Palisade State Park — Attraction in Four Corners States

Why 3 stars? If you're like me, and you research like crazy, and book 4-6 months out for ALL your camping trips, you'll understand. We arrived on a Wednesday and the site that we booked, right one the water, looked like a public swimming pool. It's seems messed up that a double camping site has a maximum of 16 people, a single site, a maximum of 8, but people can come up for the day here, pay a mere $15-$20, and cram 40 people at one picnic table in the day use area, right in front of a campsite that costs $50/night. There were SIX picnic tables in front of our campsite, that was supposed to be beach front, which ended up being more like looking at the bums and backs of hundreds of people. It was insane. We almost turned around and left immediately. Our double site, that had a 75 foot driveway, was charged an extra $15/night for having two cars and one motorhome. Yet, the website said the double site included two cars and would accommodate two motorhomes. Basically, the double site means TWO vehicles with motors. So had we had two trucks that pulled two 25 foot trailers, it would've been included in the cost. But two vehicles and one motorhome, that took up 55 feet, wasn't included. Kind of a rip off. Especially since all of our stuff fit in the driveway with tons of room to spare. And, we were only 8 campers. In my 30 years of camping, I have never seen ruder, or maybe just completely oblivious, people in my life. People will walk right through your campsite to get to the bathrooms. In the four days we were there, we had people walk in between our tent and campfire, which was about a 5 foot space, over 30 times. People would come and sit at the picnic table in our campsite. People would come and park their cars to unload their stuff in our campsite. These were all day use people. The people that come to Palisade as day-users are of the dominant culture in Utah and they have no clue about personal space or respect. But, even worse, Palisade allows the people that are paying, fairly large money, for very little amenities, as overnight campers, to be booted out of their space by the day users. The people that come for the day totally trash the place. There was food residual and wrappers everywhere. The trash can by the swim beach day use area was overflowing the entire time. It gets emptied Friday afternoon, but by Saturday afternoon it was totally full. It was overflowing when we arrived Wednesday and we had to wait two days for it to be emptied. We had to clean dog poop off the grass area of our camp area and we had to ask them to clean up the picnic area, because it was covered in old mushy food. We spent 30 minutes when we got there just picking up trash in our campsite. There are several people that run Palisade ranging from very young to seniors. The two senior ladies that work there are very rude, abrupt, and don't even try to make you feel welcome. The word "host" doesn't befit them. The kids are just that, kids, and they are nice enough, but defer to the rude older women for all questions. Now, for the area itself; Palisade it gorgeous. The 6 mile canyon where we rode our ATVs was stunning and had several places to stop to take in the beauty of Utah. But again, the people that go up there seem to have this entitled attitude and will take up everything. Including the road space. We were nearly ran off the road two times while out on ATVs. The water was lovely. We had a great time swimming, kayaking, floating, and walking around the lake. It's just too bad they have allowed the day users to come up and destroy the camping experience of all. Take out 50% of the picnic tables and put a maximum of 8 day users at one table, just like the campsites, and this place would remain a sparkling gem in Utah. Palisade has gotten greedy and has let itself go downhill by allowing the hundreds of day use people to come up and destroy the place. Will I come back? Yes, I will, but I will stay FAR away from the day use areas which feel like a disgusting, trashy, public...

I am reluctant to write this review. Palisade State Park was a great place for our family spend time and reconnect with each other.

Pros: *Multiple accommodation types; wood cabins (mini-fridge, microwave, and AC!!!), tent cabins, tent spaces, and trailer spaces. *Showers (open 5pm - 10am); shared by community, NOT community showers. *Flush toilets (open 24-hours); shared by community, have stalls and doors. *"Lake"; swimming, fishing, floating platform on North-end *Rentals available; camping gear, canoes, pedal-boats, golf carts etc. *Fire pits available (bring wood, or buy there) *Large trees, lots of shade *Golf course (I'm not a golfer, can't expound on this one). *Four-Wheeling areas nearby (Didn't do this either, but other families had them).

Cons: *Showers and bathrooms had flying bugs, bathrooms stank at times, and toilet paper got low (bring some, just in case!). Regardless, I'd rather have the amenities in those conditions than not have any, at all. *Beach area on the North-side is very small/narrow and can get crowded. *Floating Pier on the North-side was broken, separated from land, had to jump/wade to get on it. Not a deal breaker, but was hoping to fish from it without risking an injury.

Compared against much of the camping I've done previously, this was a luxurious spot and I didn't feel my CONS/complaints were deal breakers. Before we had left, the family planners were already working to schedule our next get-together here. I think it'll be a regular spot for us, hence, my reluctance to write this review and possibly convince you to come and compete with us for space in the future. It was a good spot to camp. I hope give this...

We visited the second week in October 2020 and the lake was CRAZY low! We were in the Wakara big group site. We had a few issues. First of all the power hookups are the farthest from the pavilion which was really inconvenient. But there was a water spicket and hose by the pavilion that was not listed on the website. We were not told how the lights worked for the pavilion so we went without the first night. We had to wait almost a half an hour the second night for the ranger to turn them on. Our biggest complaint, however is that the group site is not marked at ALL. The grassy area that belongs to the group site was covered in dog poop. And without signs, other campers were continually using the grassy area and the parking areas. The camper in the spot across from the pavilion stole the firewood that was dropped off at the pavilion for us, assuming it was common area and that it was up for grabs. I even had one gal argue with me that the parking space directly next to our camper was common area and always has been. The bathrooms were clean with flushing toilets and hot and cold running water. The showers were decent. The shower head in the handicapped stall was way better than the shower heads in the rest of the stalls. Our kids had fun riding bikes and scooters around camp and down to the play ground. We will be coming back to stay sometime but not at that site. It's not worth the money without it being marked with clear signs that the lot, pavilion and grassy area belong to...