Maple Canyon Campground

You can reserve the numbered campsites on Recreation.gov four days in advance. They are mostly booked on the weekends. If you are there during the week, you can have an empty campsite one day at a time. A few of these might fit a trailer, like 6, 8, 9, 15, and 16. Most sites are more appropriate for vans or tents. Two small trailers occupied the group site ($15) while we were there. There are a few first come first serve sites lower down the road, lettered A-G. They have fire rings. Some have a tent pad. Some are flat enough for a van. Lower down the road is private property where the owner allows camping. There are odd little boxes for donations. I think the going rate is $10? Right before you get into the canyon there is a little road off to the left. Turn in here and there are multiple options, also on the same property owner's land. Be forewarned, THE FLIES ARE LIKE THE PLAGUE. The further down towards the valley you are, the worse they get. It's due to the turkeys being raised right below the canyon in the giant sheds. The campground hosts are great. They clean the three vault toilets T, Th, Sat, Sun. We had two bars Verizon and T-Mobile towards the bottom of the canyon and by the first bathroom. The road is a bit steep but in pretty good shape.

We camp with a tent about 1,5 miles from the sign Maple Canyon. It was fo free .If you enter the private area you have to pay . There is no service but that was just perfect. We enjoyed our time together away from the big city . At night it’s cold but also we were next to water . We did light a fire and it was so comfy. It was clean place . There were people camping around us but they were not noisy. I think all the campground was full .We love it . We’ll be back ! ❤️

I got to the road that heads up to the campground only to find it closed. I drove 1.5 miles back to the entrance, parked and debated what my next move would be, as I am flying by the seat of my pants and don’t have my trip mapped out. Only know my Em’s location and finding places along the way.
There is a road to the left right before you enter onto the dirt road heading up the canyon to the campground. It doesn’t look like it leads anywhere, but if you take it... a whole little dispersed camping area emerges! They are very open but still private. It’s a lovely spot and I’m so happy I found it! I had better T-Mobile service here than i do at home.
Also, it is private property and there are little handmade boxes hanging on the tree “private property, donations appreciated” so cute! I stayed two nights, but did see black ear scat and a killsite of a sheep. So beware!! And stay alert :)

We stayed in a campsite (#3) that was about 0.5 mile up the road from Road It Up. It was on private property and had a little wooden box that said “Private Property, Donation Requested”. Our fifth-wheel fit just perfectly in the spot with enough room for our truck to park in front. I don’t think a rig larger than ours (25 ft. long) or with more slides (we have one) would be able to stay in this site.

There is a turnaround spot n the campground that we used to make it easier to back into this site. Don’t try to use this turnaround if you’re much bigger than us.

Know that there are several climbing routes across the creek behind this site. Several climbers walked past our rig and a few vehicles parked in front of our truck to go climb over the weekend.

This campsite is right off the main road and dust gets kicked up from road traffic, especially over the weekend. There were also a lot of flies here. Don't be surprised to leave the area with them still in your rig.

This site is only a mile from the campground and a lot of the climbing trailheads, which meant we were able not have to drive our truck for almost the entire time we were there. Yay!

Maple Canyon is a world-class rock climbing destination and the campground is mostly busy on the weekends. There are 12 campsites that can be reserved in advance (for $8/night) with a fire rink and a picnic table, one groupe site for $15 (big enough to accomodate one or two big rig), 6 (letters A to F) that are available on a first come first serve basis only ($3/night) with a fire rink, and a few more sites outside of the National Forest (lower down the road) available for free (some have a little wooden donation box since they are on private property). The only site in which we could fit our 35 feet long bus and Westfalia was the first big pull out as you go up the road. It is right by the creek and there is a fire rink too (and no donation box, so free). It was very quiet and the signal was very good (unlike some other camping spots up canyon where the signal was less reliable and weaker - 3G in some areas but bad upload).

If you have a larger rig, make sure you scout out the sites first, it's not easy to turn around once up in the official campground. Sites 2, 3 and 4 are walk-to tent sites that must be accessed by carrying gear a short distance from the parking area. Vault toilets are provided but there is no water.