Horsethief Gulch Campground

After spending a month in 90+ degree weather in the Sonoran Desert we were ready to see some pine trees so we stopped here for a few nights. It is a beautiful little campground surrounded by crazy rock formations, pinyon, sagebrush, and ponderosa. According to some of the reviews this campground is owned by the State but run by BLM. We were not able to determine that. Everything we saw indicated it is a State Park. Not sure it matters?

There are two loops that form a figure 8, one and then the other on top. If we were to stay here again we would stay in the upper loop. This time we were in the lower loop which saw a little more traffic. There is a trout stocked small reservoir that gets some day use and I think many of these people drive through the loop. We wished we had brought a fishing pole! The upper loop seems newer and its bathroom was newer and the showers worked better than the lower building.

We watched deer walk right though our campsite both at night and in the early morning as well as a Coyote in the middle of the day! I am certain that if we had stayed longer and been on the upper loop there would have been many more encounters with wildlife.

Surprisingly, the campground is so well tucked up in the canyon that you can’t even see the sites from the top of the walk that goes out to the spillway of the reservoir. It is very quiet and secluded! This is great if that is what you are looking for but know that you will have NO CELL SERVICE, at least with Verizon. And we had to drive a distance to get back into range.

If you take a drive past this campground you will travel on a very well groomed dirt road through BLM and private land. There are a couple of old homesteads that are in some really great locations worth seeing. We also came across a very old cemetery that was interesting to walk through and then got into some wild horses that really put a show on for us that day; playing and fighting.

I’ve been to this place many times. It’s always a nice trip. The sites are nice size, fire pits and covered tables. The bathrooms are clean and also there are showers. The reservoir has good fishing for trout, and some small mouth bass. There’s a small store at the “Eagle Valley Resort” just up the street with a bar and some slots I believe. It’s always nice to see the deer roaming around on the mountains.

Site is figure 8, the outer circle has electric hookup, inner one no hookups. Sites are nice size, has covered picnic tables. The public bathrooms are clean. There is fresh water available between every 2 sites. Dump station at entrance. The spring valley state park was beautiful. Fun on reservoir and nice hikes nearby.

After passing on my primary choice this weekend (little shade) I came here as my backup. A little bit of a drive, but worth it. Very quiet, plenty of shaded spots for tents (which I appreciated), afternoon rain to cool things down. The park itself is clean with modern facilities. No Verizon cell service but they do offer WiFi for a fee. Free for 10m if you just want to give family a quick check-in.

I arrived on Sunday and the park was mostly empty, maybe 1/4th of the spots were taken. When I left Tuesday morning it still had more than 1/2 the spots free and it was only then I found the upper loop. I plan to return and stay in the upper loop in the future.

Very friendly staff/host, quiet location. Highly recommend.

Very busy place on the week-ends but quiet at night, fun watching the fishing in the muddy lake in May. Would stay again if we were in the area and Echo Canyon was full which is just around the corner