Salt Lake City, UT – A large, sprawling campground located near an industrial park a few miles from downtown Salt Lake City. I vacillated on the rating for this campground. On the downside, it’s located in a run down area with vagrants milling about and trash strewn around, and the campground office warns on you check-in to always lock bicycles or they will be stolen. On the other hand, you’re a 5 minute walk from the light rail station and then a 7 min ride to downtown Salt Lake City. It’s very rare an RV park is located this close to a major downtown. In the end, proximity to downtown trumped trash and I went with 4 stars. We had our inverter replaced while at this KOA. We also hiked the Brighton Lakes Trail in the Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The KOA is confusingly co-located with a permanent RV Park, with some roads going through both. We ended up driving into the wrong side with our RV on arrival, but after a few turns we found our site. The width of the interior roads here are like many campgrounds, wide enough for maneuvering a 45’ RV if all campers’ vehicles are contained solely within their site. Of course that is often not the case. We had two really tight corners that were caused by pickup trucks not fitting in their space due to lazy parking jobs. Once safely ensconced our site was level and long enough for our short Jeep Wrangler. Utilities worked fine, and the water pressure here is amongst the highest we’ve ever found (The KOA info sheet mentions 120 psi!).
Our site at Salt Lake City KOA
Another view of our SLC campsite
Towards the back of the property is a gate leading to a path by a creek, that if followed upstream for 1/4 mile merges into the Jordan River Parkway Trail, a paved 45 mile multi-use trail running from the city north to Utah lake. To get to the light rail station, exit the campground and walk west on North Temple for 1 block. You’re now at the Power Station station on the green line. Tickets are $2.50 per person per trip. Just hop on heading east and in a few stops you’ll be at the Temple Square station, in downtown. The LDS church also offers free shuttle buses every 30 minutes from the KOA office to Temple Square. Be forewarned, while the driver and guide are very nice, they implicitly expect you to tour the church grounds and not just hop out and explore the city.
Speaking of the church grounds, they contain massive stone structures built with zero power equipment, are beautifully landscaped, and are well worth your time. There are also two visitor centers, an office building whose upper floor is open to the public as a viewing platform and a family history library. The library contains one of the largest genealogical collections in the US and is open to the public for free.
SLC KOA interior road
Rating: 
Campground website: Salt Lake City KOA
