Gooseberry Mesa Dispersed Camping

Not sure why everyone else had a tough time getting through this road. Yea it was rough but just take it slow you’ll be fine. Long Trailer would make it harder sure but it probably won’t be the worst road you’ve been down.
There’s tons of campsites to set up at. We chose one that was about 100 yards east of the toilets and it was quiet all night. I think there was just one other camper that we passed like a mile from us. Great views. Bugs were annoying but they were just flies so no biting. If you stay moving they don’t bother you as much. We went on walks and threw the frisbee around till it got dark.
We’ll be back for sure. So many 10/10 campsites I need to go again.

Three miles of intense washboard on the way in made us seriously consider turning around driving our Toyota Tacoma truck (left the RV elsewhere). I wouldn't take in a big rig; mostly day hikers and mountain bikers up for the trails and some views. Hurricane Flats (just to the north on Sheep Bridge Road turn off of Hwy 59) is a much easier option with wonderful dispersed sites with fire rings on BLM lands.

We knew we should’ve turned around the day we showed up, but we had no idea how long and rough the dirt road getting in would be, and we were already too far in and it was starting to get dark.

The views are pretty, nothing absolutely spectacular, but you are ALONE. It is desert isolation. We saw some bike riders, but that’s it . Kind of eerie. We were so excited to leave, but DREADING the literal one hour it takes to get out of here on this horrid dirt road without ruining our truck and trailer. The road doesn’t look rough, but it’s just small rivets the entire way. Good luck.

This was a fairly accessible free BLS camping spot in Apple Valley. Beautiful Mountain View’s, but well used. We were surprised about the amount of traffic from trucks and off road vehicles. Some of the camping spots were off the main dirt road enough that one could get away from the noise, but many were right on the road and got the aftermath of dusk kicked up when one came by. Overall it’s a nice spot. Apple Maps was sending down some wrong turns that said private property. But if you keep following the road and don’t turn on the roads that say private you will be fine.

When you turn off the highway onto the dirt road that leads to Gooseberry Mesa BLM right away you will be hit with some crazy dirt roads and some wash board that will give you a back massage to remember. But the views and this BLM land right next to Zion should not be missed. We saw basically everything from tent campers, car campers, Class A's that were 30 ft and under in here. We were able to take our pop up a little further in because of size and it was nice. This is a great place to stay if you plan on going to Zion or you just want a great and beautiful place to camp.

We followed the directions of a previous reviewer here saying that it was okay for big rigs. But the road we turned off on had lots of signs posted at all the campsites saying ‘private property no trespassing’. There was no where to turn around and the road kept going up and twisting. There were deep ruts, one spot in particular that was on a hill was quite deep rut. I finally found a small side road to turn around, which was not easy, but we did it. I talked to several people on the trail. (Everyone was driving jeeps and atv’s which should have been my first clue this was a bad idea, haha) I was told the private property signs were new. The views were gorgeous and I had cell signal. If I was tent or van camping I would absolutely love this spot. But with my 36 ft 5th wheel the experience was rather terrifying. ;)