Green River State Park — Attraction in Green River

Nestled in Green River, Utah, the term "state park" might mislead you about what Green River State Park truly offers. Imagine the grandeur of southern Utah’s national parks—Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, and Capitol Reef—each unique and awe-inspiring. Southern Utah boasts 11 state parks and 5 national parks, but Green River State Park seems out of place in this rugged landscape.

Green River State Park doesn’t reflect the true essence of southern Utah. It contrasts sharply with the nearby vast, underexplored public lands of Emery County, where you can experience the high desert in relative solitude. Unlike the crowded and overrun Moab, Green River offers nearly the exact same geology, challenging trails and expansive public land, including access to the Maze District of Canyonlands, where you can find peace and isolation. Moab’s popularity often detracts from genuine exploration with its overcrowded trails and intrusive tourism.

Green River itself, while quieter, presents its own set of issues. The town is largely neglected, with dilapidated buildings and high prices. Many homes are for Airbnb tourists rather than locals, and essential goods are overpriced. Local businesses and city councils seem more focused on profit than community welfare, which hurts both residents and visitors.

However, the natural beauty surrounding Green River is its redeeming feature. If you can overlook the town’s shortcomings and focus on exploring the desert, you’ll find stunning vistas, silence, and solitude. The high desert’s vastness offers a true sense of exploration away from the crowds.

Green River State Park is an extreme disappointment if you're seeking desert adventure. It’s essentially a crowded half-golf course with no other appeal. Being a golf course, they lay sod. Sod is more valuable to them than your comfort, so if you have a tent to pitch, you’ll be pitching it in the gravel. Law enforcement is aggressive, including “consensual encounters” (A consensual encounter is a job requirement, initiated by law enforcement, disguised by pleasantries, to buy time while they look for things to ticket you for. Their job description dictates that they must make 500 "consensual encounters" per season. Tourists are how the bills are paid. If you're going to stay at a state or national anything in Utah, you better have done your law research well, and have all your i's dotted and t's crossed. Moab is exponentially worse than Green river. Moab has earned the slogan "Come to Moab on vacation, leave on probation." This is no joke. Grand county very rarely lets someone out on bail. Caught with a beer while driving a side by side? Well, since Utah has a disproportionate hatred for alcohol, you'll likely be in jail for weeks with zero recourse. If you don't have a few extra thousand dollars for a lawyer and they get you, you’ll get a public defender and be in jail for weeks to months.) They have to make their money during the busy season. The busy season is when you’re going to be here. If an officer approaches you, exercise your right to be left alone. Ask if you are free to leave, and leave. Nothing more to it. All they want from you is to discover an infraction and make money off your mistakes. When you are having “friendly consensual encounter” with them, you are gifting them the time to discover said infraction you didn't even know was an infraction.

For a genuine desert experience, drive past the state park, don’t even acknowledge it, head right at the stop sign, cross the railroad tracks, and take the left fork onto BLM1010 after about 1.5miles. This road leads you through true wilderness, many authentically different geologic layers. Just drive down BLM1010 until you see something that makes you go “damn, that’s cool” and boondock or pitch your tent right there. Embrace the true desert experience with its clean air and dark skies, and enjoy memorable adventures away from the disappointments of Green River and its state park.

These are pics of things you may see if you DONT stay at the...

After long day on the road, had booked this spot as a short one night stay. Arrived in somewhat late about an hour before sun down. First of all, very limited signage as to which way was where on the roads. I eventually found the marked spot and proceeded to back in. This was ridiculously tight spot for what they said would fit a 30 foot RV. Anyway, I had no option but to drive on the grass and slowly back in. Complicating matters was a huge tree on one side of the site that was leaning deeply into the road on one side and a huge boulder/rock on the other side. Seriously, WHY????? Anyway, after 5-10 minutes of easing in there, I realize (as others have pointed out) they put the hook ups on the wrong damn side of the campsite!! I confirmed later with my receipt this was considered a back in site for this size of RV. I can promise you, there is no way to back in without driving quite a ways onto the grass into another person’s camp site to maneuver in there. And man it’s treacherous given the trees and boulders on each side of the lot. So, anyway, to avoid going all night without my electrical hook up (end of June), I pulled back out, went back around and came back to pull in and park forward instead of backing in so I could access the electric. Swinging as wide as I could without hitting the boulder on the driver's side, I thought I was clear of the massive hanging trunk of a tree on the passenger side (see picture), but NO. As I pulled in, the trunk, scraped the top side of the RV which bent the awning and snapped off the cell booster mounted to the ladder. The awning was still usuable but eventually the fiberglass portion of the roof was starting to separate where the damage occurred. Clearly, given what other reviewers have said, they simply don't care about the people's property or safety in this park. I'm not sure if it's because it's owned by the state and thus a "state job" or what, but this was beyond negligent. At the very least, they should mark this site for tents or cut back the damn tree!! Not only is it a hazard for RV's, it will be a hazard in a severe lightning/wind storm one day and this lack of caring will not only destroy property but is likely to get somebody hurt. I really can't think of a positive thing to say about this place. Oh, and $53 for ONE NIGHT? I've stayed in many state parks for a quarter of the price (or less) with much better amenities and location that won't damage your vehicle due to negligence. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I'd rather stay in a Walmart parking lot. Safer and free without...

Nice little park but not our favorite. We have a 41 ft 5th wheel and a long bed dually. We gave this information when we booked several weeks in advance. Not enough room for our 5 slides with trees on both sides. Love that they have plenty of trees, but our dining slide was inches from a tree, which we had no choice about as we had to make accommodations for the 2 slides on the opposite side with the tree in between. Had to park truck on the road. On Mondays and Thursdays, they water the grass. The sprinkler heads are not turned strategically away from the campsites. The spray is extremely high pressured and goes about 30 feet. The spray heads should be fanned out, not in a jet stream near the RVs. Unfortunately, our entire site got soaked (windows, rugs, chairs, tables), and one sprinkler head was directed right at the seals of our bedroom slide, so water got in, ran under our bed and soaked an 8 ft runner. We had to use beach towels to clean up the water. Dave, one of the camp hosts, was wonderful. He tried to get us a space that would fit our big rig better and was responsive to our requests and complaints (after we were told there was nothing they could do about it) within the realm of his responsibilities. In fact, after we complained to the office about the water in our RV and they said to call Dave, he was nice enough to take up our rug and lay out over the metal picnic table so it would dry in the sun. The pad itself was completely submerged in water. There was nothing else he could do but turn off the sprinklers (which were due to be shut off) at that time. It's a very pretty park, and with a smaller rig and better management of the sprinkler system, there...