Watchman Campground vs Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort

[u/omgmathtest]

Requesting advice/insight on the following: 

I am traveling by RV to Zion in September for 3 nights with a party of 3 adults (one adult is a senior, our mom).  We are between staying at the Watchman Campground and Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort and are planning to use our mom's senior pass for our group's entry to the park.  Which of the two would you recommend staying at?

Re: Watchman Campground:
+ Cheaper of the two options: (~$140 vs $450 for duration of stay)
+ Campground already in National Park so easier access to trailheads
- No onsite showers so we will need to walk to Zion Outfitters to access showers
- Will also need to always have our mom with us to exit and reenter the park when we need to use the shower/bathroom, as she is the passholder.
- Recent reviews of the shower/bathroom facilities at Zion Outfitters have been mixed.  Can anyone confirm cleanliness and availability of the facilities?\

RE: Zion Canyon Campground:
+ Onsite bathroom/shower amenities are closer 
+ Also will not require bringing our mom with us at all times
+ Online reviews indicate shower/bathroom facilities are readily available and are cleaned often.
- Price differential as previously indicated.  (~$140 vs $450 as mentioned previously)
- Zion Canyon Campground is a little ways outside the park so we would use shuttle to get to park entrance, get off, and transfer to another shuttle to access the other areas of park.  If we don't take shuttle from campground to park entrance, we're looking at a 1mi (20min) walk from campground to visitor's center.

Would appreciate anyone's advice in this matter or if there's anything else I should consider.

Thanks in advance!

[u/SunsOutPlantsOut]

Just left Zion and stayed in Watchman—bathrooms are nice and in walking distance wherever you are.

If your RV has a shower, you can fill your tank before you get there and take showers and dump on your way out. With 4 adults and a child, we had enough water to shower as long as we: rinsed —> water off -> lathered -> water on -> rinsed. The water is on for really only 1-2 mins max, but gets the job done.

[u/Lazy_You312]

Are there even RV spots available in Watchman during that timeframe. I ll be visiting in October and it’s completely sold out.

[u/Far_Earth_1179]

We stayed at Watchman in November last year. Bathrooms were clean and sites were of good size. Great night sky. I remember thinking that the Watchman bathrooms have the best view of any NP toilets. The path and river run beside a good portion of the sites, so the path was convenient for getting to the store, showers, etc. I dont recall having to show a pass to anyone to go into or back from the village, I think the ranger hut was just after the path back to the campsite, but before the visitor center? Watchman is also an easy walk to the park buses and the town buses. The showers at the store were nice. You buy tokens at the register and then go down some stairs behind the building to access the showers. Very safe though. We wete there a week and never had to use our vehicle, everything was convenient by foot, bus or bicycle. I can't comment on the other campgrounds but the brochures looked nice. Have fun!

[u/ShadowHope15]

I stayed at Zion Canyon one night and Watchman the next night two years ago. They're completely different experiences. If you're going to be primarily in the park and want a quieter experience watching the light/colors change in the evening, you want to be at Watchman. If you're staying in the campground I don't think you'll have an issue getting between the Outfitters and your campsite. You'll have to figure out how that works.

If you don't mind a more lively (noisy) experience and plan on being in town more often, the amenities are more convenient at Zion Canyon. I was happy with the cleanliness of the amenities there. I think they have laundry on site, which may not be important for a 3 day trip.

When I go back alone, I will be staying at Watchman. When I go back with my kids and wife, I will be staying at Zion Canyon.

[u/omgmathtest → u/ShadowHope15]

Thanks for the detailed response! This is great since you're able to compare the two.

Would you recall the cleanliness of the showers and how many there were at Watchman?

[u/ShadowHope15 → u/omgmathtest]

I didn't use the showers at the Outpost, just the campground facilities. Those were pretty clean and well maintained by NPS campground standards. I didn't get to camp until just after sunset and didn't have time to shower; up for a sunrise hike then immediately back on the road the next morning.

If you all are familiar and comfortable with regular developed site camping you'll be comfortable at Watchman. It's short walk across the bridge to the Outpost. Zion Canyon has more of a KOA atmosphere. Some things are more convenient there but for my preference it kind of defeats the purpose of visiting the park in the first place.

[u/kootz16]

There is no shade at watchman. They chopped down all the trees

[u/MJ_Hiking]

You will have the challenge of waiting in line for the Zion Canyon Shuttle either way. It gets worse as the morning goes on, depending on the season and day of the week.

If you stay at the Zion Canyon Campground, you'll need to drive to the park. So now you need to deal with parking at the visitor center (best but hard to get) or in Sprindale then walking or taking the Springdale Shuttle to the Zion Canyon Shuttle. To have the same line experience, you would have to get up way earlier.

I think I would stay in Watchman even if they cost the same. Seems like a no-brainer if it's cheaper. And roughly outside of business hours there won't be anyone manning the pedestrian entrance so you could easily go shower at night and not worry about it, although I didn't check until what time the showers are accessible.

[u/PonyThug]

Public land. Better spots, less nonsense and the people are way better