SP Campground Review – Antelope Island State Park, Syracuse, UT
A wonderfully spacious and relaxed state park on a unique island in the middle of Great Salt Lake, ~41 miles north of Salt Lake City, UT. Just be sure to check the gnat-situation before you come!
Link to campground here: Antelope Island State Park, UT
Link to map location here: Antelope Island State Park, UT
- Site Quality = 4.5/5
Really fabulous sites here. We stayed at the Bridger Bay campground which is the best area for individual RVs on the island. There are 20 pull-throughs and 6 back-ins all large, flat, paved sites (only one site #9 was a tad small and uneven…the rest were lovely) with excellent paved “sitting areas” containing large covered shelter, separate table, picnic table and fire-pit. Some of pull-throughs are so long they could easily fit 3 “beasts”! Very nice separation between sites and plenty of space to relax and spread out in camp. Lower and upper sites are tiered so every single site has an excellent panoramic view of the beach and surrounding nature. Only slight dings are no shade or hookups.
Note/ There is a separate campground a few miles from this one called White Rock which is more suited towards group campers and not nearly as nice IMHO. If you have the choice stay at Bridger Bay. - Facilities = 3.5/5
Basic, but good facilities here. Several toilets in camp, but no showers (there are showers at the beach day-use area below the visitor station). Dump station and potable water right below visitor station. Lots of picnic areas around the island plus marina and boat-slip on north side. - Location = 4.5/5
Antelope Island is a place you come here to get away from it all, and on that front it totally delivers. Once you cross the 6 miles to enter the Island you enter a whole different world with almost zero traffic, lots of nature, tons of hiking/biking trails, excellent birding, sand/sea, boating and sweeping views. There is a wonderful on-site visitor center, a historic ranch and plenty of spots to drive and visit around the island. It is quite the place! Despite the feeling of isolation you’re only ~6 miles from Syracuse which has all the basic shopping you need and ~41 miles from Salt Lake City. The only possible ding is that the island does get really bad gnats from ~April-June. It’s a seasonable thing so I can’t really fault it too bad, but you need to be aware of it before you come. - Pet Friendliness = 4.5/5
Very good pooch spot as long as the gnats are not out. You have plenty of space to hang out to camp and are right next to miles of great hiking trails plus a very nice beach area. Only slight dings are that dogs are not allowed on the southern trails (southern end of the island) and are not officially allowed on the day-use beach.
Overall Rating = 4.25
BONUS ALERT = Camp on an isolated island with sweeping views of beach/sun/sky and nature!
Summary: What a place is all I can say! Antelope Island is the largest island in Great Salt Lake and is accessed by a 6-mile road across the lake from Syracuse, ~41 miles north of Salt Lake City. It’s a completely unique place with practically zero traffic, lots of nature, miles of excellent hiking/biking trails, beach/sea, birding, marina, visitor center and historic ranch. There are even free-roaming herds of bison! There are 2 main camping areas on the island, both on the north side Bridger Bay (mostly for single RVs) & White Rock (mostly for groups). Bridger Bay is a very spacious and pretty spot with 26 large, paved sites. It has wonderful paved “sitting areas” each containing shelters & fire-pit, excellent separation and sweeping views all-around. There are no hookups, but the sites are wonderful. White Rock is not as nice and mostly for groups, but also has excellent views. The only real ding for the Island is the gnats! They can be very, very bad especially from April-June (the park website even has a warning about them on the front page). As soon as temps drop or the wind whips up they’re gone, but the rest of the time they are relentless. Despite the biting insects we were blown away by the local nature and loved our stay here. If you’re in the area I would recommend this as a “must-see” as long as you check the gnat situation before you come!
Extra Info: Mixed/unstable Verizon signal going from 1X to 4G LTE! We were able to get a rock-steady and usable data signal by forcing our hotspot onto “3G only” and using our external antenna/amp. 26 campsites all reservable on-line (no hookups). Sites cost $10/night. There is an additional $3 one-time fee to enter the Island. On-site dump station and potable water (just below visitor center).
How do you ‘force’ the MiFi to 3g?
You do it by logging into the MiFi and changing the settings. Here’s how:
1/ Open a web browser. In the address field, type “192.168.1.1” (minus the quotes) and hit Enter.
2/ Plug in your access password info (should be on the box that you got with your MiFi)
3/ Once inside the MiFi settings go to “Network”, then click on “WWAN” tab.
4/ Scroll down to bottom of page and you will see “WWAN Preferred Mode”. This is where you can “force” your MiFi onto a particular network. The standard setting is “Global” which means the MiFi just chooses the best available signal. This works most of the time except when you’re in a marginal area (e.g. where 1X/3G/4G are variable). In these areas the MiFi sometimes gets confused and “locks up”, so it’s best to force it onto a single signal type.
-> If you want 3G only chose “CDMA Auto”.
-> If you want 4G only chose “LTE only”.
Then save settings and exit.
Hope that helps!
Nina
It did, thank you!
Yet another great post and review. I’ve heard lots of good things about this area and your review helps with the planning. Oh, you two have one of the better blogs out there. Thanks for posting.
Glad it’s helpful! And thanks for following along!
Nina
Another great review. I think you are the master at this. You’ve given a great look at the island and given all the information anyone could want. Wish I’d had it when I first went. But, as you say, it was spectacular. We were there in April but had no gnats. We did have a LOT more people though. Maybe we were there over a week-end, I don’t remember. But most of the sites were full. It was still great but I can imagine how fabulous it would be with only 3 or 4 other folks there.
The gnats come out as the temp warms so that’s probably late April most years unless it’s an early spring. We were there right at the very end of the month and the gnats had only just hatched! I can also imagine this being a popular place when the weather is good. The gnats kept most people away when we were there, but without them I could easily see the campground filling up.
Good info…thanks for sharing your experience!
Nina
Another one of your wonderful spots added to my must visit spots….after gnat season. 12 days until liftoff for full time RVing.
avintagerollingstone.blogspot.com
Whooo hoooo! Congrats!
Nina
Thanks for another great review. We’re in SLC now and the hubby wants to stay at the park for a couple days before we head to our next stop in Wyoming. When he mentioned he wanted to stay there my exact words were – “Didn’t you see what Nina wrote? Gnats honey – gnats! Are you crazy?” But it looks so beautiful we just might have to give it a shot anyway. I guess I better make use of the couple of weeks before we go to stock up on bug repellant. 😎
Well I’ll be hoping for wind for ya! Either that or another cold-spell!
Nina
Love your camp reviews !! This place looks great !
http://sierrasusieq-mylifeinphotography.blogspot.com/
Thanks! By the way you’ve got some lovely shots on your blog. Makes me miss the Sierras.
Nina
Thank you ! I am new to blogging. Still learning.
I look forward to reading about your stay in Glenn’s Ferry. How did you select Three Island Crossing? Were there other parks and camping locations nearby that you rejected because they weren’t up to your standards? We plan to spend the summer working near Twin Falls and I’m looking for places to stay and/or explore. We have a 40′ rig.
Well Glenn’s Ferry actually happens to be a place we’ve stayed before. The State Park there is lovely and has tons of grass (they keep the lawns beautifully), plus it’s a sure easy stop on the way to Boise. I’ll be posting some pics later today.
Nina
Lets see, gnats or lots of people, which one would I rather have? Hmmmm.
We, too, are having trouble with the MiFi, here at Lake Mead, so I was glad to get a refresher class in your comment section. Thanks again!
Love to you all, Sue
I must say, Polly was rather annoyed at the gnats too. Those things are relentless!
And yeah, that MiFi can get “iffy” in those marginal areas. Hope my little tweak works for you.
Nina
(the park website even has a warning about them on the front page)
Boy you are right, even using bright flouresent pink to get your attention! That’s funny. Glad you enjoyed your stay in spite of the gnats. I look forward to seeing where you go next.
cheers, john
We stayed there last week. Loved it, except for the millions of orb weaver spiders.
Orb weaver spider….HUH!! And here I was just worrying about the gnats. Good info & glad you liked the place despite the extra “wildlife” LOL.
Nina
We are in a place right now which would make you very jealous – but I don’t think you could get the Beast up here. We are up on top of Shadow Mountain, directly across from the Grand Tetons. Most amazing view you could imagine. No way something much longer than our 25 feet could get up here though.
{{Swooooooon}} Yes, that definitely makes me jealous. Our “beast” has it’s limitations, especially for those extra-sweet boondocking spots.
Nina
Your blogs were a tremendous help, we stayed at Antelope Island and Three Island Crossing and enjoyed both. Bridger Bay was very cool but we ended up staying in White Rock so we wouldn’t be right next to someone, if it were less crowded we definitely would have stayed at Bridger – we actually ate lunch there and got a feel for it, noticed every site was full except one and there were no generators on, we just came from OR where a park ranger asked us in consideration of other people if we could turn ours off early before quiet time even started (at the request of the campers next door) and we really wanted the solitude from others. It was more expensive as it was a group site but there was no one around us and we still had a great view and neighboring bison, so check out both spots before you decide, they both have advantages! Yummy snow cones at the Grill, great sunsets, views and nature – bison, fox, rabbits, antelope, a really special place, there last fri nite. Thank you for your great advice, really helpful. Cost us 10.00 to enter park, then we decided to camp and came back to entrance and paid the extra 20.00, Bridger would have been another 5.00. Be forewarned this park has gates that close – 10:00 the day we went, so you can’t pull in at any hour and set up camp – we tend to always arrive late night. Thanks again, great adventures! would go back!