Lake Hill
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 156 on recreation.gov
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Lake Hill Campground is situated next to pretty Lake Hill Reservoir just five miles from Ephraim, Utah at an elevation of 8,400 feet. Visitors enjoy fishing, canoeing and exploring local trails. Keep reading
Recreation
Canoeing and rainbow trout fishing are popular activities on the small but scenic man-made reservoir.
Facilities
The campground contains two groups sites: GP1 is located on a hillside above the lake, but the lake is not visible; GP3 is next to the lake and offers scenic views. However, expect high volumes of traffic near GP3 Additional single-family sites are available as well, most of which are below the lake. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and parking spurs are dirt.
Natural Features
A mixed forest of spruce, fir and aspen covers the area, offering partial shade in most sites, with some more exposed than others. Summer wildflowers and wildlife are abundant.
Nearby Attractions
Ephraim Canyon is a haven for ATV enthusiasts. Several trails crisscross the region, making up part of the 350 plus miles of the exciting Arapeen OHV Trail System. Jimmies Fork Trail and the Great Basin Experimental Trail begin nearby, offering hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding opportunities. The self-guided Great Basin Experimental Range Auto Tour runs along Ephraim Canyon, offering a glimpse into the history and workings of one of North America's oldest range research sites.
What the agency tells you
There are no electricity or sewer hookups
This is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility; no garbage service is provided
No livestock allowed
Everything else this campground posts · 5
ATVs allowed on designated routes only
Day users are charged $3/vehicle
Group sites, when not reserved, are available for $15 (day or overnight use)
Click here for more information on the Manti-La Sal National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15 · 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 6 of 8 sites
- Campfires
- 6 of 8 sites
- Shade
- 4 of 6 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…well, most of which are below the lake. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and parking…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…are below the lake. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Roads and parking spurs are dirt.…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Night sky · 305th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 14 days ago, 16 km away
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:01 UTC
recreation.gov lists 6 of the 15 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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 16:01 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 6 mapped sitesAll 15 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 11 of the 15 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. 15 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| FAM | 002 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 157 ft | 273 ft | 74 ft | $10 |
| FAM | 004 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 106 ft | 166 ft | 177 ft | $10 |
| FAM | 009 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 142 ft | 164 ft | 123 ft | $10 |
| FAM | 011 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 142 ft | 125 ft | 77 ft | $10 |
| LAKE | GP1 | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 157 ft | 390 ft | 190 ft | $40 |
| LAKE | GP3 | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 106 ft | 79 ft | 146 ft | $40 |
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 003x | type not stated | $10–$20 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 005 | type not stated | 156 ft | 106 ft | $10–$20 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 006 | type not stated | 215 ft | 64 ft | $10–$20 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 007 | type not stated | 234 ft | 34 ft | $10–$20 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 008 | type not stated | 209 ft | 110 ft | $10–$20 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 010 | type not stated | 131 ft | 102 ft | $10–$20 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 3 | type not stated | 30 ft | $10–$20 | |||
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 1 | type not stated | $10–$20 | ||||
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 2 | type not stated | $10–$20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Seely Creek Guard StationManti-La Sal National Forest · 3.8 mi
Manti CommunityManti-La Sal National Forest · 5.6 miUpper Six Mile Ponds CampgroundManti-La Sal National Forest · 9.8 mi
Orange OlsenManti-La Sal National Forest · 11 mi
Joes Valley ReservoirManti-La Sal National Forest · 11 mi
Joes Valley Pavilion Group Site AManti-La Sal National Forest · 11 miLocated approximately 5 miles east of Ephraim, Utah on Forest Highway 8 in Ephraim Canyon.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ephraim, UT
Typical weather
Typical May night 27°F, day 55°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 27°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 moreOutside the published season
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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Lake Hill is in Utah’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Burgess Owens (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →