Houston Mesa Campground

Stayed here so we could visit Tonto Bridge State Park. Lots of trees, and looked good from satellite view. Unfortunately, it's less than 1/2mi as the crow flies from a traffic circle on the state highway. Plus the road past the CG leads to a settlement of several hundred houses. Steady traffic would be one thing, but the noise consists of lots of accelerating and decelerating vehicles, with a large proportion of them trucks. Even using jake brakes! We started in site 6, which is about 50 yds through the trees from this busy road. Couldn't take it, and luckily were able to relocate to another site about 150 yds further in.

Campground is clean, restrooms are individual rooms with flush toilet and sink with cold water. Shower house is being built. Site 15 could use some tree trimming, you lose about 3' of width due to branches sticking out 3-5' above ground.

Dump station costs $10, even if you're staying there. Camp host said they pump it and take it to Green Valley (! - 200 miles away -- almost to Mexico !)

Cell service comes and goes - bounces from 4G 2bars to 3G to 1X 2 bars. Not dependable if you're trying to accomplish something.

This was our first outing with our new rig so we didn't want to be too remote. Our site had a level asphalt pad and a nice open area along with trees for shade. The restrooms were very clean. There was some noise from the highway, but it really didn't bother us. There was also some great or noise.

The location is a good base for seeing the local sites. I didn't use my phone other than to check email and it worked so, I didn't pay attention to the reception.

This was a nice campground to stay at if you wanted to be close to the city. Only about five minutes from Walmart. Quite a lot of road noise in the campsite where I was camped The $10 price reflects a Senior Discounted rate.

Facility had paved roads and paved campsite pads for RV's. There was tent areas that were nice. My son and friends camped there. The sites were large and private with lots of trees and bushes. Also sites had tables and fire rings. The main rest rooms and showers looked fairly new. The outer rest room were standard issue ;)

Pleasant nature trail that the younger kids enjoyed.

Even though this is the first week in October and the weather is awesome they only had 1 couple for Camp Host for 74 sites. They were definitely overworked and unfortunately had a hard time keeping up with the tagging of sites. Reserved/Open sites were hard to identify. I stayed here last year and they were staffed much better. I read the other reviews and question the Fees since the camp host told me they had not changed from what I listed in a long time. My favorite thing here is the close proximity to town. There are dump stations in town too. Previous campers in my site left a fair amount of trash behind.

We stayed in a beautiful spot in the Mountain Lion loop with our 29’ travel trailer. It was a big pull through spot tucked in the corner of the campground with plenty of space to play with the kiddos. The problem was that the site (and many others) backed up to a service road that was quite close. We didn’t let it ruin the weekend for us and we sort of got used to the vehicles whizzing by but there are plenty of campgrounds nearby without this issue.

I hope this is helpful. Cheers

Spots were level and private. Most of them were fairly large, especially the pull thru sites like ours (elk loop #22). Showers $3 for 6 minutes. Clean and well maintained. Very noisy campground both from road noise and fellow campers. Only 15 minutes to Natural Bridge state Park and about 10 minutes pass that to some great food/drink establishments in Pine and Strawberry. Unfortunately the hosts never seemed to be on duty and were not very good at updating the spots available. We were there on the 6th and they still had tags up from the 25th of the previous month. It made it very difficult to know which spots were available and it was impossible to find someone to ask. Dump station closed while we were there. Across the road is the horse campground which has one loop anyone can use. We ran by it and seemed quieter. There is a partial dirt road in but it’s not rough. I’d recommend checking it out too. Overall it was a convenient place to stay.

Dump site is closed due to malfunction of credit card swipe. Sites are very clean. Campground Hosts on site and very welcoming. Definitely improved since my last visit. Beautiful weather during the last week of April!

The site we stayed in could accommodate any size rig. Very quiet during the week and not bad on the weekends. The have water and a dump station and the town of Payson is a 2 minute drive.

Very expensive $26 a night for dry camping. Lots of road noise, restrooms and showers locked for no reason. Dump site is on the premises but it's another $10 on top of the nightly fee. Three large, unsightly host sites (in the Elk loop alone) with the tackiest of trailer park decor---these "hosts" were invisible but clearly had settled in for the long haul. Seeing a national forest service campground taken over by a for-profit service provider is a tragedy, especially if this is the outcome.

There is another campsite off Houston Mesa Road - opposite the privatized campsite. Called Equestrian Campsite - has sites for without horses. $20 per night - I paid $10 with Lifetime Pass. Large flat, well maintained sites with water, flush toilets and trash. Beautiful trees and vegetation, easy access and location close to town. Would stay again.