Ken's Lake Campground

Ken's Lake is a good choice - About 20 minutes south of Moab - All sites are $20 or $10 with an Interagency discount - Loop A is reservation only (Recreation.gov or Scan and Pay - a toll-free number is also available) but Loop B is first come first serve (FF) and can be paid by cash or check - envelope dropped into the "Iron Ranger" - or Scan and Pay if you happen to have cell service. Nearly all of Loop A has cell service, but is spotty (1 bar or no service) in much of Loop B. When picking a site in Loop B look for white placards for "lingering" reservations that were made before June this year. I would suggest not paying for days that run into the next week (posted from Monday to Sunday). This nonsense will end in Nov. 2022 and Loop B will be simply FF totally. Of interest is a nice easy hike to Faux Falls - with parking at the entrance to Loop B - with its pool at the lower falls; large enough for several souls to get into and is an easy 1-1/2 mile round trip to lower falls... upper falls is a bit harder for the little ones; of course there is the Lake that offers swimming / boating (electric only)/ kayaking / paddle boarding / fishing (with a license)... brown and rainbow trout, largemouth bass and sunfish. The water level is higher than in recent years. So, Loop A is pretty much out in the open without shade... except small Junipers offering a little shade in sites 35 to 38, but 32 and 34 are okay... 35 is primo for tents and 37 and 38 are the longest for RVs around 30 - 35 feet in length. There are a couple of sites that can accommodate RVs up to 60 feet. (8 and 18, comes to mind). Loop B (39 - 47 or possibly 48 (host) are first come first service are best in my book, but be careful to look at the white placards since these sites were also reserved up to June of this year. 39 is really nice for a tent and is facing the creek and rock face with a okay size Juniper... 45 is primo for both tent and RV... 47 is huge allowing a larger RV to be places sideways if you choose. But 42, 44 are also good... 40, 41 and 46 offer views down to the lower Loop are also not bad at all. You will be right at the southern entry to La Sal loop road, which is wonderful in my opinion. The loop comes out on UT1128 after passing through Castle Valley, north of the town of Moab.

Very satisfying dry camping if you pick your sight right. The ‘Loop B’ sites along the creek (e.g. our Site 44) are right along a super-cute creek (with lots of water June 2022) with a cascading waterfall a short walk upstream. The sound of the water babbling was soothing. We went down and dipped our toes in the cool water to beat the midday heat. Evenings cooled off nicely, and star-watching at night was excellent. Ken’s Lake is about 20 minutes to Arches National Park, and we were able to easily arrive right within our timed arrival hour.

The downsides: We had some strong winds and it was a bit buggy during our stay in early-June 2022. ATV’ers like this campground (their trails are nearby), so there was some noise when they were moving around. ‘Loop A’ sites are flat, sun-baked, and boring, though with better room for RVs. The Loop B sites were smaller, and often sloped, so not as good for RVs but great for tents – particularly along the creek. This is dry camping, so you need to bring in your water! (Note that there is a nice filling station at Arches National Park by the Visitor Center.)

Bottom line: this is a good Moab alternative if you can’t get in to Arches, particularly if tent camping.

Site 41 is a spacious site. There is no available water here. We were unlucky to arrive in a heat wave in early June. School out and busy. Rushing stream heard from camp site with waterfall in view with trail to it. Also ORV trails which made for noisy days. Quiet at night. Tha group site was always occupied. Signs to loop B could be clearer. Views beautiful. We had gnats while here but if cooler it would have been a wonderful experience. Close to Moab and Arches. It was 95 degrees in afternoon and sand too hot for dog but cooled into 60’s at night. Just our bad luck it was hot. Also campsite across from us had a class c with 4 extra jeeps. No sign of the host anytime we were there.

Stayed two nights in late September and was pleasantly surprised by this campground. Reserved about 60 days in advance as a backup location thinking it looked pretty barren and the reservoir nearly empty, but found our spot and the others along the creek in Loop B to be quite nice. Pretty setting up against the hills with babbling creek alongside. Loop A is mostly void of vegetation and pretty exposed. I’d recommend the creek side spots on Loop B.
Camp host is in spot #48 FYI.

Also, nice short 2 mi loop hike just behind campground.

Moab was a destination that my friend who was traveling with me wanted to visit for the mountain biking. Ken's Lake was quiet at night but quite a few ATV's during the day. Easy to access Moab but for mountain bikers, you may want to camp on the north side of Moab. Lots of construction in Moab so seemed very busy in early October. Some short but enjoyable hiking trails from the campground for the dogs to get some exercise.

Moab area was very busy when we visited at the end of September. I had read reviews for Ken’s lake so it was on my radar. If you’re up for boondocking i highly recommend it. We were there with our 4 kids and 2 pups and everyone agreed it was a memorable stay.

Good space between sites and very quiet. Plenty of room for big rigs. Less traffic on the south side of town too. Clean vault toilets and trash dumps are the amenities, but the location and views are unbeatable. The lake itself was fun and my kids went swimming despite the chilly water. There’s not much shade, but there was a consistent breeze that kept us cool and temps were slightly cooler than in town or by the river. We also had no cell service at the river sites but had fine service with verizon and t mobile.

If you stay here or even if you don’t, do yourselves a favor and visit Warner Lake. It’s National forest and the aspens were brilliant and showy in their fall color. In the 4 weeks we’ve been on the road it’s the only place we visited twice. Our kids caught several rainbow trout with salmon eggs.

One last tip: we visited the Spanish Trails Arena several times to toss football and run around. They were very friendly and have a 24hour bathroom. Learned that if the rv parks are full you can stay there at the ends of their barns with electric hookups. We almost moved because we were having issues with our battery, but we stuck it out at Ken’s lake.

We originally planned to stay at a private campground, but they were all full. After checking out the reviews on Campendium, we decided to try Ken's Lake Campground. We loved it. The view is beautiful and there are some nice little trails in the area and directly to the reservoir. The gravel pads are level and there is plenty of room for even the biggest RV (our neighbor was pulling a 45' fifth wheel and it and the truck fit fine). The star gazing at night was spectacular, the fire pits and picnic tables are great and it's easy access (about 10 minutes) to downtown Moab. I'd highly recommend if you don't mind going a night without hook-ups.