Green River, Utah is about 45 minutes outside of Moab. If you are looking for a cheap hotel stay or hotels that are dog-friendly, you might even accidentally book one on one of those cheap travel sites ( I know I almost did this when we lived in Denver!). My husband, daughter, dogs and myself headed out last weekend for a little camping adventure…with no plans in mind except wanting to be near a river. After all, the temps are still hot on the western slope and the desert, so we knew we’d need a way for the dogs to cool off. So we headed to Green River, knowing there was a road that paralleled the river just outside of town. We figured we’d primitive camp, which. means no paying for a site, but no toilets or picnic tables either. However, upon driving down the dirt road outside of town, we made a discovery….
A beautiful $15 a night spot with no one around:
I actually thought this campsite was closed when we arrived, because there was no one here ON A SATURDAY! But lo and behold, that’s just what you get when you travel a little outside of the box. For $15 a night you get a clean campsite, picnic tables, a fire pit pit toilets and waterfront property. The site also has a day-use area that had a really nice sandy beach that was perfect for swimming and sunset photos.
Where is this campsite you ask? It’s called Swasey’s Beach Campground. There are 12 sites total with some sites intended for large groups. There is a hike across from the campsite, which we did not adventure on, as well as BLM land past the campsite where we found petroglyphs and a boat launch area. You could park a car at the launch area and raft down to your campsite or just raft or paddle for the day as well.
If you look at the map I linked on the BLM website, there’s lots of hikes in the area as well, which are perfect for cooler temps. The campsite was also surrounded by cottonwoods, which would be dreamy in the fall.
The only downside to the campsite was ours had quite a bit of fire ants and once the sun went down, being by the river the flying bugs really made an appearance. This attracted quite a few bats who were swooping down quite a bit near us. The sound of rushing water as we slept was lovely, but not so much the group who decided they were going to use the campsite as a party meeting spot at about 8:30pm. We flashed our lights a few times and they left…I think they didn’t realize that people actually camp here. I suspect they were locals who frequent the area to have parties on the weekends, since this area clearly doesn’t get much overnight use. However, once the group left and the stars came out, it was a perfect evening.
After our night under the stars we headed across the town of Green River towards some BLM land that nearly runs into Canyonlands National Park. We wanted to find Colonade Arch (or Five Hole Arch), but this is also the area we came to hike Moonshine Wash…which is a little-known slot canyon off the same road.
Colonnade Arch is about an hour and a half from Green River on a dirt road and the last part of the road, you definitely need a high clearance 4x4 vehicle. Never attempt to drive this road if it’s raining or has been raining, as it will be muddy and washed out and you’ll be stuck for who knows how long. I didn’t have cell service at our campsite, but I will say, I had service all along the road to get to Colonnade Arch.
Here are the directions to Colonnade Arch we followed from Green River:
*Turn right on airport road
in 2.4 miles Turn left
In 12 miles take a slight right
0.7 miles Sharp left onto Lower San Rafael Road
in 16 miles turn right to stay on Co road 1025
in 6.4 miles turn left onto co road 1026
in 4 miles end at co rd 1026
You’ll see an obvious parking area with some primitive fire rings, but the actual parking area is to the left of the first parking area and this is where it dead ends.
I had read from the parking area simply follow the cairns to the arch. Well, I can say that it took us almost an hour to reach the arch following the cairns along the slick rock. However, on the way back we found a much easier way.
From the parking area you’ll see on the left hand side an old road that has since been blocked off. There was also a cairn on this dirt road. We followed it to a wooden fence, bypassed the fence, then kept following the cairns until they led us to a little arch and once we went through this we saw the big 5 hole arch on the other side. I will say this took about 30 minutes and had we followed this route in and out, we would have had a much easier time.
You will have a really nice view of the Green River from here and what leads into Canyonlands. There was no one on our hike here on a Sunday which was amazing. We found a little water pool for our dogs, but other than some juniper trees and this arch there is no shade and no water. So pack more than you need and go early in the day or late in the evening (don’t forget headlamps!)
Green River area is often overlooked, but has a lot of fun areas to explore off the beaten path! I hope you enjoy spending time, if you go and have yourself and adventure!
Happy trails and thanks for subscribing!