Fruita Campground — Hotel in Teasdale

Definitely one of the most unique campgrounds I have stayed at in my travels. The Fruita Campground is situated in a green valley oasis that was once the site of an old town called “Fruita”, so named because of the apple, pear and other fruit orchards that still exist today — best of all, you can pick fruit right off the trees and eat it. While it might be hard to find any ripe fruit left on the trees and what you do find might not be the best, it is still a lot of fun. As with most national parks we stayed in, the deer and other wildlife has no fear of humans and adds to the charm of the campground. The campground itself is small compared to other National Park campgrounds and most sites appear to be RV specific but they do have a few tent-only sites. The bathroom facilities were not the cleanest but it was a small issue for an otherwise perfect stay. Make sure you make your way over to the Gifford House for the freshly baked pies, other snacks and souvenirs and don’t forget to checkout the nightly ranger-led program (it was “dark skies” on the night we were here). With many hiking trails leading in and out of Fruita, it makes a perfect base for exploring the underrated Capitol Reef National Park. I would definitely recommend...

We LOVED this campgound. It was so peaceful with trees and nicely sized camping spots.

The bathrooms were flush (no showers) and kept clean.

There is am orchard with apple and pear trees on one side of the loop and we loved getting to wander thru the orchard and pick fruit. It was free to sample in orchard, $2 lb if taking out of the orchard, you can pay cash at a little box or pay with your card at the visitor center. It was an honor system. We loved seeing all the deer in the orchard as well.

On the other side of the loop is the Gifford house where you can buy small homemade pies ($8 a pie), small cups of homemade ice cream ($2), and large cinnamon rolls ($4). The pies are cinnamon rolls do sell out so go earlier vs later in the day.

We LOVED camping here. We came late September and it was still plenty warm but the shaded campsites were so wonderful.

The only thing that was somewhat frustrating was trying to cook dinner after the sun had set and the camp hosts telling us it was a dark sky park and we were only supposed to use non natural light when moving around the campground. We stayed in serval dark sky parks and this is the only one that gave us grief about using a lantern...

I have to say we loved the scenery and hikes around the area were fantastic. The campground host needs some direction and or help. I don’t know if their past job was in code enforcement or maybe they worked as homeowner’s association enforcement . Don’t get me wrong I understand why they have rules. I have been camping all my life and the rules are there for a reason and for the safety and wellbeing of the people and animals that reside in that area. But when someone forgets to turn off their generator 15 minutes after the allotted time and threaten them with a written warning with the threat of law enforcement and or fines if it happens again, we have a problem. This is making a mountain over a moll hill. Over the years we have had fantastic camp hots that were worm and welcoming. These people viewed us and everyone else as potential problems. They walked around the camp site with a clipboard making notes about every camp site. I felt like every time we were in the campground we were under investigation. I really hate writing this but I feel like these people need direction on...