We stayed at Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping in October 2020
Our Previous Stop: The Best Free Campground Near Great Basin National Park
Our Next Stop: Utah
Campground Info
Location: 37.7275, -112.2477
Cost: Free
Camping Limit: 16 Day
Amenities: None
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Essentials Nearby
Town: Bryce, UT – 8 miles
Gas Station: Chevron – 3 miles
Dump Station & Potable Water: Sinclair – 8 miles ($10, Potable Water & Propane Available)
Grocery Store: Ruby’s Inn General Store – 8 miles
Cell Phone Service
Verizon – Good
AT&T – Good
Nearby Attractions
Bryce Canyon National Park – 10 miles
Canyon Bike Trail – 1 mile
Red Canyon – 4 miles
Kodachrome Basin State Park – 34 miles
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – 23 miles
Capitol Reef National Park – 115 miles
Canyonlands National Park – 273 miles
Goblin Valley – 179 miles
Arches National Park – 261 miles
Zion National Park – 64 miles
Camping At Tom’s Best Spring Near Bryce Canyon National Park
Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping Area is basically a ton of campsites along Forest Road 117 near Bryce, Utah.
When you turn onto the dirt road you immediately drive over a cattle guard and the free camping area begins.
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We saw campers right next to the road and down smaller roads. It seems like the kind of place where if you can park you can camp.
That doesn’t mean you should destroy any existing plants to get a spot but if it looks like people have parked there before and there aren’t any no camping signs it’s ok to camp.
When we were there in October the place was pretty crowded. We drove 2.5 miles down the dirt road trying to find a good secluded spot.
We finally turned around and ended up taking a spot in a large open area here (click to see exact campsite coordinates on Map).
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I’m sure it’s ok to keep going down Tom’s Best Spring road to find a campsite. We never saw any signs that indicated when the free camping area ended. \
We know for sure there are lots of big rig/RV friendly campsites at least 2.3 miles from the main road.
There was a smaller road going through the open area we camped in. When we walked down it we discovered a bunch of really good private campsites.
The only problem was the road getting in was pretty bad in some places.
I would be careful about taking a big RV or trailer down any of the side roads without scouting first. If you are in a 4×4 vehicle and tent camping I’m sure you will be able to find fantastic secluded campsites down any of the small roads.
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Most of the big rig-friendly sites are along the main road and there were multiple large open areas like the one we camped in where people with Class A’s or large 5th-wheels can park easily.
Many national parks like Bryce Canyon don’t have campgrounds with sites large enough to accommodate huge RV’s, that’s what makes Tom’s Best Spring Road Dispersed Camping Area so fantastic.
You’re not far from the park, and there’s going to be space for everyone no matter how big their camping rig is.
My Camping Review Of Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping Area
Camping at Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping Area was awesome for us but mostly because we found a nice place to park our large travel trailer off of the main road.
For people who can only find a campsite along the main road, things aren’t as great. The main reason being the insane amount of dust that gets kicked up from the many cars that pass by daily.
It’s a very popular area and the combination of the vehicles and the dusty desert road is a recipe for some smoggy camping.
There are a lot of campsites that aren’t along the main road, you just have to scout ahead to find them. We even had some people ask to park next to us because they wanted to escape the dusty road.
The camping limit is 16 days which is fairly high and there are some really fantastic secluded campsites large enough for Class A RV’s and large trailers.
If you are going to stay the entire camping limit I suggest finding one of these campsites.
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Of course, the best thing about Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping Area is how close it is to Bryce Canyon National Park.
You’re less than 10 miles away from the entrance and you are right next to the paved bike road if you prefer to bike in.
The dirt road going in isn’t too bad, just a little washboardy sometimes, but there are no large ruts which is important for RVers.
The cell service was decent but the data speeds really slowed down at night when people started using it a lot.
We will definitely be camping here again someday.
Have any questions about camping at Tom’s Best Spring Dispersed Camping Area near Bryce Canyon National Park? Leave a comment below.
Too noisy to camp here. Too many RVs running contractor construction style cheap generators. And they park in your campsite like you aren’t even there. People with generators are universally hated in the woods and aught to be shot on sight.
Heading there this coming Sunday 6/27/21. Arizona closed our favorite forest (Apache Sitgreaves) that we were heading to yesterday 6/24/21 due to fires and the threat of fires. Luckily we did spend 5 days in it earlier this month.
Chasing cooler weather!