Since my fiancee and I have made a few large purchases lately, we don’t really feel that we can afford a honeymoon of the traditional sort. Also, we’re still new to Arizona, and would like to explore some of it.
We’re looking to camp somewhere in this state from about July 20 to the end of July. The dates don’t have to be exact, and we’ll probably only spend 4-6 days out.
We don’t have much camping stuff; I think all we have is a camp stove and two chairs. Because of this, we’d like to stay someplace with cabins available.
Have you been to northeastern AZ yet? The Apline Region. It’s beautiful and won’t be nearly as hot as the valley that time of year. Look around online and you’ll find plenty of places to rent cabins.
Are you opposed to sleeping in a tent or buying one? You can get them ridiculously cheap at Wal-Mart.
Do you like hiking? If so, I could not recommend a night at Fossil Springs highly enough. It’s a natural spring area with a waterfall, rope swings, plenty of swimming and camping areas. Just north of Payson.
I’d need to know more for more recommendations. What kind of terrain do you want to camp in, what do you want to do during the day, etc.
I’m not entirely opposed to tent camping. I just don’t know anything about where to go either way.
Honestly, we are interested in cabins because of my aversion to rattlesnakes and scorpions. We native midwesterners can’t handle those things!
We’re both in our mid-20’s, and fairly physically active. We like hiking and biking, and will have our two dogs with us. We really want to see more of our new home state. I’ve heard the Payson area is great, so I’ll look in to Fossil Springs.
Fossil Springs (pic) is amazing. I’ve daytripped up there many, many times and camped once. Also look into Escudilla Peak (pic) in NE AZ. It’s 10,000’+ and really easy to bag. Absolutely gorgeous too, and so is the drive to get there. If you want to see southern AZ, check out Carr’s Peak (pic) near Sierra Vista. Also 10,000+ and also an easy day hike. You can see into Mexico from the top and that region is greener than you would expect.
If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can head to the top of Arizona, Humphreys Peak (pic), which is quite a bit tougher than anything else I’ve mentioned, but still a day hike. Only thing about this one is that it might still be a little early in the year. Though it was generally nice, we saw patches of snow when were up there in August.
I’ve lived here 5 years and done quite a bit of hiking and camping. I’ve only seen a couple scorpions and they were inside the apartment I used to live in in Scottsdale. I’ve never seen a rattlesnake. These things are a lot more scared of us than we are of them. Also, the sting from our scorpions isn’t particularly dangerous. It’s like a bee sting.
Have you done any of the popular valley hikes yet? Camelback, Squaw Peak, the Superstitions, South Mountain, White Tanks, etc?
Check out http://hikearizona.com/ . It’s essential reading for anyone who lives here and wants to get outdoors. There should be a login on bugmenot.com if you don’t feel like registering.
We’ve done South Mountain. I work at the high school at the base of it, and the head coach and I make our girls from the basketball team run part of it fairly often.
Thanks for all of the pics and info; I’ll let my fiancee know about these places so we can try to plan a trip.
I can’t agree enough. Here’s a link. There’s a link to cabins on the left.
I really can’t say this enough - that is one of the most beautiful areas of the country I’ve ever seen - you’ll be able to do some trips if you want - Sedona, Jerome - it would be a blast.
I went camping in theChiricahua’s this weekend, outside of the monument. I had a LOT of fun, but I can’t say that I would recommend it. Northern Arizona is a lot more beautiful, IMHO, and a lot less dusty.
