JoAnnAdams

I went mid March and mid week hoping to get a spot at the NPS campground (Bog Springs) but it was fully booked despite early arrival. In the end I was glad it was booked because it forced me to try this Boondocking spot that was far superior to the NPS campground. The NPS campground has no hookups and the spaces are very close together and only accommodates small rigs. This Boondocking spot was much better with sites spaced far apart and a beautiful view of Green Valley. The access road starts out with a few tight turns and big dips so it might be difficult to access in a rig longer than 24-26 feet. I was in a 21 foot van and had no difficulty. I had a good signal with Visible and was able to access streaming and was even able to get many TV channels using my antenna. The road is dirt and the sites are dirt with some straw/hay. It was easy to find a spot that was fairly level. There are lots of small trees and brush, enough to provide some shade outside of the rig but the trees were too low to shade the rig, so plenty of sunshine for solar if needed. There were some fire rings with evidence that people did make campfires here, but I would not personally feel safe making a campfire due to the amount of very dry brush in the area. There is plenty of hiking and easy access to the creek since this campsite is very close to the Proctor trailhead.

I wanted to stay somewhere close enough to walk to the historic district. This RV park was the closest. It was just a few flat, easy walking blocks to reach a good variety of shops and restaurants. The town is quaint. Stop in at the visitors center first, they are helpful. When I visited there was a bicycle race in town and the visitor center was helpful to identify the schedule of road closures for the bike race. I did some thrift shopping while I was there. This was just a quick stop on my way to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings and the Catwalk, both are must see tourists sites that are NOT BUSY! The spot I had was perfect for me in my camper-van with a small deck that overlooked the “creek”. The RV park was quiet. The bathrooms and showers were clean. There was full hookups. There was cable, wifi and a good cell signal. I am a solo female camper and I felt safe staying here.

This is an NPS Campground managed by Thousand Trails. There are reservable sites as well as First Come sites. I had made a reservation in advance but upon arrival discovered that there were several first come sites that were premium sites overlooking the water, whereas the sites available for reservation were the less desirable sites. I was there Sunday through Wednesday, August 15-18. The weather was variable being that it was monsoon season and we did get rain along with some treacherous hail. This campground sits on a small lake with a spillway with nice water stocked with trout. They have a marina within a short walking distance that has rentals of kayaks and small trolling boats with electric motors, and there is a small store at the marina as well. There is an easy trail that goes completely around the lake that is just over 4 miles. There is also a paved trail that runs all along Rim Road. The camping is primitive with no hookups, but it does have pit toilets and water available. The camp host was NOT at all friendly and was actually rude at times and acted as if campers were a bother and could rarely be found when needed. Also, the pit toilets were not as well maintained as other NPS campgrounds in the area. Cell reception was poor to none. I had one bar off and on for Visible, more off than on, but I was able to send a text to let my daughter know I had arrived safely and I was later able to make a short phone call. There are only 25 sites here, so it feels intimate, but most of the sites are spaced far enough apart to not be bothered by your neighbors. Sites over looking the water include 25, 24, 23, 21, 19. Sites are gravel and most are pretty level. Sites can be used for RV or Tent. Site 13 is also nice, although away from the water, it is the most secluded and private site in the campground. The campground is easy to get to on a paved road just off Rim Road in the Mogollon Rim in AZ. There are multiple NPS campgrounds as well a dispersed camping available within just a few miles of each other all along this section of the rim. If you need hookups, there is one NPS campground in the area with hookups as well (Canyon Point). I would definitely camp here again. The reason for only 4 stars is because of the rude host, hopefully the other camp hosts are more friendly and more visible. The cost is $30 per day, $15 with senior discount pass.

This is an NPS campground managed by Thousand Trails. There are 2 Loops. Loop A is the smaller one that has electric hookups in most sites. Loop B is larger but has no hookups. Loop A is closer to the main road so you can hear some road noise, although it was barely noticeable to me. Near the entrance there is a dump station that is free for registered campers or $7 for visitors. Near the entry there is also a large bath house with flush toilets and private shower rooms. Most of the sites are well spaced apart providing for privacy. There are a few pull through sites, but most are back-in sites in a variety of lengths to accommodate almost any size rigs. I saw several large class A rigs there. In addition to the flush toilets near the entrance, there are also pit toilets spaced throughout the campground. All facilities were very clean and well maintained and the multiple camp hosts circulated frequently. The campground is easily accessed off of the 260 with paved roads and paved, level sites. I did not see much wildlife here, just squirrels, chipmunks and a variety of birds. I had no cell service here with Visible. The price was $30 per day plus an additional $7 per day for electric. With a senior pass it was $22 per day ($15 off per day)

You can’t beat the price $8 per night (with senior NP pass discount). Great value for the amenities that include; electric and water hookup at the site, shower house with flush toilets plus pit toilets throughout the campground, each site has it’s own trash can, sites are paved, level and clean with shade covered picnic table, barbecue and fire pit at each site. Most sites have a view of the lake, although there is no access to the lake from the campground, but there is a day use area with lake access and boat launch. The day use area is far separate from the campground, and there is also a visitor center. Check in is 1pm and checkout is Noon. Restrictions include no alcohol, marijuana, fireworks, drones. Quiet hours are 10pm to 6am and no generators between 10pm and 8am. I did not hear any generators anywhere near the electric loop. Sites are very large and spacious, wide and long with plenty of space and shrubs between for privacy. I was in a handicap site right near the shower house with no other sites on either side of me and the site sits up high with a good view of the lake. There are some nice trails all around the campground, although in the summer you need to go early in the morning because this is desert weather and it is warm, 87-88 high daytime, 58-59 low nights at 6400 ft altitude. Most sites have a view of the lake. The bath/showers are old but functioning and as clean as can be expected for campgrounds (lots of bugs but otherwise clean). This campground is about 1.5 hrs southwest of Taos and about 1 hr northwest of Santa Fe. There is a good cell signal on Verizon without need for booster. You can reserve the handicap sites if no other sites are available when you make your reservation 😉

I very much enjoyed my stay here. It is close to some fun activities, although a bit tourist focused. I had one of the best campsites. It was a pull through in the first section where all sites have electric hook ups and water. Once pulled into the site, my van opened up facing directly at the Superstition Mountain with nothing but wilderness in my view. The campers to each side of me were out of view due to the adequate spacing and the desert brush growing, I never saw any neighbors unless I walked to the side of my van facing the road. I liked this section of the campground better than the others that I walked through, the only downside was the distance to the restrooms. You really need to have a toilet option within your rig because the bathrooms are quite a distance away. I was surprised that they did not have a pit toilet in this section, but it was not an issue for me since I have a full wet bath. I did walk to the bathrooms a couple of times and they were very clean and had plenty of shower rooms. There are plenty of hiking trails that are fairly well maintained with multiple benches along the trails. I did not see or hear much wildlife here, just quail, mourning doves and rabbits. There is a nice dog run close to the bathroom near the cabin section. The roads are paved, the sites are paved and fairly level. There are lots of camp hosts available if needed. There is a well maintained dump station as well. The campground is close to the Goldfield Ghost Town which has gold panning, zipline, train rides, jeep tours, horseback riding, restaurants and shops (tourist prices). A nice scenic drive up into the mountains takes you to Canyon Lake where they have boat rides, and just a bit farther up you can visit Tortilla Flat for some more over priced dining and gift shops. Along the scenic drive there are multiple picnic and hiking areas along the lake. I visited at the end of March, Mon-Thur when the weather was perfect and the trails were not busy. It rained one day which brought some winds, but by afternoon the rain was gone and a spectacular sky show was a delight with beautiful colors and even a double rainbow over the mountain!

If you travel with your 🐶 you will love this campground. It has a big, grassy, fenced dog park and dogs are allowed everywhere within the park, including trails and beaches.

The location of this campground seems to shield it from the winds that you typically get in AZ desert parks. There also are many large, established trees that shade many of the sites, so if you go in summer be sure to pick a shady site (check satellite maps). There are flush toilets and showers, although the facilities are ancient and in dire need of replacement. Even after cleaning, everything in the bathhouse still looked dirty. The faucets are all corroded from hard water, although the toilets, sinks and showers were all functional. I visited late December and with no heat in the bathroom it was not warm enough for me to use the shower, but there was hot water.

I was in site 11 which was considered a “premium” site, so it was $40 per night versus $35 for non-premium. It seems any site that was on the end with no campers on one side was considered premium. My site was close to everything, bathroom, dog park, beach, but it was not level. Most of the sites seemed to be backwards at this campground. If I had backed into my site, that would have put the electric/water hookups on the correct side, but would have meant I would be facing away from the lake/view. I’m not sure who designed these sites but they don’t make sense. The power and water were right next to the picnic table and fire ring? Luckily I travel in a 20 foot van so I was able to just park sideway across the site where my doors opened toward the view and toward the picnic table and fire pit, this also allowed me to get my van a bit more level. Luckily I always bring two 25 ft electrical cords so I was able to use both to reach the 30amp plugin (I never hook up to water). The site was not cleaned between guests, so I had to sweep the hard surface before I set up, and the fire pit/grill was full of partially burned wood. This site had an old tree that was mostly dead and constantly dropping leaves, so there would be no shade here in the summer, but for winter it was OK. The spacing between the sites was Ok for being on the end, but if you had campers on each side it would be too close for me, closer than most of the AZ state parks. The sites all have double pads, so plenty of room for parking and seemed to fit pretty much any size rig, because I saw some giant ones there! The sites were all back in sites, although as I said, they were not situated properly to maximize the view so some of the larger rigs and towables ended up facing the neighbors instead of facing the water.

This park is on the Colorado river very close to Parker. Directly across the water there are several commercial/private RV parks with docks, park models, restaurants etc, so I imagine it would be busy on the water in the summer, but winter was quite peaceful. I was able to easily carry my inflatable kayak the short steps to the beach and launch from the sandy water entry (not as many rocks here compared to lake Havasu SP). There was some boat traffic, but not much and no wake issues. The water is very clear.

I have Visible which is on the Verizon network with mostly 3G and I got 2 bars without a booster and 4 bars with a booster. With 2 bars I could text and stream video, with 4 bars I could upload pics and video.

There is a small gift store on site that sold firewood ($8) and some snacks and drinks, but mostly small trinkets and t-shirts.

There were a couple of trails here, but I did not hike them. There were camp hosts and lots of Rangers on site. There was a boat launch and a small play area for corn hole and horseshoes and you could check out the games from the store. There are no boat rentals, but Parker is 10 minutes away and I’m sure they have rentals of all types there (boat and ATV).

I arrived early, a couple of hours before posted checkin time and they allowed me into my site. There is a dump station here with potable water. The dump station could accommodate 2 rigs at a time and was old and stinky. Note two of the premium sites (57, 58) are close to the stinky dump station, so I would not rent those even though they had excellent views of the water. I think the sites located on Ranger Way are the best because they are close to everything; bathhouse, dog park and water. There are sites labeled “riverfront” that when viewed online seem better for tents, but they actually are not too bad if you want a good view of the river. They are basically parking lot type sites, but they are long and wide so depending on the size of your rig you could park sideways across the site and have a great view without being too close to your neighbors. I saw one class C rig do this on and end site (#69) and it seemed to work well.

Overall I enjoyed my stay here and would go again.

I stayed 3 nights April 21-23, 2023. Paid $10 per night with senior NP pass. This is dry camping but with flush toilets/running water in sinks. The bathrooms are aged but fairly clean if you don’t mind spiders. This campground is mainly for tents and very small RVs. Some documents said under 24 feet, others said under 20 feet…..both are correct depending on the site. There is a deep dip to enter the campground and another deep dip to leave the campground, so DO NOT go there with anything bigger than 24 feet. I was in a 20 foot Campervan and I had difficulty fitting into site 15 because the depth was very short so I could not back in or pull in, I basically had to park sideways across the site as if it were a pull through, but it was impossible to pull through due to the trees. It was not fun trying to park and get level there. Site 15 would be great for a tent camper because it has a nice view with no one across from you and no one on one side of you, so somewhat private. On the 3rd night I was able to switch to site 19 which was much deeper and sufficiently wide.

All sites are very shady, so don’t count on use of solar while there. I have portable solar and chased the sun but was still only able to get part sun for a few hours a day. There is no cell signal even with booster but if you drive up the mountain to any of the view sites you can get a good signal from the parking lots. I hiked up Signal Mountain to the lookout tower and had 4 bars on Verizon connecting to a tower in New Mexico! I was there on a weekend and it got busy on Saturday so get to the view parking lots by 9am on Saturdays. On Friday and Sunday it was not too busy.

There is a camp host in the campground (site 17 when I was there) and there is a visitor center/gift shop within easy walking distance from the campground via a picturesque trail. The same easy trail goes to other historic sites and crosses a small creek that still had water when I was there (low water/easy crossing). The Rangers were helpful with advice about the hiking trails and there is lots of helpful signage and maps. The gift shop does not have any food or camping supplies, just a few small, very over priced snacks.

If you want to leave your rig parked at the campground and don’t have a tow vehicle, there is a shuttle van that will pick you up at the campground or the visitor center and take you up the mountain to the hiking trails, then you have to hike all the way back down, which I believe was about a 7 mile hike. I drove up to the Signal Mountain parking lot on Saturday and when all the other lots were full, it still had plenty of parking. I highly recommend the Signal Mountain (Sugarloaf) trail which is 1.8 miles round trip with a 170 foot gain in elevation. At the top you have a 360 degree view of all the mountain ranges in Southeast AZ and Southwest NM. Most of the hikes were moderate ability.

As far as weather goes, probably the best months to go here are March and April, but February thru May would be OK and probably Oct/Nov would be nice. It is about 10 degrees cooler than Tucson, so Dec/Jan might be a bit cold and it might be too hot by June and it might be flooded during Monsoon (July-Sep)….those entrance/exit dips carry the water through.

There were some pesky flies around everywhere, so bring some bug repellent. They were only a minor annoyance, not too many to ruin the fun. Get gas in Wilcox, it was a full $1 cheaper than in Tucson.

Overall I liked this rustic campground. It is hard to find a Forest Service campground with electric hookups, so that is a big plus. This campground is not too far from Durango which makes it very busy and hard to score a premium site. It’s all up hill drive from Durango. There is a narrow one lane road that crosses the water to get to the campground, but you can see the other side and avoid entry if someone is coming in the opposite direction. While there are lots of trees in the campground, not all sites have shade and mine did not. I was there July 24th and it was 89 degrees despite the elevation, so glad to have electric to run my AC. My site was not great, wide but not deep. Really the only thing good about my site was that there was a short path up a hill to the pit toilet. The toilets were clean but the system they use causes a draft directly on your buttocks while on the toilet! This was a first for me. There were no trash bins anywhere except at the entrance, so you need to haul everything out. I don’t recommend my site, but if you can score one of the premium sites with a view of the lake then those look wonderfully shady with greats views. Never saw the host despite my mid day arrival, basically just drive in and find your site. I was there for only one night though. The area is beautiful and the lake looked beautiful, although I did not have a chance to go out on the water this trip. It was quiet and peaceful here on a Monday night. I took one star off the rating due to lack of shade at my site and an over abundance of annoying mosquitos (bring netting and bug repellent). There is a nice easy path along the lake to stroll, picnic, fish and enjoy the view. It’s a good value for the price (considering how expensive this part of Colorado is) and senior pass discounts do apply. I paid $25.50 using my senior pass for 50% off. Only some sites have electric, otherwise this is a typical rustic forest service campground with pit toilets, no water and you haul out everything (trash bins at exit). I would stay here again if I could score one of the lake view sites.

3 nights; Sun/Mon/Tue in early May. This is a very private site with a big ramada covering a picnic table along with electric and potable water hookups. This Campground also has flush toilets, sinks and showers and a dump station. This site has a partial view of the lake, dependent upon how well they maintain/manage the reeds that can get out of control and block the view. When I was here this time, they seem to have been better managing the reeds than in past visits. There is also a fire ring at each site. This site was double wide so you could park your truck right next to your trailer and still have plenty of room because the site is also long. This site is level and paved. The bathrooms/showers are clean. I did not see any campground hosts during my visit. The campground was not busy. There is a gift store at the entrance and a dollar store just down the road (less than a mile). It was easy access for me to launch my inflatable kayak just a few steps from my campsite. There is very little shade at these campsites, except for the shaded picnic table under the ramada, so it gets hot. Even early May was in the low 90s, although it was nice out on the water. There is not much to do at this campground except enjoy the water or fish (no one was catching much when I was there). There is a fenced dog area and a couple of easy hikes, but unless it is winter it is too hot to hike the trails because there is no shade and it is hot desert. Patagonia State Park is a better option for summer because it has more shade and a bigger lake. Roper is nice for winter and early spring (November through April)