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We went camping at Quail Creek State Park and stayed right on the lake. This is a nice, tranquil place to stay near Zion National Park.
For a decent price, we got a spacious site at the campground. And I can’t begin to tell you enough about the beautiful views.
I’ll tell you about our experience, what to know and expect, and share personal photos from our stay. You might stop here yourself!
Getting There
On a road trip heading back to California on the I-15 South, we met a fierce windstorm driving through Hurricane, Utah. What are the odds, right?
On this day, the high wind gusts ripped a solar panel right off our camper van! Luckily, it didn’t hit anyone and landed in the ditch.
Yes… we drove back around to check and pick it up. After all that work doing our camper van conversion!
Then, we got off at the next exit to find a place to stay. We took the UT-9 to the SR-318.
Then we saw this beautiful campground in the area. This is how we ended up staying there.
Camping at Quail Creek State Park
The state park is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. This is a popular place for boating and fishing.
When we pulled into the park, we saw the boating area off to the left. The camping area is to the right.
Reservations
We pulled up to the gate, and we asked if we could camp here. The young man at the booth asked if we had a reservation.
We were afraid he’d turn us away without one. But he said we could stay and charged us a small camping fee.
There was barely anyone there… probably because of the broiling summer heat.
In the fall and spring, I’m sure this place has more people. We’ve visited Zion National Park during this time, and all the places in the area were booked out.
So, you can make a reservation to make sure you’ll have a spot.
Campground Amenities
After we registered, we drove to our spot. It had a shaded picnic table, a fire ring, and an electric and water hookup.
Then we hooked up the water to the van, and the connector on the water hose broke! So water was shooting out all over the place. Ugh!
Anything can happen when van traveling… Today was not our day!
By the way, the facilities were well-maintained. Some of the cleanest campground bathrooms I’ve ever seen!
You’ll find an outdoor shower near the beach area. They do not have private showers on the campground.
Luckily, we have one in the camper van, so we just used ours.
Beautiful Views
We walked around and explored the area. What a beautiful campground!
Utah’s red landscape glowed in the background as the sun dipped in the sky. The golden hour captured pretty tones in rocks.
A small lake sat beside the campground, nestled between distant mountains. I savored moments of solitude here.
We found other people camping in vans and RVs close to the water. On the other side of the campground, people set up tents.
Then we decided to walk around and check out the rest of the park. We found some hiking trails, but it was too hot to hike.
You don’t only have to come here to go camping. While walking around, we found a few things to do. They have hiking trails, but it was too hot to hike.
Water Sports Pavilion
One of the main reasons people come here is for the water. And the campground is conveniently located in a great area.
We walked around the pavilion, where you can enjoy water sports, fishing, and boating. A few people hung out at the beach.
A man drifted out in an intertube with side arms flopped over the sides. He looked totally relaxed!
The lake water looked clear and clean. We didn’t take a dip, but next time I’ll bring my swimsuit.
Another man fished off the pier while we admired the plants growing out of the water. We dipped our hands in, and it was a perfect warm temperature.
Cooking in the Park
After sunset, we made dinner. Although there was a fire ring, we used our propane.
It was too hot for the fire, and we didn’t want to deal with the smoke. Some other campers had fires going.
By the time we ate, the sun had gone down. While we sat at the picnic table, a strange bird fluttered around us.
Okay… that wasn’t a bird. It was a bat! I wasn’t expecting to see that over there.
Sunsets and Sunrises
At night, it cooled down just a little bit, and there wasn’t much of a breeze. With no air conditioning in the back of our van, we dealt with the heat.
And as soon as the sun went down, the cicadas started singing in the evening. The sounds came on like a firestorm, but I got used to it.
It was difficult to sleep in the heat. Now we considered getting air conditioning in the van.
Because of the heat, we got up very early—it was absolutely dark outside. In the morning, we watched the sun peek through the clouds.
The singing cicadas stopped suddenly in the early morning, and then it was quiet.
We were so lucky to see both a sunset and sunrise over the pretty landscape in Utah. It was a picture-perfect backdrop.
Travel Notes
We had just come from a road trip through the Midwest. And as you can imagine, there were bugs galore.
The windshield was a splattered mess after driving through several states. Other than the cicadas, it was a relief not to have to deal with any at the campground.
No bugs, and especially mosquitoes! Ugh!
Thank goodness. So that was the great thing about staying here at this time.
Now, about the heat, you might want to stay when it’s not so hot. There were a few RVs, but I’m going to bet they had the air conditioning going all night.
And that’s exactly what I would have done too.
Final Thoughts
We enjoyed camping at Quail Creek State Park and want to return. It’s a wonderful place to stay outside of Zion.
Although we didn’t go hiking, I’d like to return to explore without the extreme heat. The views are really pretty!
More Travel Adventures
I have more related posts on my blog. You might want to check them out.
- We van camped at Zion River Resort, a nice place to stay near the national park.
- If you plan to visit Zion National Park, be sure to check out what we saw while exploring.
- You’ll also want to read about the crowds at Zion before going.
I’d love to hear all about your travel adventures!
Originally published: February 4, 2025
