Utah Redemption ≠ Dispersed Camping Redemption

Things were going well. We were finally experiencing Utah for its beautiful, inviting nature, as opposed to whatever this kind of nature was. But with redemption on our mind, we knew that it was now or never: We needed to successfully dispersed camp. We're talking public land with no official designated sites, where we just haul our rig into the wilderness and set up camp for free.

The first time we tried to dispersed camp was also in Utah, but we set the bar too high with a very popular area during a popular time. Alas, everything was full.

The second time, in Bridger-Teton National Forest, we did find an available site. Only the heat, bugs, and rule-breaking neighbors drove us out of there after only a couple nights.

These experiences made us wonder if we're just not cut out for the dispersed camping lifestyle. We love the idea of camping self-contained in nature for free, but we hate all the decisions that need to be made in order to find such a spot. First, we need to find a dispersed camping area that will fit our rig. Then, we need to time our arrival to ensure spots will be available. Then we need to choose a spot and maneuver into it.

During the maneuvering alone, there can be lots of decisions:

• Which way do we want to face (in regards to where we'll get solar or shade, where our Starlink can go, and which way will make it easiest to get in and out)?
• What position will make us most level?
• What obstacles do we need to avoid (not only are there often trees, plants, and rocks, but sometimes previous campers have left glass that can puncture our tires)?
• Will our positioning take up enough space that inconsiderate neighbors won't encroach on our territory?

Personality-wise, our overthinking tendencies make dispersed camping a bit overwhelming. But, as my mother has told us, we should be proud that we keep trying anyway. Overthinking and tenacious. That's either a really strong combination or a recipe for disaster.

We were about to find out which. After our stay at Goblin Valley State Park, we kept 4 nights free. This was partially for buffer time, in case something happened and we needed to change our plans, but if all was going well, we could head to Capitol Reef National Park and find a dispersed camping spot, of which there are plenty just outside the park boundaries.

While a few of the dispersed camping choices looked lovely, our sights were set on Beas Lewis Flat. In doing my research on Capitol Reef, I came across this video from The Wandering Shores, where Kyle does a great job showing Beas Lewis Flat and another nearby dispersed camping area. Diving deeper into my research, I found lots of stellar reviews, as well as some helpful tips. The more I learned, the more comfortable I felt about getting a spot here.

We left Goblin Valley on a Sunday morning and only had about an hour and a half drive to the Capitol Reef area. We've been blessed with some wonderfully scenic drives this year, and this one came as no surprise. Our drive kept us on Utah route 24 and took us through some of the most rippled sandstone "mountains" we've ever seen, to the outskirts of Bentonite Hills, and through the national park itself.

A few miles past the national park boundary, we arrived at the turn onto East Beas Lewis Flat Road, the dirt road that takes us into the camping area. A couple of people were camping closer to route 24, but most of the camping is a little ways back. Reviewers mentioned that we could choose to go straight or take a right. Straight is easier to access and gives great views, but it fills up more quickly. Taking a right would bring us down a hill, and while lower clearance vehicles have done it, people recommend having high clearance, which we do. We knew from the Wandering Shores video that the views aren't as great at the bottom of the hill, but the sites are more secluded. (We use the term "site" loosely, because since this is dispersed camping, people are allowed to camp anywhere. However, some spots have been cleared for campers, and some even have fire rings). We did read in a review that if you go way back, the views "keep getting better and better," but we saw no photographic or video evidence of this.

You can see in the photo below that the straight road (marked in red) does not go far. There are a couple of areas demarcated by fire rings, but most people just plop where they can to get the good views. Taking the right road (marked in blue), however, brings you to an area that lasts for a good couple miles. There are several breakoffs, even more than can be seen on Google Maps. This road eventually changes names to East Rock Quarry Road, and that name might scare some people away. Would it get really rocky? Would there be cliffs?

We had no intention of driving too far down Rock Quarry Road because we hadn't seen any good descriptions of what's back there. However, we did know that we could take the right, go down the hill, and be just fine with our rig size and clearance. We would rather trade the views for some seclusion. We made that decision ahead of time, and so when we arrived to Beas Lewis Flat we took the right and headed towards the quarry.

We were happy with our decision. Already, a couple of campers were parked up top at the straightaway. Down the hill, though, we saw no one. We didn't want to scout out sites for too long, but we took the first breakoff to see what was available. No real views, but a couple of decent spots that would fit us. We decided to head to the next breakoff. That meant turning around in one of the first sites. This will become important later.

Breakoff 2 had a site visible from the main Beas Lewis/Rock Quarry road, and then the breakoff split even more past that site. The road got too narrow for us to feel comfortable, and so we decided to park in the first site at this breakoff. Once again, we needed to turn around but had enough room to do so. Then we stopped by the site, got out, and determined where we wanted to park.

There were two fire rings next to each other, but one looked more "official" than the other. There were also a few small clearings for us to maneuver our rig between the juniper trees and pinyon pines that dotted the area, including a clearing around the fire rings. We'd be squeezing in pretty tight no matter what we chose, but ideally we'd want our fire ring out our pleasure side. We also wanted to keep the turnaround clear for other vehicles, just in case they needed the space. Factoring in the sun, we also knew that backing ourselves in with the fire rings on our pleasure side would mean the sun wouldn't beat in through our big window. This would help to keep the temperatures cool in our rig.

There were downsides to this plan, though. We chose a spot that was not level, especially front-to-back. We'd also take up a lot of space maneuvering back into this spot, and the less official fire ring was undoubtedly going to be in our way. It was so small that we decided to not worry about it. If we needed to maneuver over it, we would. I moved a couple of its larger rocks over to the other fire ring, and the rest we just decimated with 12,000lb of trailer.

If you're keeping track, at this point our obstacles were as follows:

• rocks
• fire ring 1
• fire ring 2
• juniper trees
• pinyon pine trees

Plus we needed to position our trailer in a place where we could level, and given the downward slope, we were cutting it close with how much our jack could retract.

We made it into our spot with only a little bit of left-to-right leveling needed, but our front-to-back pitch was something else. This has got to be the lowest we've ever had to put the nose of our trailer.

If you think that leveling was our biggest issue, not so much. Let's revisit that list of obstacles and start with a bit of trivia, which we didn't know until our trip into Capitol Reef National Park. So you know juniper trees? They're pretty. They smell good. They have blue berries.

But what you may not know is that those berries are actually cones! That's right, a juniper tree is, in fact, a conifer.

We kind of wish we had known this fact a couple days sooner, because we were under the complete false assumption that juniper wood is not hard. Now, it's not as hard as pine, but it can do some damage. Oh gee, how did we find that out?

It started with that first turnaround in breakoff 1. We didn't feel anything, we didn't hear anything, we didn't see anything. But somewhere in that turnaround, Anthony got too close to the center. It wasn't until we entered our spot at breakoff 2 that we noticed. I got out to scout the area and spot Anthony as he backed in, and I saw so many scratches and dents, you'd think we ran into a 100-year-old oak.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Whenever we got into a tight area, I repeatedly told Anthony to watch the driver's side for branches. I constantly watched the passenger side. A couple of times I did notice him brush against branches, but nothing to the extent this damage was showing.

We love our ATC, but one of the downsides is that the aluminum siding bruises like a peach. A pebble can cause a dent, so it's no surprise tree branches can, too.

Juniper 1, Buggy 0.

How did we know that the first turnaround was where we incurred the damage? Great question! In addition to the scratching and denting, I also noticed that our 50amp outlet cover got ripped off. Once we parked, we retraced our steps and found our cover hiding in the juniper bush at that turnaround.

What's even worse is, that turnaround wasn't even that narrow! Anthony would have had plenty of space to take the turnaround wider. Just goes to show, 3.5 years as RV owners, and we still have oversights.

To make matters worse, I found out later on that we cut the tailer too close on both turnarounds in this camping area. We had to turn around in breakoff 2 in order to get back to our site, and on one of my morning walks, I noticed our trailer's tire tracks going into the center of the turnaround, where there were more juniper bushes. We think the damage was caused by both.

Juniper 2, Buggy 0.

So what was supposed to be free camping will now cost us thousands of dollars if we want to get those side panels replaced. And we probably do because those scratches are unsightly. Granted, we took the pictures when the sun was shining directly on them, so they don't look as bad as the photos show. But this is our home! We want it to have campground curb appeal!

Whenever an accident happens, we always want to learn from it. Anthony tends to drive closer to whatever is on the driver's side, because he can see it. Only this time, the turnaround was so small, the trailer was angled into his blind spot as he went around. He said he was focusing on not scraping the truck, but he didn't know the trailer was tracking so close to the trees. Lesson learned. Aim wide, and if the trailer is getting too close to something on the passenger side, I'll be able to see. If I can't, I'll get out and spot him.

The other lesson is that, just because a bush looks small, doesn't mean it won't be hearty! Sometimes we need to fit places where branches will scrape us and there's nothing we can do about it, but those branches are usually thin and at most cause very superficial scratches. These junipers were a whole other animal.

We wish we knew that before we got ourselves into a situation where our truck would also be unable to avoid the branches. When I got out and noticed the trailer damage, Anthony had already positioned the rig in a narrow clearing with a juniper on the passenger side. Whether he went backwards or forwards, those branches would scrape.

Juniper 3, Buggy 0, Clyde 0

At least Clyde's exterior can withstand a lot more than Buggy, so those scratches could mostly be buffed out. We ordered some magic potion and had it delivered to our next RV park. We'd say we got about an 80% improvement. We might need to use touch-up paint on the rest.

We suppose there might be one more lesson in this, like the one I exclaimed through tears once I noticed the damage: I HATE DISPERSED CAMPING!!! Alright, so I was emotional and catastrophizing, but once we regrouped, we really had to ask ourselves, is this a sign that dispersed camping just isn't for us? All those decisions and all that pressure of finding a spot and maneuvering into it. We're sure this stress played a role in our mistakes.

But, we were here now, and after all that, we should try to enjoy our site. We unhitched, unpacked, and did the best we could do wipe the dirt off our vehicles. With the electrical cover back in our possession, we taped it back on with electrical tape. No hookups meant we wouldn't need the outlet for a while, anyway.

After the dust settled, we were able to think more logically about our situation. Our damage was just cosmetic, and we could continue our travels indefinitely without any worry about repairs unless and until we wanted to undertake them. Our site was absolutely beautiful and easily one of the most peaceful places we've camped at. We were so glad we parked down the hill, because the seclusion was exactly what we needed after our mishap. Our views may not have been as good as the ones up top, but we still had the mesas and mountains in the distance, and the sunrises were spectacular.

Our satisfaction with our site didn't totally squelch our curiosity about what lies in the back of Rock Quarry Road. One day, we drove the truck back there to see what we would find. The reviewer was right; the views get better. Better than the straight road at the top? Meh, depends on what you want to see. However, there were less places to pull off and camp, and those places got pretty tight. We wouldn't take our 28ft trailer any further than we did, but if we were vanlifers who wanted to get great views and even more seclusion, we 100% would go back there. Just remember that the further you go, the more time it'll take to get back to route 24. We're guessing a good extra 10 minutes from the way way back. Our site at breakoff 2 added only about 3 or 4 minutes.

Our 4 nights at Beas Lewis Flat gave us a new perspective on dispersed camping. In spite of everything, we don't think we'll swear it off forever. We just need to find ways to handle the stress of planning and decision-making. We can safely say that it will not become our top choice of how we like to camp, but this location gave us a glimpse into what dispersed camping can be at its best. Maybe that's the moral of this story. We never expected our Redemption Tour to be all good, just like we don't expect RV life to be all good. But we still found a little bit of dispersed camping redemption here.