At this point I should just stop worrying because she has just as much of a sense of adventure as I do, plus she never lets a good mental or physical effort dissuade her from anything. When you live in the suburbs, you tend to forget about these kinds of experiences. Those guardrails are definitely needed as there are some steep drop-offs along that highway. We didn't see a soul on the lake. She was a real beaut! I digress. Request Free Travel brochures for Payson. Folks were waiting 3 and 4 vehicles deep at every pump. The first glimpse of the lake, right in the middle of the shot. We didn't know what delights would await us on the highway, but were expecting the worst. One of them indicated that there was a really rough trail that they were able to get in there on. Valentine Ridge Campground – Mogollon Rim. Click here to view them all! The next morning we awoke to a beautiful day. Haigler Canyon Campground and Day Use. Once we had that task complete, we began the long, laborious slog out of there. Add a Campsite. If you purchase a product through one of them Camping.org will receive a commission at no additional cost to you. The board on occasion will feel a tad sluggish, especially in rougher seas,  but it's not so heavy that you can't move along at a good clip and have fun. Tons of wood around. As it turned out, and was expected, we were soon joined on the beeline highway by many many thousands of our closest friends. It was indeed awesome. There were more than a few folks attempting the trek with just sandals on their feet and very little water. The 3/4 mile trail down to the lake is a steady descent. We also have the following visitor guides in Arizona. We had a really nice visit with them for a while, before we decided to get going. The entire trail is fairly steep and extremely rocky. We'd once again be headed into an unknown- to- us area and trying to find a dispersed camping spot, in the dark no less. About Chevelon Canyon Lake Campground. At the conclusion of the trip, we'd have to haul it all out. I'll bet we saw 50-75 people do that each time we were in the launch area. To request your selected free visitor guides, please fill out the form below and click "Submit". Arizona; Chevelon Canyon Overview; Leave a Review. When the cooler is full, especially when we bring a lot of beer, it's super heavy. We knew that we would not be paddling all day, but maybe just a couple of hours. After we landed, we began the process of deflating our boards and packing them into the "backpack" style bags that they come in. There was just a faint hint of a signal, but I texted Codie and suggested that they head our way and take over the site that we currently occupied. I was really beginning to regret the large amount of fluids I had consumed that afternoon. Lots of places to explore in this canyon. Find a Campsite. Late in the morning, we decided to get the boards loaded and start to make our way back. After an extra hour of travel, we steamed in to Payson. No dice. They were thinking along the same lines, so we decided to cancel and live to fight another day. The long, diagonal line that goes upward from right to left, is the trail up out of the canyon. They jumped on the chance, as they had known that trying to find a spot would be tough. Chevelon Canyon Lake … We planned on a nice fire later that evening. Camping.org is a participant in the Amazon affiliate Advertising Program. Most of the Rim lakes up there are a zoo every weekend, much less on a holiday weekend with record high temperatures. We doused the embers with a good bit of water and retired. We went about getting our gear prepped for our upcoming departure. My research on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest website had indicated that Chevelon Canyon Lake was the least accessible lake on the Rim. All Rights Reserved and. Searchable listings of Payson hotels, motels, resorts, bed & breakfast, and more. We offer a compact version of Go-Arizona for mobile users, allowing you to access just the information you need on the road. The campground which is situated in a mixture of ponderosa pine, juniper and pinyon pine is modestly developed. We'd planned to do some mountain biking, some paddling and just spend some time catching up with some of our favorite peeps. I saw an area that looked like it had potential as a camping spot. Searchable lists of Payson tourism offices and other helpful government agencies. The Dept of Transportation was in the midst of replacing the guardrails, thus one lane was closed. You can use Latitude: 34.50979000 Longitude: -110.84018870 coordinates in your GPS. We'd wake up and finish off the short drive to the lake. We'd schlep all of our gear down to the lake in how ever many trips it took. Thankfully, I was eventually able to get back to sleep. There was no road access to the lake, and the closest parking was a mile away, up a steep "trail" from the lake. This gave us the luxury of being able to take our time a bit on Saturday morning. We bypassed the area and pulled into Safeway for a few last minute essentials. Many different species of birds were out birding. Soon enough progress ground to a halt. Thankfully, the drive home was quick and uneventful. See our full. Copyright © 1997 - 2020 The Go Travel Sites. After a 25 minute drive, we approached Chevelon Lake Campground, which is where you park to hike down the trail to the lake. The phone number for Chevelon Canyon Lake Campground is . If you look closely enough, above, you can see folks on the shore. We loaded up with gear, and began the pilgrimage down to the lake. She's as mentally and physically tough as anyone I've ever met. Don't ask me where we got these gems. Dispersed Campgrounds. The beach in front of our campsite. The line at the lady's room in Safeway was about 12 deep. I'm sure that local business owners were thrilled at the extra business. It was quite the scene. You can send yourself an email as well. We usually disperse camp at Lake Mead, but the virus has all that closed this year. We'd drive up on Friday after work and find some place to disperse camp near the lake. Thankfully nobody messed with them. I was just about to send out the dreaded "Dear John/Jeanie" text when I received a text from Jeanie. I couldn't really tell you how much weight I was carrying on the board, besides my sculpted 200 lb frame. Meanwhile, Arizona as a whole is well-known to be a wonderful place for camping activities. Within an hour, we made the turn onto Rim road. The amount of traffic was staggering. It was a bummer that the trip was nearly over, and an even bigger bummer that we now had to haul all of our stuff up that long trail. As the fire ebbed away to a few stubborn, holdout embers, our energy also reached it's nadir for the day. Searchable list of Payson tour companies, guides and outfitters, rental companies and more. With absolutely zero human light or noise pollution, it felt like a true wilderness experience. I didn't relish the idea of hauling our not insubstantial amount of gear down a mile long steep trail, that was literally a surface of tennis ball to baseball size rocks. I can only imagine what Payson/Flagstaff/Prescott residents must think when the hordes ascend upon them each weekend. The dispersed camping experience I had during my stay in Arizona is something I still find difficult to forget till date. This page contains affiliate links. I was disappointed to pick up over 7 pounds of nails, screws and staples from our camping area. Unfortunately, due to our early bed time, I found myself wide awake at 2:30. I dug deep into my bag of trips. Oh yes, thank you, this will do! The rest of the lake, save for a few areas near where we camped, is cliff bound. There were a few folks down there on ATVs. Payson weather report, historic temperatures and climate info,…. I pitched the idea to Bianca with bated breath. I guess it's probably how we feel when the hordes descend upon us in the winter. When Codey and I went to visit the North Rim (open from May to October), we received a map from the ranger at the visitors centre about dispersed camping. We'd checked the Apache Sitgreaves website ahead of time to see if there were any fire restrictions. Chevelon Canyon Lake is a prime trout fishing lake northwest of Heber, and the Chevelon Canyon Lake Campground is an ideal place for fishermen to … It was looking like this trip wasn't going to happen either. We'd need to plan this out and pull it off in two days. Yes, Prescott Arizona. There is no beach at Chevelon. Bianca and I still wanted to get out of town for the weekend, but we knew we'd need to get a couple thousand feet higher in elevation and we wanted to be near water, and we didn't want to be anywhere near people. Public - Forest Service (Unofficial) The road in is Dirt and 3 miles from a paved … We also have visitor guides available in states highlighted in blue below. Campsite overlooking Chevelon Canyon Lake and the damn/reservoir. It's not unlike many other lakes and reservoirs in Arizona, such as CC Cragin Reservoir, that almost feel like a wide river. The fire that happened earlier in the summer, the Bush fire I believe, had actually melted/burned up miles upon miles of the wooden posts and metal structure that make up the guardrails. They're so much more fun with no gear loaded on them. Latest . As the last vestiges of daylight slowly ebbed away, we got the fire going. Lots of room for Van life. Continue to Mobile Site Latest; Featured posts; Most popular; 7 days popular; By review score ; Random; Havasupai Campground. Definitely not camping weather for this camper. It was kind of a busy, chaotic area. We set up the chairs and just enjoyed coffee, breakfast and the breeze blowing through the pines. It was time to get the morning started. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. No, not Prescott Arkansas, a mistake I'd made in the past. Well crud! I was hauling all of the gear down to the "beach" area in order to launch, whilst she inflated the rigs. Chevelon Canyon Lake Campground is located at Forest Lakes, AZ 85931. We were headed to the farthest lake out there, so as we progressed, traffic thinned.

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