Camping near water, cool weather, closest to Phoenix?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

If you head to the rim this weekend bring some warm cloths. Highs in the valley are suppose to be in the high nineties. The highs in the Blue Ridge area (on top of the rim) are suppose to be in the high sixties, lows in the mid fifties with rain. Sounds like prefect camping weather.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
The EAST Verde you first cross it about 7 miles north of Payson
Click to expand...
Oh, THAT Verde!! Duh? Oops, kinda forgot that branch, even though I've driven over it on the hiway a lot of times. JOhn
 
Bring some swimtrunks, you can swim in the pool at the first falls. There is a nice 4x4 trail to get back there then hike the last 100 yards to the falls. Take the trail up on the ridge to the right to get there, that way you dont have to fight the many, many round rocks at the bottom of the creek.

BMAN - I didnt find out about the place until highschool but it still holds a special allure
 
Chris,

Please do take alot of pix. I'd like to see how the area looks now. It's litterally been 20-25 years since I've been up there. I remember the water being crystal clear and cold like Fossil Creek, with a bunch of trout in it. We would always catch trout for breakfast lunch and dinner when we were there.

I remember it being a magical place as a child. I hope it's still that way.
 
BMAN said:
Chris,

Please do take alot of pix. I'd like to see how the area looks now. It's litterally been 20-25 years since I've been up there. I remember the water being crystal clear and cold like Fossil Creek, with a bunch of trout in it. We would always catch trout for breakfast lunch and dinner when we were there.

I remember it being a magical place as a child. I hope it's still that way.
Click to expand...

We camped, hiked a ton there as kids. Haven't been there in a longtime. You ate the fish back then?:eek: IIRC that area was polluted with mine outflow, including mercury, often causing high bacteria levels. Was on/off the closed for public safety list, right on the edge for a longtime.
 
Tools R Us said:
We camped, hiked a ton there as kids. Haven't been there in a longtime. You ate the fish back then?:eek: IIRC that area was polluted with mine outflow, including mercury, often causing high bacteria levels. Was on/off the closed for public safety list, right on the edge for a longtime.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess that would explain a lot........
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
Yep!
.
Click to expand...
Oh,:hhmm: Gee.:o.a.:censor:.. wait a minute, did I say that?? :bang: What I really meant to say is that if the place is all trashed we should make it a club project, since Fossil Creek seems not:flipoff2: to need us so bad now.......:hillbilly:
 
Tools R Us said:
We camped, hiked a ton there as kids. Haven't been there in a longtime. You ate the fish back then?:eek: IIRC that area was polluted with mine outflow, including mercury, often causing high bacteria levels. Was on/off the closed for public safety list, right on the edge for a longtime.
Click to expand...

Kevin,

Remember man, I was a kid about 30 years after you were a kid. :flipoff2:

But seriously, yes, we ate the fish back then. Never made me sick either. That doesn't mean there wasn't issues with the water and whatnot, but I remember it being a pristine area with clean and cool water.
 
will do on the pictures....if anyone wants to meet up there, we will be leaving tomorrow morning around 9 and coming back late on Saturday....3 kids with us and a go-kart....should be fun.
 
Haigler is still a great place, although it is now more developed. I was sad to see this happen. Designated camp sites have been created with a new outhouse and the general barriers and so forth that come with established camp sites.

I was disappointed to see one of the old camp areas closed off on the other side of the creek.
 
Haigler
IMG_5166.webp
IMG_5175.webp
IMG_5252.webp
 
We arrived at the Haigler campground about 1pm on Friday. It had poured on us heavily from Star Valley to Colcord road. It steadily sprinkled until about 2pm.

It is a nice place, but it has been made into a regular campground area. That was actually nice this time because of all the rain and mud. The campsites have the gravel that does not turn into mud. Awesome weather overall, afternoon rain, highs in the mid-70's.

We explored the creek area, very muddy water because of all the rain but it did not keep the kids out.

I saw a lot of interesting side roads, but pulling the go-kart on a trailer did not allow for much Cruiser exploring. We will definitely be going back to hike the creek/canyon area more extensively.

Thanks for the tip on this place. I will post some more pics.
 
Friggin' Awesome :clap:

Looks like the kids had a great time. Looks like swimming in chocolate milk ~ Im glad you had a good time.
 
Brings back fond memories. We brought our kids up their at about that age 3-7 years old. Before the monsoons hit, you can actually catch some stocked trout in the pools.
If I remember right if you follow the creek up stream ~ 0.5-0.75 miles there are some nice swimming holes and some 10-15 foot deep spots.

Thanks for the pixs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom