Prescott?

[jacqueg]

I know there's lots of places out there. Looking for recommendations of spots with passable Verizon reception and room to spread out a bit. Doesn't have to be really close to town, but keep in mind I have a stock van without 4WD and high clearance.

Thanks for any good leads!

 

[DannyB1954]

I camped there last year. There are free designated sites East of Prescott. Take S. Senator Highway East of town, (it is actually a rural two lane road that goes through residential areas). It becomes a dirt road eventually. Shortly thereafter you can go two different ways.

Turn right on East Wolf Creek Rd. a short way down there will be a small dirt road going uphill to the right. There are maybe 10 down that road. Further Down Wolf Creek road on the left will be a paid primative campground which may be closed now.

If you don't turn onto Wolf Creek Rd. and continue on Senator, you will come to a road off to the right named Kendall camp rd. There are marked sites down that road. If you keep on Senator road there will be other marked sites. Eventually you will come to an abandoned mining camp called the congress mine. There are still some ruins there. It is about a 1/2 mile past a sign that says leaving a fire district, (don't remember the name). Driving further down that road it turns into more of a jeep trail. I used Google to try to find the mine. It told me to keep going so I actually passed it and didn't see it because of vegetation. I was in a 1 ton Dually with a full camper. I kept saying, this can't be right. Google kept saying keep going. Eventually I got to a place where a ATV could not even pass me and I asked Where the heck is the mine. They said about 5 miles back from where I came.

 

[rvwandering]

I've deleted the silliness about how Prescott should be pronounced.
So does anyone have more suggestions about dispersed camping near Prescott?

 

[crofter]

Glad I read that post before it vanished. I have heard that about Preskit. 

BTW when you domicile in South Dakota (or just Dakota) you will need to pronounce Belle Fourche and Lead. Lucky for you, can get by with saying "Bell" and ppl will know what you are talking about. Lead is a verb not a noun, so rhymes with need that Black Hills Gold and is a great place to find it.

For Dakota camping, some love the high plains areas, complete with plains wildlife and badlands buttes near Wall.

For boondocking start at Newcastle, WY and head toward Custer SD. Cathedral Spires comes to mind, especially if you are a climber. Best pancakes at the Wrangler in Custer. 

You can continue on toward Hot Springs, SD and find buffalo again near the national forest gate. Buffalo babies are so cute- coming to a field near you if you travel to Dakota.

You will pass by the Thunder Basin National Grassland on the way to Newcastle. And there is also a large herd of commercial bison south of Gillette that can be seen from the highway north of the Newcastle turnoff. (Just a short detour).

Happy boondocking.

-crofter

 

[jacqueg]

Thanks Danny!

I've been here for the last few days, and thought I'd give a report.

It's a nice wooded area, mostly ponderosas and live oak.

I never saw a sign for Kendall Camp Road, but there was a sign for Mt. Tritle Road, so I took that. It has just been bladed and there are about 10 designated sites. I took a site that was right on the road, but it was the only one open. There were tons of people passing by on various ATV and modified regular vehicles who were clearly out driving dirt roads. It was pretty noisy, and I wasn't so sure I'd make several days here. But by mid-afternoon, most people had cleared out, and I was able to snag a site that hd some screening from the road. Monday, I had to go into town for a problem with my generator, and I just did not feel comfortable leaving stuff there, so I packed everything up. By the time I got back in the afternoon, all those empty sites were taken. Sigh.

So I went back toward town and took the Wolf Creek Road. It has clearly not been bladed in several years, and is quite rutted. But it was not a problem for my van. and I took the first site on the road. It was much quieter and cleaner than the sites on Mt Tritle. I walked up the road a ways and there were two more sites that I saw. I think I could have gotten to either of those as well, but it is definitely a road to scout before driving if you don't have 4WD.

There is a theoretical 7-day limit here, but I don't believe it is strictly enforced, because I never saw people at a couple of the sites, just rigs that looked like they might have been there awhile.

In sum, very pleasant natural surroundings, but noisy on the weekends, and you will have to pick up a fair amount of detritus, including TP, if you like a relatively clean camp.

Being so close to town definitely has pros and cons.

 

[user 423]

^
Much cooler?

 

[jacqueg]

^
Much cooler?

40s/50s at night, low 80s during the day. Usually a light breeze and I'm in the shade. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I'm quite comfortable.[/font]

 

[user 423]

^
I'm at 4600' in Sierra Vista. It will start getting into the low to mid-90's tomorrow.

Time to get my van finished and head for the hills.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

From my experience, Prescott is very well patrolled and enforced on stay length. FYI.
This may have changed due to current realities but can anyone confirm?
Due to its close proximity to Phoenix, it's relatively small size and the prevalence of 4*4, it is heavily used and abused unfortunately. Especially the weekends. Many spots and users can be sketchy.
Timing is key to finding a spot.

 

[user 423]

^
Yeah, it would be nice to know how that area works out for jacque.

I'm curious how it is in the Flagstaff area during summer,too.

 

[jacqueg]

^
Yeah, it would be nice to know how that area works out for jacque.

Well, I'm still here. The trees and the weather here are great, it's the noise the bugs me, and the fact that I don't feel comfortable leaving my camp set up while I run to town, but so far it's OK. Waiting for a friend to join me, and we'll move on from here, not sure just where yet. We want to wind up near Flagstaff, but it still sounds a bit too muddy there.

When I started this journey in January, my original plan was to work my way north slowly and end up in the Dark Sky Reserve in Idaho sometime at the end of summer.. But I think that's out of the question now.

 

[user 423]

When I started this journey in January, my original plan was to work my way north slowly and end up in the Dark Sky Reserve in Idaho sometime at the end of summer.

I'll probably be staying on the eastern side of AZ along US 191 north of Clifton and on to Flagstaff maybe eventually.

The Clifton area is not far from the Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary near Alma,NM which I've been wanting to visit.

 

[Qxxx]

... Looking for recommendations of spots with passable Verizon reception

All I can say is "biscuit". 

Umm, more to the point, I don't know if this is of any help, and everyone's experiences will be different. I had only a Verizon flip-phone that was several years old, and not a smart phone. At my homebase, I've always had issues with low number of bars. Since returning from AZ, Verizon has gone totally bonkers, the bars go 2..1..0, and disconnects constantly. 

So, I got fed up with it and ordered a Consumer Cellular flip-phone a week ago which uses both AT&T and T-Mobile GSM networks. I now get 5 bars "solid" of 4G LTE crystal clear. $15/month.

It may be that the old Verizon phone was just using a now-obsolete network, or maybe Verizon isn't the best choice anymore. Any opinions on this? Maybe good to have both Verizon and AT&T when living in the desert. Connection is important, especially if you break down in the middle of nowheres on the Mogollon rim.

 

[Almost There]

It may be that the old Verizon phone was just using a now-obsolete network, or maybe Verizon isn't the best choice anymore. Any opinions on this? Maybe good to have both Verizon and AT&T when living in the desert. Connection is important, especially if you break down in the middle of nowheres on the Mogollon rim.

This!

I had an old flip phone that I adored. BUT, it got to the point that I was having to stand in my living room window to get any kind of service and this was inside town limits.

Finally, after complaining about terrible service several times to my carrier, one CSR finally asked what phone I was using....and then pointed out that the phones' technology was several years out of date and not able to use the newer tech on the tower I was using.

Updated phone solved all the problems.

Wasn't a matter of my carrier, it was the phone itself.

IMO, Verizon is still your best service. There was only once in the past 3 winters that no matter where I was, Verizon trumped AT&T for service reliability and speed.

 

[Qxxx]

Wasn't a matter of my carrier, it was the phone itself.

Thanks for the follow up, .

 

[user 423]

Updated phone solved all the problems.

Wasn't a matter of my carrier, it was the phone itself.

There is evidently much variation when it comes to equipment and reception. Where I'm at in rural SE Arizona my landlord had a newish iPhone and T-Mobile but it barely worked. The landlord switched to Verizon and now has decent service. My newish LG TracFone (which uses several different carriers; including VZ) doesn't work here at all but my 15 year old Nokia dumb phone (T-Mobile) works fine.  I trashed the Verizon hotspot and the ZTE Straight Talk replacement hotspot works fine.

 

[DannyB1954]

I never saw a sign for Kendall Camp Road,

Mt. Tritle Road,that is the name! I could not remember it so I looked on Google maps and it gave me the other name. When I was there things were pretty quiet. It was late in the year, so maybe that is why. I opted to stay at the paid campground. Being a Veteran it was $5 a night. I got a lot of good local info from the camp host.

 

[jacqueg]

That one looked like a really nice place to stay. Closed now.