Watchman Campground

We stayed at Watchman Campground this past weekend (Aug 12-13).
It's the campsite inside the actual National Park. I was worried that it was going to be really crowded, but it wasn't too bad, and the sign said the campground was full. It was very clean, the bathrooms were clean, the sites were reasonably spaced apart, which was nice. We stayed at LoopC-17 and it was right next to the bathroom. I wanted convenience, but I didn't realize how close it was. So just keep that in mind when booking. I loved how we just walked from our site directly to the Zion Center, and to the Zion Canyon strip with stores. I felt it was very convenient. We showered at Zion Outfitters, very clean showers. The night photo I posted, is right from our campsite. Beautiful.

Watchman Campground is located on a bench above North Fork Virgin River .4 miles north of Springdale and just south of the South Campground. Watchman Campground's 170 campsites include fire pits, picnic tables, and water, as well as central bathrooms with flush toilets and a central dump station. The campground is partly shaded and provides great views into Zion National Park. Laundry, groceries, and gas are all available within one mile of the campground. Watchman campground is closed from November through March. There are no RV hookups.Please enjoy the campsite photos of Watchman campground.  We will continue to add more campsite photos of the campground if some are not available.

Awesome location for camping! We showed up at the last minute to camp with our pop-up after being turned away from a commercial location outside the park. We are so happy to have stayed here instead, it's a beautiful location right under the mountains in Zion. The only drawback is there are no showers, which was okay for us as we were only here for one night. It should also be noted that we were there in March and the place was packed, so make reservations if you can!

What a gorgeous campground! We were lucky to snap up a cancellation and reserved spot B-060 for four nights in mid-November. It’s convenient to walk to the visitor center where you can catch the shuttle to most of the trailheads. You can also easily walk into town or catch the Springdale bus. So convenient!

The sites here are fairly close together and there isn't a lot of vegetation between them, so you're going to have to be cozy with your neighbors. The good news is that there are so many great hikes in Zion that you probably won't be in your campsite very much!

We had a site with electric near the river and it was semi-secluded because of the angle (#56).

Zion National Park is one of the most wonderful places on Earth, the scenery is world class and the hiking is magnificent. The Watchman Campground is at the entrance to the park, which means (for most of the year) you can jump on a shuttle bus and see all the sites that this side of the park has to offer.

There is also a shuttle into the town of Springdale, which ahs good places to eat and have a beer (Utah strength - don't get too excited). The town is actually close enough to walk, but if you have tired legs from lots of hiking, the shuttle might be a welcome respite. he location of this campground is so perfect, we did not get in our car for 5 days. We walked or took the bus to everywhere we wanted to go.

The monolithic scenery at Zion is so dominant, that you don't even need to leave your site to appreciate it. You are surrounded by it.

I was a little worried about the campground as several reviews described it as cramped, but I thought it was actually just fine. We had a decent sized site, and yes we had neighbors all the time in this busy park, but we didn't experience noise at all. We were in a electric hook-up loop which means no-generators so maybe that was a benefit.

It's a very popular National Park, so we expected getting a site at short notice to be quite difficult. We were lucky and snagged this site with just a few days notice for 5 nights, I assume someone just canceled as there was nothing else available for more than a night.

I booked our spot quite a bit in advance, so we would be close to the facilities. When we got there the closest bathroom was closed. The ranger explained that they had to close some of them because they couldn't get any of the rangers to volunteer to clean them. I'm not sure I would jump at the chance to "volunteer" to clean public restrooms either. Although a sign on the door said they would open again in May, the ranger said he wasn't sure if that would happen. One thing that would have made the trek to the bathroom more bearable was if they would have turned on the water at the dishwashing sink outside the restroom. The facilities we were able to use were clean. No showers. Watchman is very conveniently located near the Visitors' Center and Shuttles.

When you stay in the campground you are only a short walk to the free shuttle, park store and information center, river and the town of Springdale. Not very many NP campground has electricity but this one does. Loop A has paved sites but Loop B does not. The only reason I mention this is the wind kicks up in the afternoon and blows the dust. Most campsites are shaded making it seem cooler during our stay from June 14 thru June 19.

50 amp electric. No sewer or water at site. There is a dump as you enter.

Reservations almost a must!

Loop A has paved sites with new patio areas. Loop B has gravel sites. Next time we’ll try for A.

Bathrooms are in very good shape. No showers.

Easy walk to visitor center and town.

We didn't have any luck securing a spot with our Escape campervan on the next door first come first served campground so we were rather desperate when we pulled into the Watchman which also displayed that it was full. However, luck was in our favor and the ranger gave us a small spot without any hookups and we were over the moon! Beautiful campsite, clean bathrooms, it couldn't have been any better. Next time I come to Zion, I'll definitely reserve a few days to stay here again.

Top tip: while the lane to get on the shuttle gets very long, just walk along the paved path to the next shuttle stop at the Museum, you're on your way in no time and you had a nice little walk as well!