Winter Van Life: Beaver Mountain

When We Visited: March 2022 & January 2023

Beaver Mountain is located in the Cache National Forest. The drive through Logan Canyon to the ski area is a visual treat of towering limestone walls, rock formations, and the Logan River. As I looked around, I spotted numerous backcountry slopes for human-powered recreation.

What We Loved About Beaver Mountain

Unmarked tree runs. If you keep your eyes open, you can find tree runs not detailed on Beaver’s trail map.

The views. Excellent views of Logan Canyon can be seen from most of the mountain.

All the parents with kids on their backs. We noticed several parents with infants in carriers on our first chairlift ride. I don’t believe all ski areas allow parents to board a chairlift with a child attached, so I think it’s awesome that Beaver does. Now, if I could only do it with my dog!

Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to Beaver Mountain

skithebeav.com
Approximate address: 12400 East 12900 North, Logan, UT (Search Beaver Mountain Ski Area on Google Maps)
(435) 946-3610
Send a message

Pass affiliation: Indy Pass 2023/24

Operating days: 7 days a week. See Beaver’s FAQs.

Mountain Stats

• Skiable terrain: 828 acres
• Vertical drop: 1,700 feet
• Average annual snowfall: 400+ inches
• More stats

Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV

Beaver Mountain does not allow overnight RV camping.

It’s been challenging to find a place to sleep overnight in an RV when visiting ski resorts in northern Utah. All RV parks or camping options seem to be about an hour away. 

When researching Beaver online, I noticed several campgrounds nearby, but none are open during winter. We physically checked every campground between Logan and Bear Lake, and there were no RV parks open around Bear Lake.

The Bear Lake Overlook Rest Area is open, but a sign states “No Overnight Parking”.

You’re also not allowed to idle your engine, and the restrooms were closed.

The Bear Lake Rest Area situated directly next to Bear Lake was closed. According to UDOT’s website, it is closed until early 2022 for improvements. I’m unsure if is typically open during winter.

Traveland RV Park – 33 miles / 45 minutes in Logan – We stayed here for the first time in January 2023. When we drove past it the year before, I discounted it as an option. It lacked curb appeal tucked behind a Quality Inn. However, I’m glad we stayed. The showers (two stalls) were very clean and the camp host was very helpful.

It was super easy to get a site at the last minute. We pulled into the park, found an open site, and booked it online within minutes. We paid $69 for a pull-through full hookup site. A little pricey but it’s the closest RV park to Beaver Mountain.

A code is required to access the bathhouse but I did not receive any information when booking my reservation online. Their office was closed for what seemed to be the winter. A note was posted on the door with phone numbers including the manager’s cell which I contacted. The manager texted me the code in a very timely manner.

Hyrum State Park – 38.9 miles / 1 hour in Hyrum – We were really hoping this could be an option, but when we checked it out, the sites were unplowed. The snow was a little too deep and solid to want to shovel our way in. I’m wondering if the amount of snow wasn’t typical as the Hyrum State Park site says that the campground is open during the winter on a first-come, first-served basis. We’ll try again next time we pass through the area.

Aspen Grove RV Park – 53.8 miles / 1.25 hours in Tremonton – We’ve stayed at this RV park on three different occasions. If you travel east across I-84 from Twin Falls, ID, it’s one of the first places to stay when you enter Utah. We love their clean and well-maintained facilities. They also provide cleaning spray in common areas to sanitize anything you’ve touched or if someone left a mess before you. 

We last paid $48 per night for a paved back-in site with full hookups in March 2022. Pull-through sites are also available.

In the clubhouse, they have two bathrooms.

There are two private tiled showers accessible from the exterior of the clubhouse. There are no toilets in the shower rooms.

Three quarter-operated top-loading washers and three dryers are available. The cost is $2.00 per wash and $1.75 per dry cycle. Two large folding tables are available and a deep sink.

The clubhouse also has a full kitchen (stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, etc.), lounge area (L-shaped couch and big screen TV), workout equipment, board games, and books.

Dumpsters are available.

AT&T and Verizon worked great for us here. We could text, email, stream entertainment, and participate in online video calls without a problem. The RV park also offers WiFi.

You can receive mail and packages during your stay. Ask the RV park for particulars.

If you stay, browse their camp store when you check in. They sell some cute items and edible goodies, including baked goods for your dog.

The closest grocery stores to the Aspen Grove RV Park are Ridley’s Family Market and Kent’s Market. Both are less than a mile away.

Tremonton’s grocery store options are not my favorite. There are many expired items in both stores and shelves are not fully stocked. Produce looks like crap. Fresh herbs were moldy, and I don’t know what was going on with the carrots. I don’t think the recipes I choose to make in the van are very complicated, but I had trouble finding ingredients. Neither store was great if you’re into organic options, but Ridley’s was probably best. Also, Kent’s doesn’t have a water refill station, whereas Ridley’s does. We also shop at a few Ridley’s around the West, so we gravitated there most since we have a rewards card.

Brigham City / Perry South KOA Journey – 57.9 miles / 1.25 hours in Brigham City – If you’re coming from Salt Lake City, this KOA might be a better option for you than Aspen Grove RV Park which is further north.

We last paid $32.89 per night in March 2022 for a grass back-in electric-only site that is perfect for tents, small trailers, and vans. Like most KOAs, they have a variety of sites including pull-throughs, back-ins, full hookups, partial hookups, sites with patios, and cabins too. All sites are either grass or gravel. Nothing is paved.

Even though we chose a site without a dump, we still had access to the RV park’s on-site dump at no charge. However, it was under construction during our stay. RV staff arranged for us to use an unreserved site with a dump, so we could empty our cassette toilet.

The women’s bathhouse has three toilets, three sinks, and three showers. Each shower space is behind a latched door with room for changing, including hooks and a bench. The bathhouse is unavailable between 11 am and 1 pm for cleaning. I assume the men’s side is similar.

A laundry room is available 24/7 with four washers (one was out of service) and six dryers. Washers are $2.50 for 30 minutes and dryers are $1.50 for 45 minutes.

Dumpsters are available.

AT&T and Verizon were sufficient for texting, emailing, streaming entertainment, and participating in online video calls. However, I would note that Verizon would drop on me at times. With AT&T, browsing the internet was either slow or unresponsive. These issues were infrequent but happened enough that it’s worth mentioning.

AT&T internet speed: 1.4 Mbps down/9.5 Mpbs up, 2 bars 5GE
AT&T hotspot internet speed: 4.1 Mbps down/8.1 Mbps up

Verizon internet speed: 8.3 Mbps down/36 Mbps up, 3 bars LTE
Verizon hotspot internet speed: 34 Mpbs down/5.2 Mbps up

If you stay here, Brigham City has a wonderful Smith’s grocery store less than 5 miles away. They have a water refill station located near the pharmacy. While I like Aspen Grove more than the KOA, I might choose the KOA next time we are in the area just for shopping.

Little Creek Campground – 45.8 miles / 1 hour in Randolph – I hesitate to list this as an option. It’s out in the middle of nowhere with limited services nearby. 

When you leave UT-30 on your way to the campground, you will travel a dirt road for about two miles. The campground roads and sites are unmaintained. Everything was covered in snow when we arrived, which surprised me because you can reserve sites ahead of time on recreation.gov. 

If you’re traveling from Wyoming to Beaver, this might be a good option for you. I wouldn’t book a site ahead of time, though. I’d check it out and move on if the conditions aren’t right. Have a backup plan!

On the plus side, it was a quiet way to spend the night. We had the whole campground to ourselves.

We last paid $12 cash at the self-pay station in March 2022.

All sites are gravel back-ins and the max van/RV length they can accommodate is 25 feet. A vault toilet was open and clean.

The water was turned off for the winter. There is no place to dump your trash. Pack it out!

Driving to Beaver Mountain

US-89 (Logan Canyon Scenic Byway) between Logan and the turnoff to Beaver is relatively flat but curvy. We were there during mild weather conditions, but I imagine the canyon to get very icy. US-89 is steeper if you’re coming from Bear Lake.

Parking at Beaver Mountain

Beaver offers a parking lot cam to check the current capacity before you begin your drive there. If you’re coming from Logan, it’s a solid 40 minutes to reach Beaver with good weather and road conditions. You don’t want to travel all that way to find out the parking lot is full.

When you arrive at Beaver, you’ll run into the upper parking lot. Park here to be closest to the ticket office, Beaver’s Face Lift, and Harry’s Dream Lift. Slopeside spots will be on your right.

You’ll keep driving through the upper parking lot and past the ticket office to get to the lower lot. You’ll be closest to the Little Beaver lift and the beginner area. We liked the lower lot most as we could park our van parallel to a cat track for ski-in and ski-out access. We could also set up our camp chairs in the snow to enjoy lunch and the views, and our dog could bounce around and eat snow. You should probably consider the lower lot if you’re longer than 20 feet.

Parking attendants are there to help guide you to a spot. However, if you park yourself, observe the fluorescent paint on the ground that marks where the front or back of your vehicle should be. 

Also note, the upper lot is paved and the lower lot is only partially paved. There was a lot of mud when we were there in March 2022.

Using Your 2022/23 Indy Pass at Beaver Mountain

Bring your photo ID to the ticket office, and you’ll receive an adhesive-backed ticket and a wicket. You’ll need to return each day you intend to ski/ride.

The ticket is not scannable, so be prepared to show it at the lift line.

Don’t have an Indy Pass? An all day adult ticket (ages 12-69) is only $60 during the 2022/23 season. That’s one of the cheapest day tickets we’ve seen. For more information, see Beaver’s Tickets & Passes page.

Heads up! The ticket line got extremely long around 9:00 am when the lifts opened on the Monday of our visit which was January 2nd. It was a powder day and students that attend Utah State University in nearby Logan were not yet back in school after the holidays. There are only two ticket windows inside a very small building so the line continued outside where it snaked around. If you don’t feel like waiting, show up when the ticket office opens. We didn’t have to wait in line just after 8:00 am.

Tips on How to Ski/Ride Beaver Mountain

The entry to Skid Row is sketchy. Depending on recent snow conditions, it’s like a luge in there. 

On the trail map, you’ll notice some runs marked with a dashed line before it turns into a solid line. The dashed line indicates that you will need to hike uphill before you start going downhill.

Unmarked tree runs can be found all over the mountain. Hint: Keep an eye out for places to drop in when you ski/ride Beaver’s beginner runs in the upper parts of the mountain.

Working Remotely at Beaver Mountain

We couldn’t get cell service using AT&T or Verizon, except while on the Harry’s Dream Lift and at the top. I was picking up a couple of bars of AT&T 5GE and could send and receive texts.

Beaver also offered free WiFi, with no password required. It’s insecure, so I’d be cautious about what you choose to do on their network.

Other Ski Areas Nearby

• Cherry Peak Resort (Freedom Pass 2023/24, Indy Pass Allied Resort 2023/24) – 46 miles / 1 hour in Richmond
• Pine Creek Ski Resort (Ski Cooper 2023/24) – 69.1 miles / 1.5 hours in Cokeville, WY
• Nordic Valley (Power Pass 2023/24) – 77.8 miles / 1.75 hours in Eden
• Powder Mountain (Indy Pass 2023/24) – 86.4 miles / 2 hours in Eden
• Snowbasin (Ikon Pass 2023/24) – 100 miles / 2 hours in Huntsville