Fruita Campground — Capitol Reef National Park

Fall colours in all their splendour, deer at our fence, stroll to the Gifford house for pies and souvenirs…couldn’t have hoped for more!

Absolutely wonderful experience staying at this campground. Tucked away at the bottom of the canyon, under age old trees, it is very quiet (i believe it prohibits generators) and yet lively. NP has a lot of programs for all ages, the bathrooms are clean and heated, and the people were very respectful of each other. I fell asleep under the sky full of giant stars to the music of the flowing waters of Fremont river. This was probably as close to how the Pioneers experienced this oasis when they came upon it, as one can get.

This is a wonderful campground next door to some of the prettiest hikes Capitol Reef has to offer. However, our site (B40) did not seem  appropriate for tent camping. There is no tent pad, the area surrounding the parking bay is not leveled, and it has no grass or gravel, only red dirt which turns into mud very quickly. Additionally, the site is downhill from the surrounding sites so any amount of rain will turn the site (including the blacktop) into a mud bath. At the same time, it must be a good RV camping spot as the bay is huge with lots of shade during most of the day.

I enjoyed camping here, but there were a lot of people close together.  What I loved: picking fruit in the orchard, ranger talks and flush toilets. What I didn't love: setting up a tent in 30 mph winds, blowing dirt, close range neighbors who feel the need to shout all their words from 6 am to 11 pm. If you want that National Park experience, this is a great place, but should you be unlucky enough to land next to an obnoxious group there is no buffer.

great views, very close to the CRNP visitors center, fantastic pie, and insanely close deer. would for sure come back

Camp Hosts are super laid back and helpful.

Cute campground great national park but in winter the electric boxes are locked against use. No public water and most of the historic attractions are closed

Bathroom was so clean and heated! The campground was well maintained, very close to the scenic route and multiple trailheads. We even shared a view with an old barn and three horses

Located amongst working orchards. This campground is nature forward. Deer and turkey may visit your campsite . No hookups. Make sure you get the pie.

Wonderful campground inside of the National Park down the road from the visitors center. Gets you a great start to your day on whatever hike you choose to do the morning you wake up. No showers, but we’ll taken care of. The signs all said “No Vacancy” but we tried anyways and the staff gave us one of the few extra spots!

Capitol reef is such an interesting park and so much less crowded than the others in Utah. You’ll see a lot of the same impressive red rocks but fruita is located near the orchards which is such a nice oasis. It’s still the desert, so don’t expect tons of privacy or shade. But the spaces are nice enough and perfect drive into the rest of the park!

Fruita campground is amazing and very well kept. There is potable water and flushing toilets! The sites are very clean and come with a picnic table and fire ring with grill. Some sites have trees close enough to hammock but definitely not all of them. It’s such a lovely campground!

We loved the campground. Easy access to trails, the scenic drive, Gifford House. We were there April 9 for 5 days and it was a busy campground. If visiting Capitol Reef(which is amazing) stay here.

Thie sites in this campground are now $25/night. This is a beautiful campground with lots of shade trees. Some sites are shaded all day long. There are 3 loops. Loop A and B seem to have the most campsites and it's a little louder. The sites in loop C are more spread out.  The campground is well maintained and clean. There's a lovely walking path along the Fremont River that goes from the campground to the Gifford house (the store with the pies) and on to the visitor center. There is no cell reception at the campground, but the Visitor Center has free wifi and is a little more than a mile away. I was told there are public showers in Torrey (11 miles away), but I did not check them out.

We drove through all 3 loops of this campground on a Saturday, and every single site was marked as “reserved.” Luckily we checked with the host, just in case, and they had several spots available! Not sure why they mark the free sites as reserved. 

There are flush toilets (as well as vault toilets), no showers, potable water and a dump station. There are trash bins and recycling (aluminum and plastic only, no glass). Generator hours are limited to 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, which is nice, but boy do all the generators get fired up right on cue when it’s time. 

This campground is within walking distance to several trails, the pie and gift shop, the schoolhouse and petroglyphs along hwy 24, and the visitor center is about a mile away. 

Deer trot right on through the campground, and the surrounding orchards are open for picking at harvest time. There’s no cell service anywhere in this area but the visitor center has free wifi.

General: This is likely the most popular campground in the park and has three loops. Our friends made reservations exactly 6 months ahead (the earliest date possible) and we were lucky to snag two sites. The campground was completely full on a weekend at the end of April and continued to be full on Monday night. 

Site Quality/Facilities: Each site has a double-wide concrete pad that can easily accommodate a camper and an extra vehicle. The picnic table and fire pit are also on concrete. Some sites have a bbq but not all of them do. The sites do not have a lot of separation, but we did not feel crowded. Generators are allowed so there will be noise but despite it being full with lots of kids and dogs, the campground was quiet (not counting generator use). Several hiking trails are accessible directly from the campground as is the Gifford House, which sells delicious pies and cinnamon rolls.

Bathhouse: Basic National Park bathhouse. No hooks but soap and paper towels provided. No showers. It was clean.

Activities/Amenities: Hiking! We hiked the Cohab Canyon trail, accessed directly across the street from Loops A and B and continued on to the Hickman Bridge Trail for a moderately strenuous 6-mile roundtrip hike. The Fremont River Trail is a one-mile out and back trail accessed directly from Loops A and B. We also hiked the Chimney Rock Trail, but you have to drive to the trailhead from the campground. There is an amphitheater with daily programs led by volunteers which were very informative. The Gifford House is within (too easy) walking distance from Loops A and B – the pies and cinnamon rolls will have you wanting to hike to burn off the calories but get there early– the cinnamon rolls sold out within 10 minutes of opening up at 8 am on the Saturday we were there so we made sure we were waiting in line before it opened on Sunday! 

Capitol Reef completes our tour of Utah’s“rock” national parks and it was stunning– well worth a visit.

From helpful camp hosts to spectacular views this campground exceeded our expectations. Great hiking trails from campground. Clean bathrooms. $25 /night

Great little campground in the park. Trails right from the campground. Bathrooms were warm which was nice for the cold nighttime temps. Our site got great sun all day to charge our solar easily. Camphost was very nice. Henrietta the turkey was a fun camp mascot.

Great spot, very clean all of the amenities that you need including potable water.

While there is a group campsite here. We stayed in one of the 70 individual sites. As with many NPs there was no electric service, but the bathrooms were clean and there was running water and an RV dump station in the campground. Each site has a fairly level gravel drive, a picnic table and fire/bbq grill. We put a hammock up in two trees by our site. We were here in the fall with lots of colorful leaves. In the early morning, I saw wild turkeys roaming the campground. The Fruit historic site with fruit orchards and the Gifford House Museum and store are nearby. As we were in the off season, we had our choice of sites.

We stayed here on a whim on our way from Arches to Zion and couldn't have been more surprised with what we saw. There was no cell service, but that was good with us. Less than 10 minutes from the campground were some spectacular petroglyphs that require absolutely no hiking, just some walking on a boardwalk. Bring your binoculars or telephoto lens because they are a distance away. The main location has one of the pay spy glass things, but we generally don't use those. 

The campground itself was PACKED with all varieties of campers- tents, roof top tents, small trailers, large trailers, and motorhomes. The hosts seemed to be active and visible. Toilets and dump stations were on site. Water was at the restrooms (though I'm sure there are hookup sites, we just didn't need one.) 

The history of the campground was what really took us by surprise. A mormon settlement came through and created an orchard that still exists today. During certain seasons you can pick the fruit (probably best to ask the host or the visitor center first, though!)

Very nice campground on grounds of the original homestead lands...old cabins, corals, fruit orchards, wild turkeys and deer wandering thru. However there is NO cell signal for ATT, Verizon or T mobile. Has dumpsters, flush toilets, water, RV dump. However..this cg needs a good wifi network! All sites are reserved no First come first serve unless a cancellation occurs. This cg is hard to get reservations for.

We loved the park and being able to pick fruit from the orchards. However there were tons of noisy RVs and children. No camp-host in sight.

What a nice place to stay. Sites were a good size with all the amenities. Close to some nice hikes, the orchards and the pie place the Gifford house.

We camped here for two nights and loved it. Capitol Reef is my new favorite national park because it feels built for people camping. There are many trails you can access from the campground without driving. The orchards around the park are beautiful, and you will see many mule deer eating from them. P. S. get the pies from the Gifford House; they are amazing and made from fruit grown in the park!!!

Great campground located at the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park.

Camped here during the pandemic and enjoyed a very comfortable and beautiful experience. The site I called in was in a great location near the campground hosts and the entrance. It was very quiet even though it was completely full.

The loops within the campground are well marked and everyone was very respectful when driving or at their sites. The views during the day are great with the fruit orchards around you, and a backdrop of the beautiful surrounding mountains.

There is a great little store and museum (Gifford House) within the campground area. They have fantastic fruit pies and ice cream. The Rangers and staff are all very nice and super helpful.

At night you have a great dark sky view of the Milky Way. You have to walk out of the tree covered campsites onto Scenic Drive, but it's well worth it.

I also had my bike with me and rode it the next morning up the scenic drive and explored some of the areas within the National Park. Later I drove my Jeep into the park and really got to enjoy how close the sites are to the beautiful scenery.

The orchards around the campground are available at times to pick fresh fruit. This also draws on a lot of wildlife like the deer in my pictures. The orchard parking got very crowded as the day went on. If you are in the campground, you can take a walk to the orchards.

The only downside is the fact you have absolutely no cell service once into the park, and this includes the campground area. There is wifi provided for emergencies by the hosts. But if you need cell service, or data, you need to actually drive nearly 20 min to the town of Torrey. The town has limited cell service as well as town wide wifi.

Even with this drawback, I would return to the Fruita Campground any time.

We booked a spot for two nights about a week in advance. The spot was large and had plenty of room for the tent.

No showers but there was a tall tree to hang out camp shower from.

There were evening programs that the park was putting on so it was really cool that it is still going on through COVID.

Mask mandates in all federal buildings.

Some good trails right from campground. Cohob canyon, Fremont river, and a mile trail to visitor center.

This campground was so pretty and the grass around the camp was so nice to have. And it’s right by the shop where you can get pie every night after a long day of hiking, cherry pie on top of a lovely day.

Stayed a few nights in late April when all the orchards were in full bloom. The sites were spacious and the campground was quiet. Great being so close to some awesome hikes. Being in the canyon there was no cell coverage.

The campground is very quiet at night. The sites on loop C are spaced out, i have been in other campground where you are uncomfortably too close to you neighbors. The bathrooms are clean,  not the Ritz-Carlton but you are camping so...

The Gifford house is a short walk away and they have fresh pies every morning.  I have stayed here two years in a row around the same time of the year, end of September beginning of October. The weather is great for long hikes you may need wind breaker or sweater in the mornings.