Hittle Bottom Campground
- otomola
- Oct 19, 2025
- 2 min read
October 17-19, 2025
Hittle Bottom Campground is located just west of miler marker 22 on Utah Route 128. I drove there from Colorado National Monument on Friday, October 16, arriving around 10:30 AM. I found an open campsite, #14, and I think it is the same site I stayed at in May 2023. The landscape and views around the campground are wonderful. I was thinking to myself how lucky to be here, how wonderful that was, too.
I stayed two nights and had a fantastic time. The weather was great, low 60s daytime, high 30s overnight. Mostly blue skies daytime and a star filled sky at night that was out of this world. It’s amazing how many stars one can see in places like this, far from light pollution. Clear. The Milky Way was clearly visible, too. Just look up and see it crossing the sky. The sky was just amazing, amazing, amazing.
I did three rides while there, staying on Route 128 from the campground riding west up to Dewey Bridge and back a number of times, about thirty miles each day. I also hiked the Amphitheater Trail, which is right across the street from the campground, a three mile loop with one short, rocky section that climbs 250 feet. The rest of the trail has gentle slopes. There was an abundance of fantastic views.
I met a few people in the campground. Mike was from Texas, traveling with a camper on his pickup truck. He is a photographer, and he was a little disappointed that there were no clouds in the sky. He says it adds a level of character to a photograph. I agree that it does, but a cloudless day has its own character, too, especially with the deep blue over these multicolor sandstone landscapes. The contrast is special.
I met a couple from Grand Junction with a short Class C camper. They bought it from Cruise America and did some work on it, which removed all evidence that it had been in the Cruise America fleet. They were traveling with two dogs and two eBikes with plans to do some slickrock riding on Saturday, after they went to a Scottish Festival and a Pow-wow event in Moab. They had a full day planned.
Interestingly, I was waved down by two women parked on the side of the road while on my Sunday ride. They simply wanted to ask me a question as to how far I was riding. They were from Oregon, had a new looking Tahoe with California plates (rental), and were in Moab on a hiking trip with Road Scholars for a week. One of their several days of hikes will be Devil’s Garden, but they did not know the names of other hikes. I told them I was going to Devil’s Garden Campground, right near the trailhead for that hike. It was fun talking with them. Maybe I’ll see them again. You never know.
There is also a put in/take out ramp for river rafting the Colorado River at this campground. It was very active ...
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