Castle Rock Campground

 Castle Rock Campground is located in Fishlake National Forest but it's managed by the state park division which means there aren't any discounts for national recreation pass holders however the camping fee covers the park day fee. By paying the camping fee for one night we had two days to see the park and museum, making it a break even cost. 

The campground has thirty-one sites, some pull through and some back in. The sites in the loop at the end of the campground road are double sites and are marked as such on the site number posts. There are also two sites with teepees. Amenities include picnic tables, fire rings, vault toilets, a couple of water faucets, and spectacular scenery.  Sam Stowe Campground, near the museum, has seven full hookup sites, restrooms, and showers. Both campgrounds will accommodate long RVs.

None of the sites are designated as accessible but the ground is hard packed and the tables have extended tops.  

 The road to the campground is about a mile long and gravel but fine for any vehicle. 

The Belknap Ranger Station, an historic site, is located about halfway to the campground. It's the location of a 1915 station (only foundations left) where the ranger and his family lived for the summer season. At the time it was very remote and the family grew their own food which they canned in the fall to use in the next year. The site has a short loop trail and interpretive signs. The trail is very rough and accessible only with a strong helper. Campground  38.55335, -112.35575 

Belknap Ranger Station

Fremont Indian State Park

 When construction on Interstate 70 near Sevier, Utah began in the 1980s local elementary school children alerted Brigham Young University archaeologists about the pottery shards and dwelling depressions located on Five Finger Ridge. At the time highway crews were digging into the ridge for fill to build up the roadway. The archaeologists worked over two seasons to excavate hundreds of artifacts and to map and photograph the locations of pithouses, granaries, and storage rooms. From radiocarbon dates and tree ring chronologies they determined that the ridge was occupied by the Fremont people from around AD 1100 to 1350. 

 A park and museum were established in 1987 to preserve the artifacts and the area around the ridge which protects an amazing amount of petroglyphs. The museum has nicely done exhibits but is undergoing an expansion and will be closed for the rest of 2025.  A series of intersecting trails leading to panels of rock art start at the museum. Other trails are located along the park road. Pick up a park brochure at the museum which includes a map of the location of all the trails with brief descriptions.

 The museum is accessible. The parking lot has long RV spaces. A short paved and accessible loop trail starts at the museum and passes by many easy to see petroglyphs. The terrain is rough and hilly so most of the other trails in the park are not accessible. 

 

The brochure has the stops along the park road starting with number 1 at the west end. We checked some of them out.

Number 1 is a pull off with a view point of Newspaper Rock. The panel is at the bottom of the rock wall and binoculars are needed to see all of the petroglyphs. 

We skipped all the way to Number 6, Cave of a Hundred Hands. The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle. The bridge across a small stream has a deck that doesn't meet flush with the ground. A short easy trail leads to a steep and narrow trail that accesses  the cave. The hands are pictographs, made with paint rather than by chipping or incising the rock. A fence protects them from further graffiti. Wheelchair users will need assistance and wide wheelchairs will not fit on the narrow trail. 

Number 7, Arch of Art Viewpoint, features a painted and carved design. The pull off is large enough for any vehicle. This was one that we couldn't find. Finding the pictroglyhs can depend on a combination of luck and lightning.

 Number 12, Skinner Canyon Rock Art Sites is a short distance up a dirt road. It's accessible by most vehicles and has a small area to park and turn around. The path to the petroglyphs is very rough and is not accessible for wheelchair users. The petroglyphs are hard to see because a large rock has fallen and the petroglyphs are behind it. The road (high clearance) continues to the view point of another panel with a group of animals. Look for the bullet holes. There's a turn around loop at the view point. Park  38.57743, -112.3344 

Clear Creek Canyon Road Pull Out

Although Clear Creek Canyon Road cuts through Fishlake National Forest there are few opportunities to drive farther into the forest to find camping spots. Luckily for us there are two large pull offs near the east end of Clear Creek Canyon Road and even luckier a friend that we had made the day before at  Fremont Indian State Park was camped at one of the pull offs and was happy to share the site with us. :) 

The pull off is fairly long and not very wide but it has two nice camp areas and a few trees to provide  some buffer from the road. Traffic at this time of year is minimal which is a good thing because the next morning hundreds of sheep came along the road and passed by our camp spot. It was a large operation with a sheep wagon pulled by a pickup in the lead and at least three sheepherders on horses and variety of dogs in the rear to hurry the sheep along. Earlier a storm covered the same spot with fluffy snow.

The ground is hard packed so rolling is fairly easy. Forest  38.58372, -112.40237 

Fish Lake Forest Boondocking

This meadow at the intersection of Clear Creek Canyon Road and Forest Road 114 is a good boondocking spot with beautiful views but unfortunately the ground has been torn up so it's muddy in wet weather and dusty in dry weather.  Forest Road 114 continues to other side of the interstate where there are two free national forest campgrounds without any amenities. We did not visit them so I can't report on them but they get good reviews on the internet. 

Clear Creek Canyon Road was the main road through the canyon before the interstate was built. It's about eight miles long and it's well worth looping off the interstate to drive along. I was so busy admiring the scenery that I forgot to take any pictures. 38.58319, -112.46237