Ever come across an incredible place to stay that stops you mid-scroll and makes you think, Wow, wouldn’t it be something to stay there? We do, too—all the time. Welcome to Friday Fantasy, where we highlight amazing hotels, lodges, cabins, tents, campsites, and other places perched in perfect outdoor settings. Read on for the intel you need to book an upcoming adventure here. Or at least dream about it.
A few months ago, I started noticing footage of what looked like landspeeders straight out of Star Wars romping through the sagebrush desert in my feed. When I found out these sci-fi-themed vehicles were cruising through the Utah desert, just a few hours from where I live, I knew I had to check it out.
My desire to visit OutpostX initially stemmed in part from the fact that I’ve seen every Star Wars film ever made, from the good (A New Hope, 1977), to the bad (Attack of the Clones, 2002), to the ugly (Rise of Skywalker, 2019). But contrary to what I originally assumed, OutpostX isn’t purely a Star Wars-themed resort—it also draws inspiration from dystopian times and escapism. The resort bills itself as a “cinematic, off-grid sanctuary” set in “post-apocalyptic” times where you can get “away from the BS of society.”
This weird mashup of themes made me want to go even more, in part because it piqued my curiosity, and also because my favorite genre of literature and film is dystopian fiction. It’s my preferred way to make sense of our current borderline dystopian times.
And what better occasion to visit a dystopian desert resort than my 10th wedding anniversary? After all, my husband Casey is the one who enrolled me in his quest to watch the full Star Wars oeuvre. So on a four-day trip in honor of our decade-long marriage, we dedicated one night to an off-the-grid stay at OutpostX. We booked a Viking Tent and headed to the unincorporated town of Beryl.
Getting to OutpostX
Barrelling along dirt roads forged through the sagebrush, we passed a handful of strange industrial facilities, abandoned trailers, and illegally dumped sofas. But when the dirt road narrowed, the ruts grew deeper, and we failed to notice any of the signs bearing the letter “X” we were told we’d see pointing the way, I scrolled through the 16-20 texts I’d received from OutpostX post-booking for answers. There, I found a warning I’d missed earlier:
“Also, WARNING, if you are coming from the Cedar City direction please be sure to take the route via Hwy 56 through Newcastle and Beryl Junction. Google sometimes suggests another route that is nearly impassable.”
We had taken the “nearly impassable” route. Luckily, Casey and I are accustomed to nearly impassable routes, since we often camp in dispersed off-road sites in our backyard of the Uinta Mountains. My husband’s 4WD truck easily tackled the grooves and sand, though if it were raining, that sand would have become tire-gripping mud. For us, the impassable route proved quite passable and even rustic in a fun way. That said, a feeling that we were barreling toward an experience reminiscent of Fyre Fest 2017 began to creep in.
As we kicked up dust, we tuned in to the four-part OutpostX podcast that the resort recommended we listen to before arrival. It recounts the resort’s fictional creation tale, but we found the narrative difficult to follow. It involved something about an extraterrestrial nuclear war, two long-lost brothers named Naa and Maa, and their efforts to rebuild a community called Namaajin (aka, OutpostX), “where hope is the blueprint.”
While the story made little sense, it certainly set the mood for what we found upon arrival. Circular white canvas tents embellished with cryptic symbols encircled what appeared to be a dried lakebed, toward the center of which stood an actual bed. A series of earthen caves and outbuildings resembling those of Tatooine rose from the scorched earth landscape. Star Wars-inspired landspeeders (referred to as sand cruisers at OutpostX) crawled over the hardened, parched, and cracked ground. We had arrived in a far and distant Berylian land.
Escapist Ambience: 4 Stars
If you manage to make it to this corner of Beryl in one piece, you will find that OutpostX has deftly turned acres of unwanted, barren lands into a whole vibe. The fanciful art-like objects and weird structures transport you to the sets of Star Wars, Mad Max, and maybe even Planet of the Apes, if you swap the apes for snakes. The entire resort is solar-powered, so panels decorate the outbuildings and outskirts of the premises.
Around mid-afternoon, you can channel the energy of a character in Dune as the daily wind picks up and coats you in a layer of dried lakebed dust. After enduring the evening gusts and cooking dinner over the fire—there are no dining options at OutpostX—my husband took a picture of my dirt-streaked face. I looked like I had lost a battle with Sarlacc, the sand-bound alien of Return of the Jedi.
Cast of Characters (i.e., Staff and Guests): 4 Stars
As we were puzzling over where to check in upon arrival, a guy in a sand cruiser approached. Later, we would learn this was Danny, the maintenance guy. The check-in process was to look back through the many texts OutpostX had sent me to find my tent number, then drive up to it and enter. Danny added that we could “do whatever you want” while staying here.
Two or three times during our stay, arriving guests approached Casey and me, asking if we knew how to check in. In general, the staff at OutpostX are fleeting and unidentifiable, since they are dressed in plainclothes and look like the lot who would opt to live in a trailer in the middle of nowhere for weeks at a time.
That said, Danny was very helpful when it came to fixing our unit’s swamp cooler. The other upside of scarce staff is that we were truly held to no rules during our stay. Beryl, Utah is lawless country and if you want to cruise through the desert after hours with a cold one, no one will stop you.
Our fellow guests came from lands far and wide. License plates on cars hailed from California, New Mexico, Washington, Colorado, and Utah. A European throuple inquired with Danny about the availability of the pottery wheel. A Latter-day Saint bachelor party made PG-rated quips as they grilled monstrously large steaks over the fire, while partaking in the complimentary soda. A Southeast Asian influencer struck poses on the bed located in the lakebed for pictures—this same group also opted to pay the upcharge for “wardrobe.”
For $20, guests can rent a dystopian-style wardrobe during their stay to get into character in the Berylian universe. Think baggy robes, belted tunics, and scarves in earth tones. As we watched some guests bounce on the trampolines in costume at twilight, we decided we had made the right choice in foregoing the wardrobe add-on.
OutpostX Facilities: 3 Stars
We found our yurt-style Viking Tent to be cozy, equipped with a queen-sized bed, chair, and sofa. When we first entered our tent, it was unbearably hot inside, but this was because our swamp cooler air conditioning unit was malfunctioning. Danny fired it up, and it cooled down quickly inside. There is also a space heater and heated blanket in the tents for winter stays.
While the tent charmed us with its bohemian decor, the downside of staying in a Viking Tent or renting one of the OutpostX tent or RV campsites is that you must share a communal bathroom and kitchen.
Two bathrooms featured toilets with a showerhead in the corner, and one bathroom was toilet-only. Dystopian indeed. While the bathrooms were clean upon our arrival Friday afternoon, conditions had deteriorated by the next morning, when we found a clogged toilet, no more clean hand-drying towels, and a dearth of toilet paper.
My other gripe with the bathrooms? A four-foot long snake that suddenly appeared as we were cooking dinner at the outdoor firepits, slithering around the communal area. Eventually, the snake disappeared into one of the bathrooms, never to be seen again. Each time I went to the bathroom thereafter, I acted like a cop entering a crime scene, rapidly conducting a full scan of the premises to ensure it was snake-free.
The communal kitchen similarly left a few things to be desired for the OutpostX tent camper. With no restaurant onsite, cooking is the only option. For $97 per person, you can add a “culinary experience,” which includes ingredients and recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—you do the cooking.
If you’re staying in a cave, you’ll have your own kitchenette. But if you’re in a tent, dome, or campsite, you’ll use the communal kitchen and outdoor firepits. The kitchen is shaped like a narrow hallway, with a few hot plates, mini fridges, and the world’s smallest kitchen sink. There is also a mocktail bar consisting of a variety of half-empty bottles of syrups and flavoring agents, which I presume is due to Utah’s notoriously strict liquor laws. Due to the confined space and limited culinary infrastructure, we opted to cook our skirt steak tacos on one of the three outdoor firepits.
Otherworldly Amenities: 5 Stars
The greatest joy of a stay at Outpost X is cruising around the sagebrush-dotted salt flats in a sand cruiser. I challenge you to find a complimentary amenity as joy-inducing as this. Sure, the sand cruiser is really just a solar power-charged golf cart embellished with some spray-painted plastic panels to resemble a Star Wars landspeeder. And no, it does not hover or go faster than 10-12 miles per hour.
But it’s the best way to tour the fantastical yet desolate landscape. OutpostX’s greatest asset is that the whole place feels like weird installation art, plopped down in the desert. Objects strewn across the salt flat landscape include: A queen-sized bed, a whitewashed diving board, a weird tower thing, a playground-esque wooden structure with a hammock, a leather weight bench, and a giant wooden swing.
Dodging sagebrush well into dusk, we laughed like characters in a fantasy-themed video game. All in all, I estimate that we spent at least 25% of our time at OutpostX in a sand cruiser and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
The next best amenity at OutpostX? “X Spa”: A series of hot springs, cold plunge pools, and saunas overlooking the salt flats. We soaked in the hot spring as the sun set and the air finally cooled. Randomly, a pottery wheel and free local clay are available to guests in a corner of this spa area. Apparently, there also used to be a mud bath, but a 10-year-old boy got stuck in it and had to be extricated by staff. Also, they couldn’t clean the mud so it became a health hazard.
Overall OutpostX Rating: 3.5 Stars
Would I invest in another trip to these scorched, strange lands? Maybe to see the look on my kids’ faces as they pilot a sand cruiser through the desert. But it might be better to consider a day pass ($40 per person; $149.99 for a family of up to six) to enjoy the sand cruisers and spa, then head to Cedar City for the night.
If there is a next time, I will pay considerably more and stay in a cave to have my own kitchen and bathroom. Or maybe I will buy out the whole property for $8,000 and throw the dystopian party of my dreams.
