King's Bottom Campground

We had searched for free sites but somehow this one popped up and once we'd unloaded we realized it was a fee based site for $20 a night and decided to stay anyways. We arrived on a Monday before noon mid November. Only one other camper there at the time but several showed up during the night on both nights. Right on river, nice views, clean sites with tent pads and a restroom and close to town and parks. There is some traffic but didn't bother us. Stayed two nights. Petroglyphs and dino tracks on Potash Rd. Nearby as well as several Arch hikes that are free. Stay off Shafer Trail Rd unless you're a dare devil with a 4x4 and love to be terrified. It scared the heck outta us and took us hours to find our way back to town.

Arrived around 11am on a Monday, late Sept/early Oct; left on Friday morning. 6 out of 7 sites were taken at the time. We ended up taking number 5 at first, but moved to 4 when they left. People were showing up around 10am everyday looking for campsites. All of the non-walk-in sites were occupied during our stay. Our site had another party waiting for over an hour while we were packing up. Check out is at 12pm (as of 10/2020).

All campsites have a picnic table and fire ring with a common pit toilet and dumpster. We brought our own pop-up shelter and portable toilet, so can't make any comments about the bathroom. Sites were spaced apart nicely, maybe 15 feet between each site. Location wise, town is a short 8-minute drive away, Arches Visitor's Center, about 15 minutes. Road noise is real starting at 7am and into early evening, but dropped off at late night with only the occasional passerby. Wasn't enough to wake us up. We have AT&T and had no signal during the day, an occasional single bar at night (don't count on service). Maybe Verizon users have better luck.

Campsite 5 was the biggest site, but next to the road. We had fears of vehicles losing control, falling off the road and landing on our tent. A guardrail between the road and the campsites would be nice.

Campsite 4 is directly across the way next to the river with a few trees nearby for shade. Someone dug stairs into the side of the riverbank so one could get down there. One thing about the river-side campsites that could be good or bad depending on your preference; since the campground in in the middle of a canyon, direct sun doesn't get on the campsite until mid-morning. We appreciated the extra few hours of shade. Another thing about the canyon, sound travels pretty far. We heard our neighbors all the way at the end of the campground as they were playing guitar and singing.

Overall, an excellent campsite/campground.

In late October, King's Bottom seemed to be less busy than the dozen BLM campgrounds along Hwy128. Our site #4 was in the middle of the campground and on the Colorado River side. Sites were level, and easy to access. It's an appropriate place for vehicles or trailers less than 24 feet. All are first come/first served.

The Kane Creek Road noise is not as bad as along Hwy191, and it dissipates during the night. The only complaint we had was a few mosquitoes which seemed reasonable given the fact that we were right on the river's edge and there'd been a LOT of rain in October.

As with all the other BLM campgrounds we stayed at during our trip to southern Utah, a fire ring and picnic table are provided, along with designated a tent camping pad. Pit toilet was clean. No generators are allowed in this site. The BLM provides 24 campgrounds around Moab, so check out the specifications, rules and lengths for each at this link: http://www.discovermoab.com/campgrounds_blm.htm