Willow Flat (Island in the Sky) Campground

These spots are first come first serve. I arrived at 10:30 am on a Sat morning to find 4 spots open. Spot 9 was nice and flat. Spots filled by noon. If you need a campsite, don’t stop at the visitor center or to take in a scenic view. Get your site first, then check stuff out. For a small campsite there are plenty of clean vault toilettes along the site. The covered picnic tables and fire rings were nice as well. Not many spots for big trailers or Class A

Staying at this little campground feels like you're on top of the world, which must be why this area of Canyonlands is called Island in the Sky. It made exploring this area of Canyonlands easy, and led to a very peaceful night.

The campground: With only twelve campsites, this campground has a slower and more intimate vibe. While it's not the highest elevation I have camped at, there's a feeling of being really high up, and because the trees in the campground are low shrub-y things, it also feels very wide open. (But still enough privacy to not see the campers on the other side of the loop.) Unless you stay here around a full moon, the stars are incredible.

My campsite had a parking spot I could pull in; the spot for the tent was dirt. It also included a small pavilion that provided a little shade for the picnic table below, and a fire ring with a grate. There was a vault toilet across the road from my site. There's no drinking water at this campground.

The area: There are multiple districts in Canyonlands National Park, and you have to go different ways to get to each of them. This area is called Island in the Sky; it has several hikes to scenic overlooks of the canyons. It's a bit of a drive to get to Island in the Sky if you're coming from Arches National Park, and I would recommend having all your supplies ahead of time; especially water.

Booking: First-come; first-served. I stayed here in November, arrived in the afternoon, and there were only three campsites open.

Cell service: None. Don't expect to have cell service in any part of this district of Canyonlands. I had some at the Visitor's Center right at the entrance to the Park.

Stayed here one night the day before Halloween 2021. It was fantastic! More people than I expected for late fall but still easy to find an open spot. The area is well maintained and quiet.

It's a short walk or quick drive down to the Green River Overlook from here. Fantastic place to watch the sunset over the canyon! Was able to get a bunch of great pictures and experience a magical sunset surrounded by people from all over the world.

Second time I've camped here in the past ten years. Would stay again!

Great spot in the park! Dry camping, clean restroom, nice campsite with ramada, picnic table; level for our pop-up camper. Arrived about 10 Friday morning to claim one of 2 available first-come first-serve sites - only 12 sites total in the Island of the Sky section of Canyonlands. Beautiful sunset at the near-by (walkable) Green River Overlook, and amazing night sky at this Dark Sky park.

The whole park is freshly paved, including the campground's parking pads. All new covered picnic areas and well maintained facilities throughout this huge national park. This tiny 12-site campground deep in the Island in the Sky District is first come, first served so you'd better get here early. Departure time is 10am but wannabes start circling at sunrise.

Its just a short walk out to the Green River viewpoint which is a popular spot to photograph the sunset. We saw a tiny desert fox stroll by our van at dusk and one of the largest bucks I have ever seen. He looked looked like the King of the Forest, right out of Disney's Bambi.

There's no cell coverage at the campground so just drive a few miles up the road until you can see the Manti-LaSal Mountains.

Park rangers as rangers are super nice. One recommended the awesome Lathrop Trail. Do it! We keep extending our nights here because there's so much to see. Not too crowded, perfect weather. Only negative is that All the vault toilets are sorely in need of pumping.