With Utah native and camping expert Jeffery Steadman on your side, the very best tent camping in Utah is only a quick read away. Hand selected for their appeal to tent campers who love seclusion, beauty, quiet, and security, the 50 campsites profiled in The Best in Tent Camping: Utah represent the best of the best. Along with a detailed profile and useful at-a-glance information, campground maps show layout, individual sites, and key facilities. Driving directions supplemented with GPS-based coordinates for each campground entrance make getting there a snap.

Jeffrey Steadman started camping in Utah at the age of 12. Since then, he's logged countless nights under the stars and hundreds of miles on the trail.

Stealing horses in the nineteenth century was hard work. Thieves pilfered them from Moab ranchers in the La Sal Mountains and drove them west across the dry and dusty trail towards the Henry Mountains Range. Horsethief Campground marks the area where they turned the stolen goods southwest to cross the distant Green River on their way to Robber’s Roost.
Today, the area is home to 56 campsites on three loops named for notable western horse breeds: Buckskin, Cayuse, and Appaloosa. As you enter the campsite from the road, Buckskin and Cayuse loops are on your left. For privacy, your best bets are the more distanced sites 44 through 50 on the Cayuse Loop, although privacy is a relative term in the pinyon-juniper forests of southeastern Utah. Scrubby juniper and sage do little to shield you from your neighbor or provide shade from the sun. Decide when you want your shade—morning or evening—then pick your site accordingly.
Campsites on the south side of the Appaloosa loop boast the best views of the gentle slope and the small ridge that’s located about a half-mile from the camp. If you want a better view of the distant Henry Mountains take the short, well-marked hike out to the ridge. It’s less than a mile, and the trailhead is on the Appaloosa loop between sites 13 and 14.