Duck Creek Campground

It's a beautiful area. Lots of prong horn and deer roaming the meadow. We arrived on a Sunday, not much activity. But as the week started, more big rigs with side by sides and atvs started rolling in by mid week. Most of the good spots were taken. Lots of group campers.
Not much internet. We get 1 bar here but aways from us there is access. The roads were not washed out. As we've heard. About an hour from Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon.

When we passed through here and spent the day, in the middle of the pandemic, we knew we would return to camp. So after spending 3 days in super-heated Zion Canyon, we headed to the high country to take a break from the heat.

We fell in love with the area in 2020, and with nearby Navajo Lake, Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon calling us back, Duck Creek Campground was a no-brainer. When a site opened up, we grabbed it!

Reservations are tough, so book early! We camped in site A30, and though it was situated in a lovely grove of aspens and pines, it wasn’t a good site in the rain. Water ran right through the site and though irritating, wasn’t a deal breaker.

Camp hosts were awesome, the dump station hours were clearly posted, and we had a great—though wet—trip overall! Cell service is tough. Try walking around the camp and you may get a bar or two.

Pro tip: All along the highway leading in and out of Duck Creek, there is wonderful dispersed camping! We aim to try that out next visit.

If you love to camp in the woods, Duck Creek is the perfect spot. It's easy to get to (once you get through the mountain pass on either side) off of Utah 14 in the beautiful stretch of land called Duck Creek. Pines and aspen trees are all around, though some sites are more shady than others. If you like to be in the trees or if you like to have full sun for solar, this place has a mix. And it's huge! Nearly 100 sites to choose from in about 4 or 5 loops. We stayed in the A loop, which the major differences are it has flush toilets and all the driveways are paved.

Duck Creek has some nice hiking trails, but a lot of people seem to come here with their ATVs. The campground has an ATV parking lot and trail. Navajo Lake is close by for hiking and mountain biking, and Cedar Breaks and Brian Head are just about twenty and thirty minutes away, respectively.

We made reservations online so that cost an extra $10 in addition to the $17 nightly rate, but we enjoy the peace of mind that we're getting a site and the site that we want. #27 was relatively private and had a lot of trees. A deer visited one afternoon, and a robin was making a nest in the trees above us. It was a very peaceful stay.

The only negative was when we arrived. We came up a steep mountain so didn't have a full water tank, but the dump station was closed when we arrived. The camp host was in his trailer, so we asked where we could fill up water. I don't know if he doesn't have the keys to the gates on the station or what, but he said if our hose was long enough we could fill our tank from the water station there. He seemed put out and not very accommodating to someone requesting fresh water. It's not like we wanted fresh towels! After some creative backing up, parking, and combining and stretching hoses, we filled up our tank. Later, we noticed the gates to the station were open. Okaaaaaay. And when we left two days later, we were grateful the dump station was open.

There seemed to be a bit more trash around than we usually see in campgrounds, but we arrived on a Monday so maybe the weekend crowd was a little sloppy. We left our site cleaner than we found it for sure.

Overall, it was a nice place to spend a few nights as we visited the surrounding area.

It was like they were watching us, the entire time. Tall, golden-leafed Aspens were everywhere, their eyes gazing relentlessly at our every, rainsoaked move.

And could we blame them? Matt loved Jenny here at one time. Some guy named Rick was here. Their trunks were scarred with the trivial minutiae of the lives of a million peons no one cares about, all who felt it necessary to leave their mark on this otherwise gorgeous Engleman spruce forest.

As I mentioned, it rained during our stay. Well into October, only A loop was still accepting campers. Four camp host spots boasted full hookups, al on lockdown, and the water in the entire campground was turned off. We were lucky, I suppose, that even A loop was open (at the discounted rate noted here, and mostly empty save for a few tenters), as the sign read the campground closed in mid-September.

So with no wood to make a fire, rain puddling thick around the concrete pads, and zero cell service of any kind, we made a bold move. Family time.

While it was a success, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone on a regular basis.

The drive in and out, though steep mountain pass as it was, proved another one of Utah's best. That said, the road is fairly busy and can be heard from many sites...though traffic died down after the sun betrays America and heads to foreign lands.

I'd note though that I would have given this place a 3 if it wasn't for how empty it was. The spots were only about 5 feet apart, so in the busier summer months your neighbors will (assuming they're looky-lous) get a full frontal when you do your evening naked dance in the bathroom window.

Tata!