South Campground

According to the Recreation.gov website, South Campground will be closed for road construction projects during the Spring 2023. It does not state this on the NPS website, although it references the construction. South Campground opens reservations 14 days before arrival and after much effort, I finally got someone from NPS to clarify and they responded with the following..."Yes, the South Campground will be open in May 2023. Here is a link from our site with more information: South Campground - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Reservations can only be made within 14 days of the anticipated camping trip, starting in March. The South Campground will not be closed from the construction, but its roads may be used as a detour route for vehicle traffic while construction completes on the main road."

So South Campground will be open, but there is a possibility that the roads in/out of it will be used to move visitors in/out. Thousands of people/cars per day. If you want to take your chances, be warned. Your best way to get current information is the email address for Zion, but I've found an alternative myself. Good luck!

We reserved site 14 based on our vehicle type and dimensions. Due to traffic we arrived after dark and found it was the worst site I’ve ever had to back into, basically inaccessible to even the smallest trailer. It was horrible to get into, narrow road and narrow entry plus big rocks on either side to protect a drainage pipe even narrower than the driveway entry. Don’t use this site unless you’re a tent or car camper or maybe a small camper van. I had to apologize to the neighbors for the 20+ minutes it took to wangle a 17’ trailer in.

Internet. The signal here is super great because Springdale is right on the other side of the park entrance. I didn’t do a speed test but I did work and use internet like normal with Verizon.

The campground is clean, the bathrooms are clean. The campground has a water fill and dump station. The Riverwalk Trail runs beside the campground. The South Campground is all dry camping.

It meets all the basic necessities. It is also the best way to experience Zion. We went on a Sunday where they were were running the shuttles on the scenic road weekends only. The next day, Monday, cars would be allowed to drive on the scenic road but only until they reached car capacity. The park ranger told us they reach car capacity at about 7:30am. If you stay at the campground then you can get over to the scenic road before they turn away new cars. Also, during peak season when the shuttles run all the time, you can get in line early so you don’t have to wait 45 minutes to get on the first shuttle like we did at 9am.

Aside from being in close proximity to the scenic road, you can have a quieter experience at the riverside away from the throngs of people that made the park feel like a theme park. The experience of the park was redeemed by staying at the campground.

It’s well past time for NPS to consider renovations on South campground, but it is extremely well managed and for $10/night with senior discount, I have zero complaints. The two-weeks prior booking window is a bonus for those of us that like to be a little more flexible, but you need to be ready to click ‘add to cart’ at the stroke of 10am eastern as Zion is so popular. Access in was easy as many of the sites for RV’s and trailers are pull thru, but we did have to shuffle back and forth a bit and use all our blocks to get level. Site 23 has a lot of shade and a decent amount of privacy, but best of all was the almost completely unobstructed view. The bathrooms had flush toilets and sinks and were cleaned daily, but the woman's one by us was also trashed by the end of each day from the disrespectful that plague our society. There is a market, a couple of places to eat, showers and laundry within walking distance. Additional dining, shops and markets are also available by driving further into Springdale, but be aware that there can be really long waits to get back in the park depending on your timing and the day of the week.
Additional notes:
- Doggy owners: there are foxtails everywhere, there is a really nice big patch of green grass at the far end of the picnic area parking.
- currently (mid-may ‘21) route 9 is closed between 10pm-5am Sunday thru Thursday, so no thru traffic during those hours except for Friday and Saturday nights
- You must get reservations to go on the Zion Canyon scenic drive shuttle
- We had 2 bars AT&T LTE, but at times it was if we had none

We loved our spot in South campground and look forward to our next visit.

We stayed at Watchman for 3 nights and were unable to stay longer due to the full weekend, but it was South Campground’s opening weekend and a few sights were open that could accommodate us.

This campground is pretty primitive and tired overall. The main road is paved, sites are dirt and most are not very level.

It’s a bit tight if you are big. We had walked the campground so we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Site 44 is a pull through but we ended up backing in since the turn in was too tight.

RV’s will run their obnoxious generators. It was obnoxious to us and we are a big RV with a generator!

We stayed there on Sept 8. We made a reservation only a week before with no problem. It was pretty full but quiet at night. Just a short walk through the campground along the river to the visitors center to catch the shuttle bus. The campground seemed well maintained, deer came out in the early evening and morning and a little lizard liked to scurry out of the way on the path to the restroom. The dump station was located on the way out.

This Zion campground might not be the best or most private I have ever experienced but the honor of being in one of the most magical locations on earth makes up for the crowded conditions.

Zion is a super popular park and the campgrounds seem to be perpetually full. I visited in early November and was lucky to score a walk-up site. I moved sites several times within my stay to try to find a bit more privacy. There are some sites along the river that are more private and separated. Even in November the campgrounds were 100% full. Yes I could clearly hear conversations of those around me when I was in my tent at night, but I really enjoyed the park so it wasn't that bad. Plus luckily my neighbors mostly kept it down, no barking dogs or yelling.

I loved waking up early and walking over to the museum center to take photos of the sunrise, or strolling up the river path to take photos on the bridge at sunset. The views are AMAZING. I didn't spend a lot of time in the camp except to eat and sleep. Mostly I wandered around marveling at the rock walls in the changing light or walked to the shuttle stop to go hiking on the trails. Next time I'd like to bring my bike to take rides up the river path or get to the shuttle more quickly.

Don't miss the Narrows hike. I loved it so much!!! I laughed and smiled the whole time.

Caught out in May 2018 as when we planned our trip there was no reservations and you just turn up, which is what we like. You now can book 14 days only in advance which is very tricky when travelling off grid and no phone signal most of the time.
When we arrived there was no space in the RV small park in Zion (no free parking in Springdale which is from $20 - even if you need to go to the lauderette) In fact driving through Springdale there were notices to only park in RV places, but we never saw them, so we drove on into the park. We later saw that in the mornings people from the campsites were parking up for the day in the samll RV parking space before moving on later. There was a space we found in a overflow park next to the South campground using 2 car spaces (justice as they are always parking in RV places)
Site was well kept and lovely especialy the tent sites near the river.
Lovely camphosts who took pity on us and allowed us to use part of a Group Site.
Zion is a very difficult place to camp and stop in it or Springdale. We were disappointed but enjoyed the river walk tremendously.
Some people may be lucky to get a walk up but you need to be there very early and talk to the campshost to see if anyone is going that day.