We stayed at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in Vernal, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

• Check in: 2022-06-11
• Check out: 2022-06-13
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps around 96°F, lows around 61-65°F

Noise:

• No road or train noise
• Lots of neighbor noise the first night

Site:

• #16, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
• Not very level
• Chock full of weeds; kinda run-down looking
• Large site: about 75 feet long by about 45 feet wide
• Full hookups:
• 50 amp power conveniently located
• 100 PSI water pressure (regulator required!); conveniently located
• Didn’t use the sewer connection, since only there a couple of nights
• Picnic table, fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 13-17 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
• AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
• Verizon: 9 Mbps down, 10-14 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Past its prime park, close to Dinosaur

Roads are very tight and people park all their extra vehicles all over the place, blocking the road. The layout of the park is not very well thought out. All the pull-through rows are long, with no pathways to get from one edge of the park to the next. As a consequence, we had people walking right through our site to get between the bathroom and the dog park. I’ve never seen so many rude and clueless campers. Our site was so full of weeds we couldn’t use the outdoor area. It looked like there may have been a shade tarp over the outdoor area at some point, but there’s nothing left but the posts now, which were inconveniently located so we couldn’t put out our awning. Overall, it seems like this might once have been a terrific park that’s gone to seed (literally). The nightly rate is after I exchanged $50 in KOA points; otherwise, it would have been extremely overpriced for what it is. We camped at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in a Motorhome. 

The RV park map:

Our site (I’ve previously masked out our coach and truck license plates, but am not going to bother anymore; I don’t think showing them is a significant risk):

The site is full of weeds:

Utilities:

On the first night, we had several people walking through our site, which is a major faux pas in campgrounds:

The reason was that the bathroom block was opposite us, and inconsiderate people couldn’t be bothered walking a little further:

If you’re new to camping, make a note: do not walk through other people’s sites. It’s very rude.

Elsewhere, some cabins:

An empty site:

The office:

Playground, mini-golf:

We stayed at Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey in Montrose, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

• Check in: 2022-06-05
• Check out: 2022-06-11
• 6 nights

Weather:

• Mosty sunny
• High temps ranging between 83-96°F, lows around 53-60°F
• Some afternoon wind

Noise:

• Some road noise, no train noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #5, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
• Not very level
• Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 28 feet wide
• Full hookups:
• 50 amp power conveniently located
• I didn’t note the water pressure; conveniently located
• Acceptable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
• Picnic table

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 31-41 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
• Verizon: 0.5-2 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 65-190 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• Package pick up in office

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Black Canyon National Park

Firstly, I must give a shout-out to the wonderful lady in the front office who saved me from an error in dates. I’d accidentally booked the week before we were planning on being there. She called me up after we no-showed and asked if we were on our way. After discovering my error, she very helpfully rebooked us for the following week and didn’t even charge me the usual fee to do so. That’s what I call excellent customer service!

The park itself is your pretty standard KOA Journey. We had a nice, long pull-through with mature trees giving good shade all day. The downside to the nice, long pull-through site on the first row meant that everyone and their dog used the empty neighboring sites as a shortcut to the rest of the park. Our site was also not at all level; the automatic leveler gave up and I had to work hard to get them leveled manually. We camped at Montrose / Black Canyon Nat’l Park KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

The weather for our stay:

Our site before parking:

Our site:

We visited another national park while here, so added a sticker; the last for a month:

It wasn’t quite as windy as elsewhere, so we were able to use our window awnings for the first time in a while:

Breakfast for dinner! Griddle potatoes, bacon, and eggs:

Sunset:

Let’s walk around. The KOA sign, with the office behind; our site was beyond the stop sign and cabin on the left:

A model plane ornament:

Swimming pool:

Pavilion:

Quite a nice-looking cabin; our site was behind this:

More cabins:

A fiver in the site next to ours; interestingly the bedroom slide-out has a slide-out:

More RVs:

A Spyder motorcycle arriving, pulling a trailer:

The trailer transformed into a surprisingly large tent:

Our coach again, with the main awning out:

We stayed at Ancient Cedars Mesa Verde RV Park in Mancos, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

• Check in: 2022-05-29
• Check out: 2022-06-05
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Mosty sunny, some clouds, a little drizzle on a couple of days
• High temps ranging between 61-80°F, lows around 33-46°F
• Some afternoon wind, not as bad as previous places

Noise:

• Negligible road noise, no train noise
• Some neighbor noise, cleared out during the week

Site:

• #607, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
• Very large site: about 90 feet long by about 45 feet wide
• Full hookups:
• 50 amp power somewhat conveniently located
• Low water pressure, 35 PSI, somewhat conveniently located (boosted with coach water tank and pump)
• Bad sewer connection (too low in surrounding concrete), not very conveniently located (2 10 foot hoses used)
• Picnic table; fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 14 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 0.3 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
• AT&T: 1.5 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
• Verizon: 0.3 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 200 ms ping
• Campground Wi-Fi: limited; not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool, closed for season; hot tub
• Mini golf; playground; dog park; etc
• Package delivery to site about half of the time, pick up in office the other half

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

As close to Mesa Verde as you can be!

We totally lucked out and got the most massive site in the park, complete with a full view of Mesa Verde. It was absolutely wonderful in that regard. The other sites near us were not so spacious. Water pressure was pretty low (about 35 psi) so we just filled up our tank and ran off of that. They also need to trim some of the trees the park is named for, as it was a little hard to navigate some of the roads with our 40′ motorhome. The main draw is to visit Mesa Verde National Park. The visitor center and entrance station were very close, allowing us to make nearly daily trips to check out the park at different times of day. There are other national monuments within easy driving distance as well. We camped at Ancient Cedars Mesa Verde RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

The weather was a bit changable:

Since this was a new state for us, after we had slept there the first night, we were able to add a new state to our map:

After visiting the Mesa Verde National Park, we could add that sticker too:

As Jenn mentioned, our site was the largest in the park:

Other RV sites weren’t so large:

A nice old barn and a view of the mesa:

The office:

Cabins:

A hot tub:

The pool was closed for the season:

A nice mini golf course:

And a very large dog park with agility obstacles:

A central open area:

Next to our site was a community fire pit, but (fortunately for us) it wasn’t in use due to a fire ban:

Our site again:

The ground was covered with these little flowers:

The utilities weren’t ideal; a bit far, low water pressure, and not a good seal on the sewer:

Me working outside, though it wasn’t particularly warm:

Jenn playing a game outside:

Our truck and coach getting ready to leave:

We stayed at Monument Valley KOA Journey in Monument Valley, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

• Check in: 2022-05-22
• Check out: 2022-05-29
• 7 nights

Weather:

• A mix of sunny and cloudy
• High temps ranging between 73-89°F, lows around 46-60°F
• Some afternoon wind, with 45 MPH gusts on the last day

Noise:

• Negligible road noise, no train noise
• Frequently changing neighbors, mostly quiet

Site:

• #6, pull-through, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
• Smallish site: about 40 feet long by about 35 feet wide
• Full hookups:
• 50 amp power somewhat conveniently located; running ACs on a hot day overloaded the circuit a few times
• Good water pressure, 65 PSI, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, conveniently located
• Picnic table; fire pit; charcoal grill

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 31 Mbps down, 6-11 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
• AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 59 ms ping
• Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• T-Mobile: no service
• Campground Wi-Fi: apparently slow; not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpster
• No pool
• Package delivery to our site

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

The view you imagine when you imagine a Western

A bit overpriced for what it is, but you can’t beat the panoramic views of one of the most iconic landscapes in America. We had a 50amp pull-through site, which was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome and we parked our tow vehicle alongside, with plenty of room left over for outdoor living space. The sites and roads could use another layer of gravel to keep the dust down. It’s a fairly basic park, but very convenient for visiting Monument Valley, Goosenecks State Park, Bears Ears National Monument, etc. We camped at Monument Valley KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Here’s the weather for our time here. Two screenshots; the first is using the GPS location, which for some reason lists us as Moab, even though it’s over 100 miles from Moab. And the second searching for Monument Valley. Close enough, regardless:

Our site:

Since there was no T-Mobile connectivity, which is our preference for unlimited internet, I set up the Starlink dish:

Electrical and water utilities; the electrical pedestal is in a strange place, but the water and sewer are conveniently placed:

65 PSI water pressure (I have a regulator to limit it to 60 PSI):

Table, fire pit, and charcoal grill, with our rug and chairs:

This is a very scenic location, with several buttes nearby:

Sunset every night saw several people lined up along the fence, taking pictures:

Another sunset:

Let’s walk around. Here’s the entrance, with another butte beyond:

The office, and Jeep rentals:

Other RVs:

Bathroom:

Playground:

Dog park:

More RVs and views:

A nice-looking skoolie — a retired school bus, converted into an RV. Many RV parks don’t allow skoolies, or other custom or older RVs, but this KOA obviously doesn’t have that rule:

Our coach, with the skoolie beyond:

Our coach:

Another skoolie, not so nice looking:

There are horse tours available next to the RV park (we did such a tour; stay tuned for that):

This being a KOA Journey park, it tends to have a high turnover of occupants; it can empty out during the day, then fill up again by the evening:

Watching the sunset:

Jenn playing a videogame outside:

Sunset between the truck and coach:

On the day before we left, there was a lot of wind (with 45 MPH gusts), kicking up a lot of dust:

We pulled in our front passenger slide-out to reduce the rocking and rattling of the slide topper.