Courthouse Rock Campground is located…”