Smithsonian Butte Dispersed Camping

After much research, I found this amazing spot on Smithsonian Butte. Regardless of what other reviews say, if you follow the rules and camp a half mile off the main byway, you will be in a legal spot. (You will find fire pits and maybe even campers ALONG the byway but it is no longer legal…thanks to people destroying the area during COVID). The main byway is a gravel road that goes from Rockville to Apple Valley. We came in from the Rockville side. There are many dirt road arms that go off this byway. We were in a Mercedes sprinter van. We were able to navigate the narrow, rutted dirt roads a little over a half mile in on the Wire Mesa arm. We went all the way to the end and had the most spectacular view of Zion! We had a few mountain bikers go by and wave during our stay since it butts up to the trail😊. Fortunately for us, the weather was perfect but I can see that if it were raining, it could become impassable. Plan accordingly. With the right vehicle, this was the ultimate spot to camp for our days at Zion and was worth the extra drive time for our early morning arrival at the visitor’s center to catch the shuttle for our hikes!

Warning: DO NOT CAMP HERE!!!

We got woken up in the middle of the night by a police officer and told that all of the camping along the road was illegal and to pack up and move. We got a written a $275 ticket and had to pack up our camp and load our trailer in the dark. He was stopping at every camp along the road to kick people out. He came back to check that we were still packing multiple times. The site we were using was clearly a popular spot with a fire ring and lots of other campers around. We had to drive around in the dark trying to find another spot in Zion in the middle of the night.

The initial gravel road was freshly grated and very easy. There weren't as many side (dirt) roads as we expected, and a lot of pull-offs have "no camping" signs, plus you're supposed to be 1/2 mile off the road to camp. So we were a little confused but found a road going to the mesa that had a few spots farther out.

Campsites were nice, dirt ground, some far apart from one another. Ours was good for tenting, had a rock fire ring (we didn't use it), and had some shade.

Bugs (gnats, mosquitos, flies) were very active (early June) but mostly calmed down by 9pm. Good views of stars and nearby ridges!

Our first two nights were great here. We came in through the Apple valley side of the road that is much more accessible than the Grafton side which I would recommend a 4wd vehicle for due to large rocks. While we were gone the third day, an officer stopped by our camp and left a note that told us that we had to move our camper or be fined. Apparently camping is limited to anywhere beyond 1/2 mile from the main road but there are no accessible campsites that are that far from the road. Do not waste your time trying to camp here unless you want to test your luck or get kicked out.

Not very many spots before the road gets pretty gnarly and steep grade. awesome location with a sweet view and clean sites. Some noise as other campers show up later in the evening and many vehicles at some campsites. that being said amazing spot and perfect for your zion visit if you want to boondock. probably not for big rigs although a couple spots towards the front.