Exploring Moab with Kids
Heading to the warmer weather of Moab, UT with kids for spring break or summer vacation is a GREAT option that the entire family will enjoy!
There are family friendly activities wherever you go, and we never felt like we were limited because we had the kids in tow.
That said, Moab is known for their off road adventures, and our two year old was just too young to enjoy (or be able to go) on anything like that. Mountain biking is also a big deal in Moab, and having the two littles makes it tougher to enjoy mountain biking together. So I will say because of those reasons, Moab is an even BETTER place to visit if you have older kids who love to adventure!
First, a note on boondocking in Moab
Moab is a GREAT place to boon dock! We follow so many traveling families that dry camp on BLM land for free.
And we… tried.
I didn’t have any RV park reservations for us our final days in Moab with the plan to boon dock. We scouted out places ahead of time, and while a LOT of what I found seemed to already be taken, the roads to the other places were ROUGH. Our home is so so valuable to us, and it didn’t feel feasible to take our 42 foot fifth wheel down any of the designated dirt roads. So we did not dry camp the entire time we were in Moab.
But this is the blog post we used to scout out our locations, and feel like it’s a good one if you’re up for the adventure.
Do your research ahead of time, scout it out beforehand if you can, and give it a try! It just wasn’t a right fit for us on our first trek out.
Where We Stayed
The following campgrounds and locations for our 42 foot fifth wheel (Montana High Country 377FL) were great!
Any time I blog about locations, know that I’ll include a note if we ran into any problems parking and staying in our big rig (see blow, eh hem).
Dead Horse Point State Park: Wingate Campground
This was (to date) one of our favorite stays! We LOVE state parks, and you could literally see the canyon’s edge from our site. You could even take a short hike to the edge, or just drive 10 minutes down the road to see the iconic scenes. It’s also SUPER close to Canyonlands National Park, and about a 45 minute drive to Arches National Park if you want to do it all from this location.
Note: this campground does not have sewer or water. But we stayed four nights, and were just fine on our supply. We emptied on the way out at the campground’s dump station.
This was NOT our first choice. This was the backup plan to us boondocking, and the only campground we could book last minute for three nights. (We really wanted to stay at Sun Outdoors!) But it turned out to be a pretty cool stay in the heart of Moab, convenient to downtown and Arches.
This is THE campground to go to if you have your fun Moab overland vehicles. Everyone would rumble out in the morning, and rumble back in around dinner.
Pros: Mostly big rig friendly, great laundry facility, pool, and activities. REALLY nice sites if you feel like paying a lot of money for them. Right down the street from Arches National Park entrance (literally 5 - 10 minutes away!).
Cons: We were in the ghetto area of the park. The “in field” if you will, camping out on dirt with gross picnic tables, super close to our neighbor. We were surrounded by other rows with ample room, concrete pads, and upgraded facilities. So it felt like we were stuck in a weird hole.
We also hit a tree. We pulled forward out of our pull-thru site (go figure), only to find there was no way around a particular branch that hung too low. The groundskeeper saw us, and told us this was a routine problem site for big rigs, and we needed to back out.
This would have been nice to know when we pulled in! We were also newbies, so now we know to look for the low branches when pulling out.
What we did in Moab, Utah with kids
Dead Horse Point State Park has some of the best canyon views in the Moab area. This BEAUTIFUL park has a convenient Visitor Center with lots of fun history and souvenirs, and hikes around the canyon edge and beyond. (We actually found the beauty of the canyons surrounding the Visitor Center to be just as great as the iconic Point!)
Bike trails also start at the center and take you between the campgrounds, all the way out to the Point.
Why is it called Dead Horse Point State Park? Legend has it that the point used to be used to corral wild mustangs roaming the mesa top since the passage to the point was only about 30 yards wide. One time, the Cowboys allegedly left 1,000 horses in the corral and never returned… all of the horses dying from lack of water (though the Colorado River was 2,000 feet below).
Find a full map of the Dead Horse State Park area here.
Note that a fee of $20 per registered vehicle is required to enter the park.
Orange Cliffs Overlook in Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park
Map of the Island in the Sky district (by the entrance of Dead Horse Point State Park).
This was a bonus National Park visit for us because we had no idea that there was access to this park (the Island in the Sky district) right down the road from Dead Horse Point State Park. Once discovered, we knew we had to go!
The drive around was phenomenal, and we pulled over to do a few hikes here and there.
Our rule for trails around the canyon with kids: if you can SEE the whole trail, or it’s paved, you know it’s safe for little kids.
There were obviously a lot of trails with descents, and took you very close to edges, making us uncomfortable. So we played it pretty safe, and if we got to use the stroller, bonus!
There is the usual National Park entrance fee for this park, but as always, an America the Beautiful Pass gets you in, too!
What We Did:
Canyonlands Island in the Sky Visitor Center (open from 8 – 5).
We always love our Visitor Center visits, even if we do get roped into spending money on things we weren’t planning to buy.
This was an educational Visitor Center, had some pretty cool items, and of course had an area for us to collect our passport stamps!
Shafer Canyon Overlook
This was a really neat little walk atop a mesa, just down the road from the Visitor Center. It has a stone pathway, and is easy for even the littlest kids to toddle around on. That said… there’s obviously quite the canyon edge on all sides once you’re out at the overlook! But it’s nice and wide, so we weren’t too nervous.
See that trail? That’s the Shafer Trail, and we were VERY tempted to off road it in our RAM truck… though it would have been a bad idea with our stiff suspension and long 8 ft. bed. But if you have the means, check it out, because this is a popular trail that seems epic!
Easy half mile hike that our five-year-old loved!
This is THE most popular hike in the area, so get there early if you can as the parking lot fills up quickly!
Picnic in a designated area with beautiful views.
There are picnic area pull-offs throughout the drive. Find one that looks great (for us it was finding one that fits our truck) and bust out the sandwiches! Trash cans are around, so make sure to use those to clean up.
And remember… there’s always a canyon edge closer than you think!
Arches National Park
Grab a map and enjoy driving the entire park in a short (or long) one day visit! We did it in two days, and revisited some of our favorite hikes. The arch areas are all fairly easy to explore, even if you don’t do the full trails.
For our full blog post all about Arches National Park, go here!
What we did:
Park Avenue and Courthouse Towers
This was a great first stop getting into the park and seeing our first towering red rocks. Pull over, walk, take photos… it’s all paved and an easy viewing spot. There are other trails that stem from this area, but we wanted to see different sites so we continued on.
This is a great area to walk around with a stroller, and then park it to take a short walk to go see the Balanced Rock. You can see the mountains in the distance, and the rocks are good for the kids to scramble and get acquainted with traversing this unique terrain.
This was one of my personal favorites since it’s such an easy walk, yet SO magnificent, AND plenty of room for exploring!
We actually tried to climb up the inside “bowl” under the arches, and then slid down a little ways (this is not considered a part of the arch, so it’s legal). Our son LOVED that, and found it really adventurous. It’s definitely a popular one, so the parking lot fills up quickly. But we snagged a spot that fit our large truck fairly easily going in the spring and mid afternoon timeframe.
It’s like playing at the beach without the water. So much cool, beautiful sand! And entirely shaded. The kids could play without us worrying about anything, and they loved scrambling on the rocks and finding their own passage ways.
The trail to the arch as pretty neat, too, as you had to squeeze through one area.
The arch itself isn’t all that spectacular, but it didn’t matter!
There are plenty of hikes in Arches that ARE suitable for older kids, but not for younger ones. These were our “super safe and trusty” go-to hikes, but if you’re a little more daring and adventurous, don’t miss one of the most popular hikes, the Delicate Arch Hike.
Explore Downtown Moab
Moab rumbles from all of the overland vehicles zipping up and down its streets. It’s definitely a unique little place surrounded by beautiful red mesas, and one we enjoyed exploring by foot.
With kids you’re pretty limited with your shopping time, but break it up with some good stops for food, and you’ll last the whole morning or afternoon.
Here are the places we went for shopping and food in Moab:
Moab Coffee Roasters (we have a tradition where we buy locally roasted coffee beans wherever we go!)
Moab Diner (hello breakfast! This place was popular, too!)
Simply Moab (we loved the products we found in this shop that were related to our trip)
Moab Food Truck Park (always go for the taco trucks)
Moab Made (local artists and artisan products)
Overall, touring Moab, Utah with kids was tons of fun! They loved being able to climb rocks, play in the sand, and stop for warm and sunny picnic lunches. WE loved the views, but it’s hard to get little kids to appreciate views! There were a few days in the truck that the tears flowed, but it was nothing snacks and a good soundtrack couldn’t fix.
