Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites
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 17:03 UTC
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Along with easy access to biking and off-highway vehicle trails, Sand Flats' campgrounds offer spectacular vistas of sandstone domes, canyons, and mesas in addition to the ever-changing La Sal Mountains as a dramatic back-drop. Visitors are awed by beautiful sunsets, the magic of howling coyotes and a night sky of seemingly unlimited stars. Keep reading
Recreation
The Sand Flats Recreation Area is home to the Slickrock Bike Trail, a world renowned mountain biking destination. The area is also a premier destination for 4x4 and backcountry motorcycle enthusiasts. There is nearly 40 miles of off-highway vehicle trails to explore within the recreation area.
Facilities
The group campsites are located in the Datura and Echo campgrounds. All group sites accommodate up to 16 people. Both Datura A, B, and D and E-1 group sites have space for six passenger cars, or two to three RVs, or two to three trucks with camp trailers. The Datura C and E-10 group sites' parking areas are smaller and can only accomodate 4 passenger cars, or 1 RV and one truck with camp trailer. Facilities include shade structures, picnic tables and fire rings. There are nearby vault toilet facilities. Campers will need to bring drinking water. If you want to have a campfire, bring or purchase firewood in town. Wood collecting is prohibited.
Natural Features
The campground is set among slickrock domes and fins. The sites offer sweeping views of sandstone domes, canyons and mesas against the backdrop of the 13,000 ft. La Sal Mountains. Pinyon and juniper trees offer limited shade.
Nearby Attractions
The sites are located only five miles from downtown Moab, providing convenient access to many bike and off-highway vehicle trails, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse Point State Park, the Colorado River and the La Sal Mountains.
Charges & Cancellations
If you do not arrive at the group campsite facility by check out time on the day after your scheduled arrival date, which is 11 am, you are considered a no show and your site will be made available to others.
What the agency tells you
Campers will need to bring drinking water.
Gusty winds are possible so always secure your tent and camping gear.
Ravens, chipmunks and other wildlife frequent the sites; never leave food out.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
If you are planning on camping mid-May to mid-September, day time temperatures can range from the mid-90s to 105 degrees Fahrenheit or more. Night time temperatures are pleasant.
Campsites have shade structures but limited shade from trees.
Annual, Senior and Access passes do not apply to group site fees.
There are no showers, electricity, dump stations or drinking water at these sites, but they are available in the town of Moab.
Generator hours are from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Quiet hours are from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 6 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 5 of 6 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Campers will need to bring drinking water.”
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Biking
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Off Highway Vehicle Trails
- Stargazing
- Night sky · 384th darkest of 458 in UT
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 17:03 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 6 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 17:03 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 · 12
What you actually pay
“If you do not arrive at the group campsite facility by check out time on the day after your scheduled arrival date, which is 11 am, you are considered a no show and your site will be made available to others.” · 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 17:03 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 6 mapped sitesAll 6 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. 6 of the 6 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Datura Campground | Group Site Datura A | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 635 ft | 1.1 mi | $80 |
| Datura Campground | Group Site Datura B | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 599 ft | 1.1 mi | $80 |
| Datura Campground | Group Site Datura C | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 99 ft | 1.1 miNorth Fork Mill Creek | $80 |
| Datura Campground | Group Site Datura D | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 99 ft | 1.1 miNorth Fork Mill Creek | $80 |
| Echo Campground | Group Site E-1 | group standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 635 ft | 4,304 ftNorth Fork Mill Creek | $80 |
| Echo Campground | Group Site E-10 | group standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 635 ft | 3,919 ftNorth Fork Mill Creek | $80 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Directions from Your Location: The Entrance Station for the Sand Flats Recreation Area is located around 3000 Sand Flats Rd. We say "around" because there is no actual mailing address for the Entrance Station. Don't worry though, we have detailed directions. From the South: If heading north on Highway 191: Make a right onto 400 East (this is at a stop light with gas station just past the intersection.) Stay on 400 E for 1/2 mile, then turn right onto Mill Creek Drive. At the 3 way stop go straight onto the Sand Flats Road. Stay on Sand Flats Road for 2 miles to the Sand Flats Entrance Station. To reach the reservable group campsite Datura A, travel 1 mile past the Entrance station to the Datura campground on your right. Turn in and then make a right and it will be on your right in about 100 feet. To reach Datura B travel a little further past the Datura campground turn off to the next driveway. For Datura groupsites C and D, travel 1.5 miles east along the Sand Flats Road from the Sand Flats Entrance Station to the Fins and Things 4x4 Trail Staging Area. Follow the road on the back side of the staging area. Follow signs to Datura C and D Group Campsites.
To reach the reservable group campsites E-1 and E-10 in the Echo Campground, travel two miles east along the Sand Flats Road from the Sand Flats Entrance Station to Echo Campground. E-1 is the first campsite and located on the right side of the Echo Campground road. To reach Group Campsite E-10 drive passed E-1 to the second loop and E-10 group campsite is located on the left side. From the North: If traveling in from I-70 west or east: Take exit #182 (Hwy 191) and head south for approximately 30 miles into downtown Moab. Highway 191 S will turn into Main Street as you enter Moab. Take a left onto 100 North street and follow that until it T's with 400 East. Take a right onto 400 East, and then a left in about a 1/2 mile onto Mill Creek Drive. At the 3 way stop go straight onto Sand Flats Road. To reach the reservable group campsite Datura A, travel 1 mile past the Entrance station to the Datura campground on your right. Turn in and then make a right and it will be on your right in about 100 feet. To reach Datura B travel a little further past the Datura campground turn off to the next driveway. For Datura groupsites C and D, travel 1.5 miles east along the Sand Flats Road from the Sand Flats Entrance Station to the Fins and Things 4x4 Trail Staging Area. Follow the road on the back side of the staging area. Follow signs to Datura C and D Group Campsites.
To reach the reservable group campsites E-1 and E-10 in the Echo Campground, travel two miles east along the Sand Flats Road from the Sand Flats Entrance Station to Echo Campground. E-1 is the first campsite and located on the right side of the Echo Campground road. To reach Group Campsite E-10 drive passed E-1 to the second loop and E-10 group campsite is located on the left side.
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 42°F, day 74°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites 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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah
Dear Mike Kennedy, I’m a constituent in Utah’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 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. Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites. 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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites (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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah
Dear John R. Curtis, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 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. Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites. 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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites (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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah
Dear Mike Lee, I’m a constituent in Utah. I tried to camp at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites, Utah, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 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. Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites. 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 Sand Flats Recreation Area Group Campsites (Utah) via campanac.com