Sand Gulch Campground

Sand gulch needs another bathroom. Long waits 20+ min in the morning. The new reservation system is causing some confusion as well. Multiple people trying to claim the same campsite as a result. Hard to have a campground with online reservations when there is very little LTE in the area.

With how much open space for the Group site it would be nice if you considered cutting in one space for a less than 20 ft camper, like a pop up camper or smaller RV, so it doesn't have to be set up in the parking spaces.
Thank you, Amy

I was impressed with how clean the campground is and how respectful the campers are. It’s a popular destination for day use also by people who love to hike.

I really appreciate that there’s an overflow area because half the campsites are first come, first serve in September and I didn’t have to worry about not having a safe place to park my van if it was full when I got there. I had made a reservation for my first night there But it’s more expensive with the eight dollar online registration fee and I think the price was different
Online. The price on the registration box at the park at seven dollars a night.

Verizon cell coverage is very weak there. I understand from the locals that AT&T is better. I have a WeBoost and I was able to use my mobile devices by parking in the overflow area.

I also appreciate that it’s not far from the main road and only 12 miles to town for ice and water, etc.

I stayed the whole 14 days allowed and really enjoyed it.

Lovely campsite! We loved that the campground is relatively small, and while the individual sites are close together, they still felt private and secluded. Very easy access to several hiking trails from my he campground, and very close by other attractions. Would highly recommend!

My campsite was double booked so I had to setup a tent next to the trailhead. I had drove 3 hours so I didn't have many options. Overall this would have still been alright but I was only refunded for $7 when it cost me $15 to book a campsite someone else used.

When I arrived at my campsite (group site), there were three vehicles with four people already camping there. I tried to contact the Forest Service by phone (dead phone number) and I tried to use the help menu on rec.gov. Rec.gov's help menu is a complete joke. All of the features in the menu kept sending me in a big worthless circle.
Fortunately, the people squatting on my reserved site at Sand Gulch agreed to move. They said the rec.gov site showed the group site was not reserved. I showed them my confirmation email and they agreed to move.
Despite that, Shelf Road camping is essentially the same as it always has been for the 20+ years I've been camping there, primitive but excellent.

Great campsite! Clean, well maintained bathroom, easy to find, well marked.

For the first few days some friends booked a first come first serve site next to us. Once my reservation expired, we had to go to a site one over (one we were there, it's cheaper to book it first come first serve, rather than find another one online).

Having every other site reservable/first come first serve makes it awkward for larger groups planning to stay there, since there will (likely) always be a group in between your group on busy days. Maybe change it to every 3rd site reserveable + the last few? (that way 50% are still reservable online and larger groups can still camp next to eachother if they are at the site already).