Boondocking Site Review – Thousand Trails Road, Prescott NFS, Cottonwood, AZ

Sunset at our boondocking site on FS360

A very scenic boondocking spot in the Prescott National Forest just SE of Cottonwood, AZ

Location: Prescott National Forest, just SE of Cottonwood, AZ
Coordinates: Camping area starts at intersection of AZ 260 and Thousand Trails Road(FS147)/Camino Real(FS360). Approx. 34.660993,-111.965153. Link to map location HERE
Cost: FREE (14-day limit)
How We Found It: We had heard about camping around Thousand Trails Road from other RVers and also found the listing on freecampsites.net. We settled on our final site by studying the Prescott Motor Vehicle Use Map for other permitted dispersed camping in the area.
Nearest Dump/Water: No facilities in forest. Free dump station at Giant Gas on corner of 89A and 260. Plenty of other nearby dump stations in Cottonwood & Camp Verde area.

1. Access – 2.5/5
   Access can be very good to very poor depending on where you camp. The boondocking area we chose is on the intersection of 260 & Thousand Trails Road just SE of Cottonwood. There are two main areas to camp here on either side of 260:
   Thousand Trails Road -> Travelling north on Hwy 260, take a right at Thousand Trails Road (paved, clearly marked). Follow the paved road for 1/4 mile and then turn left onto Forest Rd 147A (wide dirt, firm). You will see flat, open areas and other rigs boondocked along the first 1/2 mile of this road. This is a popular area and easy to access for any-sized rig. Do not continue past top section (where road descends sharply to the water) since it becomes narrow with no turn-around.
   Forest Service Road 360 -> Travelling north on Hwy 260 take a left at Thousand Trails to the dirt road directly opposite. This road is  unmarked, fairly narrow and rapidly becomes very poor (very rutted, bumpy). According to the Prescott MVUM dispersed camping is allowed all along this road including adjacent FS361 and FS9460C. There are several camping areas fairly close to the entrance which can be relatively easily accessed, but sites further back require high clearance vehicles. Look for cleared-out sites that have been previously used (often there’s a small fire-ring). This is lightly used by campers, but much harder to access. Small high-clearance rigs will be able to find some very private (and still very scenic) sites here, but big rigs will be very limited.
2. Nature – 5/5
   Lovely nature and views here. You are just south of Cottonwood in high desert forest with sweeping views of the valley (all the way to the red rocks of Sedona). Open land all around and lots of forest service roads to hike and explore.
3. Isolation – 2.5/5
   You’re close to the largish town of Cottonwood so only medium isolation here. Thousand Trails is a fairly well-known boondocking site so you’ll undoubtedly be camping with others (for those familiar think “Quartzite-like” camping). The other side of 260 has very few campers, but does get OHVers and cars exploring the roads. Either way you’ll encounter some traffic unless your rig is small enough to get very far back in the forest, but the views and location are worth the trouble.
4. Pet Friendliness – 5/5
   A great location for the paws. Nice, open (cactus-free) space all around for easy paws on the ground plus lots of forest service roads for hiking/exploring. You are also only ~2 miles from Verde River access for water-splashing.

Overall Rating =  3.75
BONUS ALERT = Sweeping views of Verde Valley and the distant Red Rocks of Sedona!

Summary: We chose this area based on good reviews from other RVers and, although it’s not as isolated as we typically like, we managed to find a fairly secluded spot and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Thousand Trails Road is just SE of Cottonwood and off Hwy 260. This makes it a popular (and well-used) spot, but also gives some excellent sweeping views including the Verde Valley and the gorgeous red rocks of Sedona in the far background. Access can be easy to poor depending which side of the road you chose to boondock on (see above), but you’re rewarded with a scenic site that’s a short drive to Cottonwood, Jerome, Verde River and the various excellent sights around the area. Don’t expect to be alone here, plus be prepared for some trash (sadly, typical of heavily-used forest), but enjoy a great location. We loved the area and would readily come back again.

NOTE/ The Prescott National Forest covers a huge area and this is but a teeny piece of the boondocking available. You can pick-up or download a copy of the Prescott Motor Vehicle Use Map which will show each and every road open for dispersed camping in the entire forest. It takes a little doing to match forest service roads to actual road names (plus not all are marked) but if you spend the time you can find some excellent and well-secluded spots.

Extra Info: Good 4G Verizon signal (4 bars) and decent 3G signal. Since this is a well-used area the 14-day limit is enforced. There was a camp host at the Thousand Trails site and a ranger came by to take our license plate number at the other site.

Entry road to Thousand Trails site

View of Thousand Trails boondocking rigs from FS147A. It’s a popular spot!

View down one of lanes in Thousand Trails site

Another View down Thousand Trails site

Yet another view of rigs at Thousand Trails

View of our site down FS360

Another view of our site on FS360

View of another camper further down FS360. You can see how rutted the road is in the front.

One of the many sites around FS360

General map of the 2 boondocking areas. Download the Prescott MVUM for more details.

Wind Storms, Another Beast & Cottonwood Outings

Two very ball-focused doggies…will you throw it already, says Lewis??!!

It’s been a full coupla days here in the boondocks. On Sunday afternoon the Big White Beluga rolled into town and joined us at our little spot in the wilds. It was a welcome reunion with much dog-licking and happy paw-play (that would be the dogs, not Sue & Dave), and the two “beasts” slotted easily into our spacious pad for the evening cocktail and meal. Very relaxing stuff all-around.

Ominous clouds by the two “beasts” Monday AM

Stubbornly enjoying coffee in the chilly dust storm

But Beluga brought some weather too. The next morning the winds started picking up and some serious dark grey clouds rolled over the mountains. We stubbornly braved the gusts for our morning coffee (which became more like café-a-dirt), but were subsequently forced inside for the rest of the day. It turned out to be a rock n’roll kinda day, with slides in, 50 mph gusts and spatterings of rain, but the show from inside the RV stayed cozy and warm. The event reminded me of the wild spring winds we encountered in New Mexico a few years back. Not much you can do except point your butt to the wind and wait it out…such is life sometimes.

Red rock views from our boondocking site

Today it’s a tad chillier, but the crazy stuff is mostly gone and we’re winding down to our very last cocktails overlooking the valley. By this time tomorrow we’ll have said our last goodbyes to Beluga, given our last adieu to Arizona and be on the red soils of Utah.

The old Fire Station at Jerome

But before I go I figured I’d round-up a few of our favorite outings in the Cottonwood area. This whole valley, part of the Verde Valley (Green Valley) has attracted people since the very first hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago. With its ready source of water, rich ore and mineral soils it’s seen steady development from early pueblo’s in the 1100′s, mining in the 1870′s to modern-day tourist attractions. Here’s some of our favs:

1/ Tuzigoot National Monument

Yours truly by gorgeous Tuzigoot

Tuzigoot National Monument is an excellent example of an early Sinagua village. Built between 1125 and 1400 it contains more than 110 rooms and sits beautifully on a hill-top ~120 feet above the Verde Valley. It’s just one of the many ancient pueblos in the area, but it was carefully excavated and remains rather well-preserved. Plus the museum has some very nice exhibits too. A really fun outing to learn about early cultures & settlements in the area. Definitely worth the visit.

2/ Jerome

It’s a good cuppa at Flatiron!

View of Jerome from 89A

A historic hillside town sprung from the discovery of vast deposits of copper in the late 1870′s. It grew from mining boom and ~15,000 people in the 1920′s to only 50 people and near ghost-town status by the mid 1950′s. The development of a State Park and pressure to preserve the heritage gave the town another start and it’s now a well-loved tourist stop. The old buildings weave their way up Cleopatra Hill (a fittingly lavish name) and there’s plenty of good food, wine and mining history to keep you occupied. Jerome doesn’t have the cool hippy culture of Bisbee (it’s much more gentrified/touristy than that), but it’s still got some nice appeal. In our 2 trips into town we had some excellent Mexican food at 15.Quince and a delicious coffee at the teeny Flatiron. Worth a stop for sure!

3/ Cottonwood, Verde River & The Wine Trail

The stick is over there, doggie..

Cottonwood is only ~5 miles from our boondocking site and boasts a cool old town downtown, a lovely State Park and multiple access points to the Verde River. The latter winds it way through the entire valley (and far beyond) and provides lots of neat little picnic areas, paddle trips and (most importantly for us) doggie-splash moments. As a nice little side-attraction  for those of us with a nose for grapes, there’s the Verde Valley Wine Trail. There seems to be no end of wine-tasting rooms around town, plus there’s even a winery within biking distance from our boondocking spot…no need to drive, baby!

Paul does a manly pose at Tuzigoot

That’s my quick and rough round-up of the area. There’s plenty more, of course including all of wonderful Sedona (which we visited a few years back), lovely Flagstaff and tons of interesting spots in the surrounding forests, but there’s only so much a boondocker can get around to. We’ve simply loved our winter in Arizona, but we’re looking forward to the next part of the voyage. See you in the red rocks of Utah!

Waaay too much fun at 15. Quince

Cool shadows in Jerome

Tuzigoot glory

The sliding Jerome jail

Cool clouds by “the beasts”

Happy doggies in the wilds

The teeeeny Flatiron Café in Jerome

And some parting sunset clouds

Dancing In The Buff – Cottonwood, AZ

Sunset at our new site

We find ourselves today, yet again, in the boonies. Our new spot is just east of Cottonwood, AZ and has a sweeping view of the valley with afternoon glow to the red rocks of Sedona in the background. It’s a tad closer to the road than we like, but the views and location make it a pretty darn nice spot. Plus we’re all alone…our kinda spot.

View of red rocks out our front windshield

We actually had to work a bit to get here. There’s a rather well-known and fairly easy boondocking spot about a mile away from here but there were over 25 RV’s there when we went to check it out a few days ago…yikes! Right across the way is a gnarly forest service road that bumps and ruts its way into the wilderness. This road is not for sissies and thus no beast goes there. Guess where we are?

Yeah, this is how we like it…

“The beast” soaks in some last rays

We’ve been here several days thoroughly enjoying the higher elevations and thus near-perfect temps. This is the time of year our flip-flop barometer keeps us heading higher and northwards, warm enough to bask in a T-shirt but not so hot that we’re forced into air-conditioning (or so the plan goes). The paws have been frolicking in the grasses, we’ve been on some pretty neat outings (more on that in the next post) and we even…finally…finished our taxes, an event that got us so excited we danced naked around the RV. Well, we may not exactly all have been naked (in fact it’s possible the paws were the only ones essentially in the buff), but the point is we could have. When you’re boondocking and happy, the possibilities are endless.

Sunset views from the rig

Our RV mirror reflects last rays

This afternoon we’re being joined by our buddies Sue & Dave who are celebrating their one-year-on-the-road anniversary. It’s a momentous event and they’re bringing some rather sumptuous food to share with lucky us (love those kinds of visitors!). We will be contributing to the party with a Peruvian cocktail (Pisco Sour) and my famous flourless chocolate cake. This will also mean a reunion of Polly and her bestest buddy Lewis. Lucky dogs! It’s a good thing we’ve got lots of space ‘coz I predict exuberant pooch craziness all around.

I leave you with a few shots of our little spot and will be back to report on dog reunions and outings soon.

Morning coffee view

Early morning visitor at our forest site

Wondering the roads in our neighborhood. At least one of us is naked

Last light

SP Campground Review – Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ

The stunning Supersition Mountains at Lost Dutchman State Park!

A simply gorgeous State Park with stunning views of the Superstition Mountains just East of Phoenix, AZ.

Link to campground here: Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ
Link to map location here: Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ

1. Site Quality = 4.5/5
   Very nice sites here with just very few dings. There are 2 main camping areas:
   Main Campground (sites 1-70) - These sites are all paved either back-in or pull-through with excellent separation and lovely “sitting areas” containing picnic table, fire-pit and grill. Only ~1/2 of sites have hook-ups (50amp/water) whereas the rest are non hook-up. All outer-sites are nicely large especially the enormous pull-throughs (many of which could easily fit 2 rigs) and most have excellent views of Superstition Mountain. Only ding is some of inner sites (esp. 1-15, 33-38) are smaller and best suited to smaller rigs while a *few* of the back-ins are a tad uneven.
   Overflow Campground (sites 75-104) – This is a brand new addition to the park and all sites here are currently first-come-first-serve. All sites are cleared dirt with picnic tables and fire-pit. Although primitive they are nicely large with decent separation and good views of the mountain. It’s a simple loop, but easily one of the nicest overflow sites I’ve seen.
2. Facilities = 3.5/5
   Good facilities. The bathrooms are large and kept nicely clean. Showers are individual rooms with separate bench area and very good water pressure and temperature. Only slight ding is they have those annoying spray heads.
3. Location = 5/5
   This is an excellent location. You are right at the base of the Superstition Mountains with simply lovely views all-around and direct access to miles of hiking trails right from your campsite. Nearby Apache Junction has basic shopping needs and Mesa/Phoenix are only ~1/2 hour away.
4. Pet Friendliness = 5/5
   Another fabulous pooch park. Lots of space to hang out in camp plus dog-friendly trails all around. Very little cholla too so a good camp for paws on the ground.

Overall Rating =  4.5
BONUS ALERT = Camp will full views of the gorgeous Superstition Mountains!

Summary: I fell in love with the Superstition Mountains last time we stayed in Pheonix and this park puts your right in the middle of the action. It’s a lovely State Park with large paved sites (pull-throughs are especially enormous), good separation, nice “sitting areas” and simply excellent views of Superstition Mountain all-around. Lots of hiking directly from your campsite plus direct access to the Apache Trail for lakes/sightseeing as well as short drive to shopping. Although you’re only ~1/2 hour from Phoenix it feels like a whole other world, and if you catch the desert blooms in spring you’ll be rewarded with quite the special show. A simply lovely park that may well be our fav in the area. No doubt we’ll be coming back!

Extra Info: Good Verizon signal (3-4 bars on both 3G & 4G). 72 reservable sites of which ~35 have 50Amp/water (remainder are non hook-up). Additional 30 first-come-first-serve primitive sites in overflow camping section (this is a recent addition!). Sites cost $30/night (Jan-Mar), $25/night (off-season) for electric/water, $17/night (Jan-Mar), $15/night (off-season) for primitive. On-site dump station.

View of our site (#20). Slanted at the front, but lots of flat space for the rig.

View down our row. Site #19 on left with us in #20 on right.

View towards upper end of loop. Empty site#21 on left with #23 behind it.

View towards top of loop. Site #32 on right, #31 on left. Both have excellent views.

View of large pull-throughs down left-side of campground. Site #49 on right with #47 behind it. Site #46 on left.

Another view of large pull-throughs. #57 on left, #54 on right

View of smaller sites in middle. #5 on right, 4 behind on left.

View of the other smaller sites. Empty #35 on left, truck in #34 on right

Typical “sitting area”. This is from site #38

View of pull-through in overflow campground. This is site #78. RV in site #98 behind.

Another view of overflow. Empty pull-though #100 on right with RV in #99 behind.

View of facilities

Breezing Through Phoenix, Desert Blooms…And Getting Caught!

BLOOMs in the desert!!

Hiking in blankets of yellow!

We’ve stopped for a few days in Phoenix. This is really just a quick breeze-through and we’ve had no plans other than stocking up, re-charging and getting ready to head north.

We’ve been packing it in too.

On the way here we took ”the beast“ through Blue Beacon for a quick wash (rinsing off several months of serious boondocking dust!) followed by some hand waxing at our site (done mostly by Paul, the hardy stud). Then, once we got here we picked up our mail and (dismay of dismay) I realized I’d been caught turning on red by one of the many notorious traffic cameras in Phoenix back in Feb and needed to take a 4-hour class to dismiss the ticket -> my second ticket (in my life) and I felt like a right fool, but we managed to cram in and get it done. Between that and back-to-back shopping outings there’s really been no time for much else. It’s been a crazy coupla days!

Alas, such is RV life sometimes.

A gorgeous sunset from our site

Despite our packed schedule we’ve managed to enjoy our surroundings. This time around we chose to stay at Lost Dutchman State Park right at the base of the Superstition Mountains. I drove through this area last time we were in Phoenix, but this is our first time staying here. I have to say I am mucho impressed. Lovely, large sites with gorgeous views all around plus excellent hiking right at your doorstep. In fact I think this is going to become our new all-time favorite park in the area.

Studies in yellow

And more…

But the biggest bonus is that desert has exploded into bloom!  The view from our campsite is dominated by the sheer red walls of Superstition Mountain and the entire valley and base is covered in a thick, brilliant blanket of yellow flowers. There are so many blooms, so much yellow that I could easily lose myself and do a photo-study just of that. It’s a crazy and stunning transformation!

The desert bloom is something I look forward to every year, but it’s often a short and fleeting show. Also there’s a delicate balance between blooms and temperature. By the time the blooms come out, it’s starting to get too hot for our paws and the likes of us. By pure luck we’ve managed to catch it perfectly this time around. Temps are getting hotter (Phoenix is flirting with the 90′s right now), but we’ve still got enough cool mornings and evenings to go out and enjoy the show. Sheer perfection!

We’re headed out again tomorrow morning for higher elevations (lower temps) and (hopefully) a brand new rockin’ spot in the boonies. See ya on the other side…

Yellow gorgeousness

Another great sunset

The bloom blanket

Sunrise at Superstition Mountain