Bears Ears National Monument · Utah
Overview Sand Island Recreation Area is a good camping option for visitors launching San Juan River float trips , or wishing to camp close to the town of Bluff or the Cedar Mesa area of Bears Ears National Monument. The campground provides 21 campsites that each feature a tent/trailer space, a picnic table, a fire ring, and vault toilets. Drinking water is available seasonally (typically March through October).
Sites at Sand Island Recreation Area are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 23 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Standard |
| Location | Monticello, UT |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
ItOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Sand Island Recreation Area around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Superbowl Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Creek Pasture Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Hamburger Rock Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Creek Pasture Group Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Indian Creek Falls Group Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Superbowl Group Site | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Sand Island Recreation Area; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.