A spacious, peaceful, desert state park basecamp near Moab with level sites, big sky views, and a quieter feel than camping right in town.
Location
13890 N. HWY 191, Moab, UT 84532
About
Utahraptor State Park is a Utah state park about 15 miles northwest of Moab on US 191. The park sits in open desert country near major Moab-area recreation with red rock views, dark skies, and a much more spread-out feel than many in-town RV options.
The park is also tied to the area’s dinosaur history, including one of the largest dinosaur bone beds in North America. The park is also relatively close to other popular parks such as Arches and Canyon Lands National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park.
The campground is fairly new. It opened in 2025. We stayed in a developed campsite with electric and water hookups, a level pad and plenty of room around us. It felt peaceful while we were there, with the kind of wide-open setting that makes Moab feel close without feeling crowded.
Visits
- April 25-30, 2026 – We stayed 5 nights at Utahraptor State Park as part of our Destination Michigan trip, during the The Northwest to the Southwest leg. This was the stop where our original trip plans got blown up thanks to my feet. Read the full story: Un-Mashable: How Our “Mashville” Trip Began Rerouting
Review
Utahraptor State Park was a beautiful place to land near Moab. Our site was level, spacious, and surrounded by open desert scenery. Once you see how tightly slammed together spots are at the other parks in and around Moab, you’ll really appreciate the space this park.
This is not a resort-style RV park, which is part of the appeal. You are trading pools, laundry rooms, and in-town convenience for space, quiet, dark skies, and a more state-park feel. For what we like, that tradeoff was well worth it.
The one thing to know is that the park is exposed. We had some classic spring-in-the-desert conditions during our stay, including lots and lots and lots of wind that kept us from enjoying being outside or having a fire. There were also crazy sudden thunder and rain storms that would pop up, hit hard, and be gone. Even with that, the park still made a strong impression. It was pretty, peaceful, easy to use with the trailer, and close enough to Moab to make a good basecamp.
One downside is that sites don’t have sewer hookups and depending on the spot you get, the bathroom can be a long walk. So this limits how long you can stay there. There is a dump station there though, so if you have one of those poop walker things it might be less of an issue for you.
Would we stop here again? Yes. We would happily stay here again, especially if we wanted more space than the in-town RV parks usually offer.
Trailerability
Getting to the park was straightforward for us, with access right off US 191. The campground felt easy to navigate with the trailer, and our site had enough room that setup was not stressful.
The wind is probably the main thing to keep in mind when towing around this area. It can be strong and gust like crazy at any moment.
Towmads Top Tips
- Do not leave your awning out unattended. This is open desert camping, and the wind can come up fast.
- Before heading to Arches National Park, check out their webcam page to see how much of a backup there is.
Nearby Finds
Arches National Park
One of the major reasons this area was on our route. Very pretty with lots to see even though my mobility was limited.
Moab Brewery
A solid lunch stop during this stay. Good beer and a super legit chimichurri porkchop sandwich.
Farm & City Feed & RV Supply
This store saved our bacon. They have a great selection of RV supplies including the thermal fuse we needed to get our hot water working again. They also had fresh chicken eggs.
Mentioned In
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Un-Mashable: How Our “Mashville” Trip Began Rerouting
Read Post: Un-Mashable: How Our “Mashville” Trip Began ReroutingOur Utahraptor State Park stop near Moab became the painful turning point where Harry’s foot injury forced us to cut Nashville and…
How to Book
Book Utahraptor State Park through the Utah State Parks reservation system. Reservations are handled through ReserveAmerica for Utah State Parks.
One thing we discovered is we could not adjust the stay online once it started, so to tack on a couple extra days we had to make a new booking.
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